Thank you Allen & Unwin for this book in exchange for an honest review
Synopsis:
Link is a fish out of water. Newly arrived from America, he is finding it hard to settle into the venerable and prestigious Osney School. Who knew there could be so many strange traditions to understand? And what kind of school ranks its students by how fast they can run round the school quad – however ancient that quad may be? When Link runs the slowest time in years, he immediately becomes the butt of every school joke. And some students are determined to make his life more miserable than others . . .
When a school summer trip is offered, Link can think of nothing worse than spending voluntary time with his worst tormentors. But when his parents say he can only leave Osney School – forever – if he goes on the trip, Link decides to endure it for the ultimate prize. But this particular trip will require a very special sort of endurance. The saying goes ‘No man is an island’ – but what if on that island is a group of teenagers, none of whom particularly like each other? When oppressive heat, hunger and thirst start to bite, everyone’s true colours will be revealed. Let the battle commence . . .
Review:
The Island is one of those books that you may know what’s about to happen but it is still amazing to read the ending.
The Island is based around Link, who is technically at the bottom of the food chain at school. Link carry’s out any task that the bullies assign him and remains quiet when they verbally and mentally bully him. However, when the students leave for their summer school trip, and the plane crashes on a remote island, you find out how important the school ‘cool’ ranking system is. Let me sum it up for you, it isn’t
“And the geek shall inherit the earth.”
I loved the underlying meanings to this book, and well, I pulled away a few. ‘Treat others the way you wish to be treated,’ ‘Support those who cannot support themselves.’ And no so on and so forth. Even though this book had a few dark elements to it, I still thought the messages of this book were positive.
The Island, is one book that was light and easy read, the perfect kind of book to pick up after a bad day and easily sink into and forget your troubles. Though I didn’t find myself obsessing over the secondary characters, I have to admit I was secretly hoping that Link would be king of the island. After all, geeks always deserve their revenge. The other survivors of the plan crash were not only un-relatable for me but I found nothing about them interesting enough to warrant any sympathy from me.
The plot twists in this book where completely obvious, I knew how the whole story would play out but it didn’t deter me from wanting to read this book. Nothing came as a surprise and nothing shocked me in the slightest but I was invested in Link’s rise to the top and taking over the island.
What I also found highly enjoyable about this book was reference to movies and TV shows based around people stuck on an island and I loved it! I was a super fan of Lost (only the first few seasons before it started getting weird but I watched them all) and I loved the fact that Link kept thinking that a polar bear would run out and get them at any point and the fact that they found the hatch as well, it was just to perfect. And not to mention Wilson the ball from Castaway was just too hilarious! There is no doubt that the author has great taste in movies and TV shows.
Overall I loved the power play in this book and how important you think you are in high school isn’t going to be the reality when you leave. I enjoyed the darkness of this book and would have liked to see a little more darkness released but other than that it was a extremely well thought out book!
Rating: 4/5
ISBN: 9781471407536
Publisher: Hot Keys