Monday, August 5, 2013

Mark This Book Monday: ARC Review of Over The Rainbow by Brian Rowe!

I have a few reviews for this week's Mark This Book(s) Monday and hopefully I'll manage to work all of them in!

For starters, I'm gonna start with a book that comes out tomorrow, and I think you need to give it a try!


Over the RainbowOver the Rainbow by Brian  Rowe

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was intrigued by this books blurb and requested and ARC via NetGalley, and I have to say I'm very glad I did. This book has such a quirky, fun and positive story, despite the very tough subjects it touches, that made me smile and root for Zippy from page 1!

The play on the Wizard of Oz story starts with the title, and continues in many small ways, from the finding 3 companions and a dog (named Judy, which I think it's a reference to Judy Garland that played the original Dorothy in the movie) to making their way to the Emerald City, in this case referring to Seattle (apparently is the official nickname for the city) where each one of the travellers expect to find something... The journey is full of strange & wondrous things, and not exempt of danger.

Our Dorothy in this book is Zippy, a sweet & quirky girl from Kansas, full of spirit and about to be sent away to an anti-gay camp by her zealot homophobe of her father. She manages to run away from him at the airport in the most improbable and hilarious way and unconventionally boards a plane to Seattle, so she can finally meet Mira, the girl she's been in love (and talking online) for two years.

Then the first twist happens, with the plane crashing when the pilots and most of the passengers simply dissapear, and Zippy finds her first companion, Frankie. The story progresses with them trying to figure what has happened, how the world is suddenly changing and trying to get to Seattle by land. They encounter the rest of the troupe and quite a few adventures along the way. I will only say one word: DINOSAURS!

We also have a few bits of the narrative from Zippy's father POV, which are quite disturbing, since I could never find myself understanding such anger, such determination to not be able to love his daughter as she is, and such clinging on hate to those who are different.

The end of the journey is one full of hope and a lesson on how we can be the ones to make our world a better place, with our own choices. This book has a very important message, one of positivity, and also is adds more diversity to the YA narrative, with a LGBT main character and secondary characters.

I'd really recommend this book to everyone who wants to enjoy a good book and love quirky & funny bits with dinosaurs in them! Very well deserved 4 stars!



View all my reviews

1 comment:

  1. This sounds wonderful! I'm often guilty of judging a book by it's cover, and this one definitely grabbed my attention. After reading your review of it, I'm certain I would enjoy it.

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¡Muchas gracias por vuestros comentarios, leerlos me alegra el día!/ Thanks a lot for all your comments, reading them brightens my day!!