Review: THE UNWANTEDS by Lisa McMann

3.86 Stars from 4,220 GoodReaders

The Unwanteds is one of those books that comes very close to being most excellent. It has features of interest like the stern Quill society and magical creatures and characters-with-flaws, but unfortunately these aren't enough to propel the story above the shoreline of mediocrity.

WASN'T CRaZy ABOUTS

--Even for an MG book, there's not enough background to set the story space. There's no explanation, for example, for how Quill evolved to be the way it is. In fact, there's no concrete description of the world at-large. Is Quill all the only country there is in 'real space'? Are there other countries? Either way, why is Quill so geographically small?

--There's a sort of problem with the magic. In every successful magic-touched book I've read, conjuring comes at a cost. Characters sweat, faint, and/or suffer to perform their art. There's none of that in this book. The magic is everywhere, easy to accomplish, and fairly easy to acquire. Which results in a magic that's actually a bit boring to read about.

--The biggest drawback though is the pacing. The story just moves along too slowly and without enough action for me. Yes, it's cool to talk to chalkboards, but not time and again when the only purpose is to make sure we all know that they can be cranky entities -- not unlike the pictures on the wall in Harry Potter.

LIKES
--I liked the unpleasant nature of Quillian society.
--I liked the tension that came from the idea that the children were going to be eliminated.
--I liked the main mage.
--Lisa McMann is a wonderful wordsmith and the actual language of this book is delightful. So much so that I plan to track down and read some of her WAKE trilogy.
--Tweens and Middle-graders will find food for thought in how people differ in their strengths and interests.


WHO SHOULD READ THIS

I would not recommend this book for adults unless they are going to read it aloud to younger children. (There's no language or adult situation problems therein.) Tweens and Middle-graders might want to check it out at the library. Taste vary wildly, so you never know.

The Unwanteds though is a book that could have used an editor with a whip to tighten up the plot.

Pam~
Somewhere in the X-burbs


The Unwanteds
by Lisa McMann

Reading Information:
Word Count: 68,014
Word Count: 400
Accelerated Reading level: 5.7 / points: 11.0
AR quiz: 146290
Lexile: 880L
--sample pages available

compiled by Pam
updated October 2013


See reading information for THE UNWANTEDS series here...