Friday, August 8, 2014

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Well summer has come to an end, marked by my oldest heading off to school, still have my youngest for a month.  It has been a great summer filled with lots of traveling and family.  I'm sorry it has to end but excited to get back to my routine and my blog.  I hope you all had a wonderful summer and I'm so glad you stopped by today.
Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that she is the latest recipient of a generations-old family curse that requires her to complete three seemingly impossible tasks or risk falling into madness and passing the curse on to the next generation. Unlike her ancestors, though, Lucy has family, friends, and other modern resources to help her out. But will it be enough to conquer this age-old evil? 

A beautifully wrought modern fairy tale from master storyteller and award-winning author Nancy Werlin. Inspired by the classic folk ballad "Scarborough Fair," this is a wonderfully riveting and haunting novel of suspense, romance, and fantasy.

I had no idea what to expect when I picked up this book, nor could I remember what drew me to it in the first place.  Going in without any expectations probably saved me from absolutely hating this book.  In the end I decided to give Impossible 2 out of 5 stars.

My initial issue with this book is that it took it a long time to get off the ground.  Instead of getting right to the problem and the three tasks that Lucy would have to face Nancy takes over 100 pages to get to the incident that sets off everything.  Yes I agree that some character development needs to be made but I as a reader prefer to see my characters in action rather than in a slow drudge through everyday life.

Once the horrible incident that set everything off took place all the characters, and I mean all of them, seemed to just accept it and move on.  I'm sorry but there is an element of fantasy (folklore) here that any normal person would not just accept once told.  I liked the fact that the people in Lucy's life supported her and believed in her but everything was just too easy and convenient.

Now I want to take a second to go back to the whole action thing, or lack there of.  So Impossible has this wonderful set up, horrible incident, 3 tasks to perform.  One would think the majority of the book would be on performing the three critical tasks.  Well, it's not.  In fact one task is completed in a couple of paragraphs.  No great dramatic lead up, no thwart, no action during, it just happens and then we move on. I do have to say that the last task does have a lot more drama and intrigue to it but at this point in time I was just reading because I had read over half the book.

Final thoughts.  Well, I didn't like the book but I am not relegating it to the worst books I've ever read.  I probably won't pick up anything else by this author.
The Friday 56Book BeginningsLiterary Friday

Book Beginnings
There will be no awakening.

The Friday 56
The camp lay twenty miles east of where we lived, hacked out of the woods during the 3rd wave to build a field hospital after the ones in town had reached full capacity.

13 comments:

AmberBug said...

Sounds like this is Apocalyptic? I'm a sucker for those. Although the cover makes me think it leans towards the sci-fi, which is another weakness of mine. Is this the 5th book in the series or will they be going backwards?

Anne@HeadFullofBooks said...

I liked Impossible but I thought that the author could have done more with the rhyme to bring it to life. I also liked The 5th Wave. It really got me thinking that such a thing could happen.

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

Love the description of that camp...thanks for sharing, and for visiting my blog.

Cheryl said...

The premise of Impossible has promise. Too bad there isn't enough action to move the plot forward. Love your beginning and the teaser.

Thanks for visiting The Busy Mom's Daily.

Juli Rahel said...

'Impossible' sounds amazing! I love mythology adaptations and I love how the author has added modern technology to the mix because surely that must make things more difficult! Not quite sure 'The 5 Wave' is one for me though! Thanks for sharing :) I hope you have a great weekend!
My Friday post
Juli @ Universe in Words

Elizabeth said...

Ooooo...a family curse. Sounds pretty good to me. :)

But...if it is going to be the worst book you ever read, then the curse must not have been anything good. :)

The camp sounds interesting. Nice description.

THANKS for sharing, and have a great weekend.

Elizabeth
Silver's Reviews
My Book Beginnings

Katherine P said...

That's too bad Impossible turned out to be a dud. I was very intrigued by the premise but I think I'll give it a pass.
That's quite a beginning on the 5th Wave! Hope you enjoy this one more.

Anonymous said...

I love The 5th Wave! I actually need to reread it before the second book comes out. Great pick

Unknown said...

Too bad you didn't enjoy Impossible. It sounded promising. Like you said, going in with no expectations does allow you to not absolutely hate it.
The 5th Wave is on my summer reading list. I love apocalyptic stories. My 56 for today is one! Here it is if you want to check it out. http://fuonlyknew.com/2014/08/08/the-friday-56-31-bones-the-complete-apocalypse-saga-by-mark-wheaton/

fredamans said...

Doubt I'd pick up Impossible but The 5th Wave looks good!

Happy weekend!

JC Jones said...

The 5th Wave looks interesting. Nice choice.

Bea said...

I probably wouldn't pick up either but I'm sorry to hear that The Impossible was so slow; that's frustrating.

sherry fundin said...

Sounds dystopian/apocalyptic and I have become a huge fan of the genre. I like the cover too.
sherry @ fundinmental