Review: The Line by Teri Hall

Summary: (from amazon.com)

An invisible, uncrossable physical barrier encloses the Unified States. The Line is the part of the border that lopped off part of the country, dooming the inhabitants to an unknown fate when the enemy used a banned weapon. It’s said that bizarre creatures and superhumans live on the other side, in Away. Nobody except tough old Ms. Moore would ever live next to the Line.

Nobody but Rachel and her mother, who went to live there after Rachel’s dad died in the last war. It’s a safe, quiet life. Until Rachel finds a mysterious recorded message that can only have come from Away. The voice is asking for help.


Who sent the message? Why is her mother so protective? And to what lengths is Rachel willing to go in order to do what she thinks is right?

Info:
Release Date: March 4. 2010
Publisher: Dial
Pages: 224

Grade:
Originality: 20/20
Characters: 15/15
Writing: 9/10
Voice: 10/10
Ending: 9/10
Entertainment: 9/10
Cover: 10/10
Recommendation: 10/10

Total: 97/100 = A


Review:


Originality:  The Line is one of the most original books I've read in a while.  Hall creates a whole new world in this book, one where the government controls everything and people don't really have too many choices.  When you're first reading, you're kind of confused - you don't know what things such as "creds" or "Labor Pools" are, but as you read on you find out.  Hall doesn't have her characters narrate it, since it's what they've always known.  However, no matter how confused you are in the beginning, you slowly catch on to Rachel's world.

Characters: Hall's character's were great.  There aren't too many characters because not too many people live on The Property.  However, all the character's on The Property were well developed - Rachel especially. You can see how she progresses throughout the whole book.

Writing:  There was only one reason I marked Hall down on her writing - and that's kind of just because of my personal opinion.  I'm a fan of first person, not third person.  And it just so happens that The Line is written in third person.  However, I can see why this was done - it was very effective to the story, and I could see why it was done while I was reading... you can see more than just Rachel's side of the story this way.  So, if you're not really a fan of third person, I'd say try this out one anyway if you want to - I ended up loving it.

Voice: The voice in this one was also wonderful.  The point of view of this story changes a few times, so I was surprised by how consistent the voice was when it did change points of view like this.

Ending: OH MY GOODNESS. The ending had like this HUGE twist in it, which is making me NEED the second book. right. this. second.

Entertainment: I'm not going to lie, in the beginning The Line was kind of slow.  It did pick up by page fifty.  However, in the beginning, I wasn't sure whether I was going to like it or not.

Overall, I definitely recommend everyone to go out and get a copy of The Line on Thursday when it's released.  I loved it, and I'm eagerly awaiting the second novel.  This is yet another wonderful 2010 debut.

hope.