Review: Advent by James Treadwell

July 11, 2012 Philippa General, Reviews 2 Stars, Fantasy, James Treadwell, Young Adult

What started out as a book full of promise and beautiful prose, swiftly became a confusing muddle of events that left me feeling pretty dissapointed by the end of the book. I wanted to like it, I truly did and infact at the beginning I felt it held the same sort of promise that The Night Circus did, unfortunately Treadwell just didn’t manage to maintain momentum.

Set in the present day this is the story of Gavin a 15 year old boy who is visiting his aunt in a remote english village with no phone or internet reception while his parents go on holidays. Gavin is not an ordinary boy, he sees things no one else can see and because of this feels completely adrift – unloved by his parents and an outsider in the modern world. Entwined into Gavins story is the story of Faust which adds depth and information vital to the series of events playing out for Gavin in the modern day.

The book starts off with good writing and a real sense of atmosphere. By the time Gavin arrives at his Aunts place I was biting my nails in anticipation the immersion was so skillfully done. Unfortunately the book just starts on the downward slide from this point on. The actual character of Gavin was hard to like, I couldn’t really feel sorry for him he was just too odd and when you don’t relate to a character it doesn’t matter what they’ve been through it’s hard to empathise with their lot in life. I also found the majority of the supporting characters to be quite empty and lacking and while I believe the author was going for “otherworldly” I don’t think he really pulled it off.

There is a lot of different myths used in this story and I did think they were woven together very well, although I wasn’t expecting Cassandra from Greek mythology to turn up – this definitely made me stop a moment. The actual culmination of events however I believe left a lot to be desired and I often found myself going back and rereading segments to try and make better sense of where things were at and why they were taking place. Perhaps if I were to reread this I would enjoy it more but I just don’t think a book marketed to the Young Adult crowd should be that complex or over written that a reread is necessary.

This book didn’t hold my interest enough to warrant reading the remainder of the series, and I think there are other Young Adult fantasy novels that have be released recently that would be more appealing to the majority of readers. If you are mad keen on myths and legends and don’t mind a fairly unrelateable main character then by all means give it a whirl. Book reviews for this novel seem to swing from either loving it or being highly dissapointed so while it wasn’t for me, it could be for you!

Rating

Author	James Treadwell
Book series	Advent Trilogy: Book #1
Genre	Fantasy / Young Adult
Publisher	Simon and Schuster
Published	July 2012
Source	Netgalley ARC
More	Advent by James Treadwell at Goodreads Advent by James Treadwell at Amazon Advent by James Treadwell at The Book Depository

10 Comments:

Dovile says:

July 11, 2012 at 3:50 pm Reply

After your review, I think I’m going to skip this one.

Philippa says:

July 12, 2012 at 1:48 pm Reply

I personally think that is wise

Hira Hasnain says:

July 11, 2012 at 7:09 pm Reply

Wow, okay, when I first read a blurb for this book, I was totally intrigued! However, after your review, it is clear that you are not bashing this book, but that this book may just not be worth the time! Honestly, it doesn’t matter what genre you might be into…a character you cannot relate to, is ALWAYS a disappointment! Thank you so much for your honest opinion…as a reader, I appreciate it!

Philippa says:

July 12, 2012 at 1:49 pm Reply

No worries

Natalie Cleary says:

July 12, 2012 at 12:10 am Reply

I have this on my TBR pile thanks to a friend and even though its not getting that many great reviews I still think Ill try it. It sounds intriguing!!