Sunday, July 22, 2012

Review: Crescendo by Becca Ftizpatrick (Hush Hush #2)


Crescendo (Hush, Hush, #2)

THE DETAILS:
Pages: 428
Genre: Teenage Fiction, Fantasy
Release Date: 01/09/2011
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
RRP: $16.99
Received from publisher.
2nd book in the 'Hush Hush' series.

THE DESCRIPTION:
Nora should know better than to think her life can return to normal after falling in love with a fallen angel. And Nora's life isn't normal - her dad was murdered, and the facts about his death just don't add up. Now Nora's own life is in imminent danger. Are she and Patch strong enough for the battle ahead?

THE REVIEW:
I started this shortly after I finished a great book. There's a problem right there. I had over the top expectations and all I could think about was how amazing the last book was. I was on a bit of a roll with my reading. I was getting back on track with the reading goal and I was posting plenty of reviews. This book was a bit of a downfall. It's not that it was horrible (at times it was a little bit), but it was mainly just slow.

I felt like this book had a bit of a sequel complex. It wasn't any where near as exciting as it's predecessor and it incorporated typical second book traits. The main character decides to get mad at her new guardian angel boyfriend for not being able to feel things physically (which isn't his fault), and decides that it's reason enough to break up with him. She then goes on about life looking for him. She thinks he should be showing up anytime now, he should be calling her.. etc. I thought this part was totally unrealistic and made Nora seem a little bratty.

It's not often that I dislike a main character in a book, but I didn't like Nora. I thought that for a character that's supposed to be so smart and good, that she was very bratty. I know that nobody is perfect. I have my moods and tantrums occasionally, but Nora was ridiculous. Also, with her being such a smart cello player and all, when does she actually practice the cello or study? Because, during this book she just seemed to do a whole lot of going out at night, sulking about not having a hot angel boyfriend (that she dumped) and snooping.

The only thing that bothered me about Patch was his over-use of pet names. I got confused for a bit there as to who Nora was, because I had heard the name "Angel" used so much. I think it was a bit of a silly pet-name, so hearing it used over and over again wasn't enjoyable. I think a lot of readers will probably get bothered about his need to keep secrets too.

Vee was one of my favourite characters. Some of the things she came up with were kind of funny and made the story seem so much lighter. I know alot of the people who dislike Patch will find themselves agreeing with Vee on a lot of things.

At one point Vee suggests that Nora should take part in a "Blood Oath" so she could get over Patch. I thought this was a bit disturbing and came out of nowhere. If Patch or one of the other supernatural characters had suggested this I wouldn't be surprised, but Vee? I thought that this made the idea of a blood oath seem more realistic than it should. What about the risk of diseases? The unnecessary self-harm? etc. Vee seemed too smart to think that Blood Oaths are plausible.

Another thing that was very unrealistic about this story was how easy it was for Nora to get a job. It's a small town -probably filled with teens looking for jobs- and Nora just waltzes right in and gets one? I live in a small town and it was not that easy for me to get a job.

One thing that I thought Fitzpatrick did get right was the setting. The beach setting and the Delphic were both described very well and made for interesting places for the story to happen. I was a little confused about the comparing of places in the novel. For example the two beaches are compared and the "poorer" beach has bumper cars? Maybe it's an American thing (I live in Australia), but none of the beaches in my town have bumper cars.

'Crescendo' was a slow read and Nora's unhappiness throughout didn't make it any easier. Luckily though, the mystery does make it a little bit more interesting. I think the last few chapters of the book definitely got more exciting and had enough surprises to restore my faith in the series.

Overall, I gave this book 2.5 / 5 Stars; Halfway between fantastic and not-memorable. I wasn't overly fussed and I don't think I'll be in a rush to read it again anytime soon. I'm definitely interested to see what happens next- especially since I have 'Silence' on my bookshelf- but think I need to take a bit of a break from Nora, seeing as she and I don't get on that well.

Click here to read my review of the 1st book 'Hush Hush'

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3 comments:

Katja Weinert said...

Shame; I hate it when I don't click with the main character too. Thanks for sharing.

Christine said...

Great review! I just found your blog and will definitely be following it from now on! Btw, I nominated you for the Versatile blogger award! I don't know if you do awards but if you want to accept and pass it on the instructions are on my blog: http://heartisinthewriteplace.blogspot.com/
:) Have a great day!

Preet said...

I haven't read the first in the series yet but am meaning to. It's too bad that the second book kind of failed though. I think it's really to keep a great book going. Great review though!