All Fall Down by Ally Carter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
All Fall Down is the first novel in Ally Carter's new series Embassy Row. It comes out January 27th.
All Fall Down focuses on Grace, a 16 year-old Army brat who always finds trouble. When she was 13, her mother died. Everyone insists it was an accident, but Grace knows what she saw. When she returns to Embassy Row after 3 years, she is overwhelmed with memories of the past. At the ball Grace see a man she know to be her mother's killer and decides to have her friends help her track down the man, since no adults will help.
This novel really wasn't at all what I was expecting. I tend to enjoy novels with unreliable narrators. (One of my favorites being Ketchup Clouds) However, this one was kind of weird. I really didn't like Grace and I think that kept me from liking the story more.
It was also very strange to me how obsessed Grace still was over her mother's death. It had been 3 years, I'm not expecting her to have forgotten about it, but in the novel it's as if no time has passed. I would think she would have started to calm down and understand some of it. When she's at the US Embassy, it bothers me greatly that she hasn't THROWN OUT HER MOTHER'S TOOTH BRUSH. It's been 3 years. What is she going to do with it?
At some points, the novel was really confusing. The setting wasn't always completely described and sometimes events just occurred without any explanation whatsoever. Generally what was happening could be figured out by inferring, though.
Grace didn't really act 16 and her acquaintances all acted younger than they were described as well. I think it would have been better if they were described as younger, even if nothing else was changed.
Overall, I did enjoy the novel and did not expect the ending. This would definitely be better for more in the 12-13 age range, though.
-Cassi
View all my reviews
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
All Fall Down is the first novel in Ally Carter's new series Embassy Row. It comes out January 27th.
All Fall Down focuses on Grace, a 16 year-old Army brat who always finds trouble. When she was 13, her mother died. Everyone insists it was an accident, but Grace knows what she saw. When she returns to Embassy Row after 3 years, she is overwhelmed with memories of the past. At the ball Grace see a man she know to be her mother's killer and decides to have her friends help her track down the man, since no adults will help.
This novel really wasn't at all what I was expecting. I tend to enjoy novels with unreliable narrators. (One of my favorites being Ketchup Clouds) However, this one was kind of weird. I really didn't like Grace and I think that kept me from liking the story more.
It was also very strange to me how obsessed Grace still was over her mother's death. It had been 3 years, I'm not expecting her to have forgotten about it, but in the novel it's as if no time has passed. I would think she would have started to calm down and understand some of it. When she's at the US Embassy, it bothers me greatly that she hasn't THROWN OUT HER MOTHER'S TOOTH BRUSH. It's been 3 years. What is she going to do with it?
At some points, the novel was really confusing. The setting wasn't always completely described and sometimes events just occurred without any explanation whatsoever. Generally what was happening could be figured out by inferring, though.
Grace didn't really act 16 and her acquaintances all acted younger than they were described as well. I think it would have been better if they were described as younger, even if nothing else was changed.
Overall, I did enjoy the novel and did not expect the ending. This would definitely be better for more in the 12-13 age range, though.
-Cassi
View all my reviews
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