How I got this book: Sent to me by the author for an honest review.
Date Finished: April 6 2012
My Rating 4 stars
Interesting Fact: This book has been shortlisted for an award, it is shortlisted for the Saskatoon Book Award check that list out here Saskatchewan Book Awards
Strange Places starts out in an orphanage, where Tayna lives in a ward on the 5th floor with the other Unlovables. She is the senior girl and has been there the longest so she has many tasks to complete. One day a strange man comes to the orphanage who has a very keen interest in her. He seems friendly at first but Tayna is right not to trust him, as ultimately he wants to kill her.
Tayna manages to escape and finds herself in a world of magic and fantasy. She is searching for her parents, and trying to learn her way around this strange world as she goes. Strange Places is quite the adventure piece.
One of the reasons I enjoyed this book so much is because it has elements of magic in it. I really love storylines with magic in them (reasonable ones, not over the top crazy ones) and this one was just right. Tayna doesn't quite believe that she has magic but it's apparent that she is strong and powerful. I felt for Tayna right off the bat which helped to draw me in to the story. It's a very fast paced action filled story which works as both a positive and a negative.
It's positive in that the story doesn't drag on too much, but there were times where it moved a little too fast, and I was slightly confused as to what was going on. There was also one particular section where I was just utterly lost and that is when Tayna's friend Elicand has been injured and he's in a dark cave trying to communicate with a voice through Empathink. The whole concept and the dialogue in this section were really difficult to get through and, in my opinion detracted from the story. I found myself resisting the urge to skim this section.
This book brings up some issues that make you think throughout the reading of the book. It makes you wonder about your own family, and what you would do i f you lost them, what lengths you would go to to find them. It also brought up interesting issues about the appeal of certain children over others, with the concepts of the lovables and Unlovables.
I won't give anything away but the cliffhanger at the end of the book is nicely done and well thought out. It definitely makes me want to read the next book.
Overall, the book is very engaging with very few negatives.
One thing that affected me personally was the fact that my brain automatically wanted to change the main characters name to Tanya instead of Tayna. But that's only because my best friend's name is Tanya and we've been friends for 15 years so it's an automatic habit.
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