Consuela led a normal life up until the point she discovers that she can slip off her skin and enter the Flow, a kind of other dimension. Those who can travel through the Flow exist to help save the lives of those in the real world, but Consuelas arrival in the Flow coincide with the beginning of a string of frightening murders within the Flow. Someone, it seems, is determined to end the Flow, and everyone is a suspectbut the murderer might hold Consuelas key to returning home.
LUMINOUS wasinteresting. Okay, interesting might be a tad generous. LUMINOUS is ambitious, and beautifully written, but at times it was a confusing and emotionally distant read for me.
Dawn Metcalfs writing is astounding, an awe-inspiring combination between the rhythmic hypnotism of freestyle poetry and deliciousness of rich and unusual prose. This is something I feel like I dont see much of in current YA, that I wouldnt mind seeing more of, these creative risks with writing style.
The concept of the Flow is very intriguing, and certainly unlike anything Ive read. True to the whimsy of the writing style, the Flow is never fully explained, or at least is not explained in a way that solidifies its presence and purpose for me. Thus, my head was spinning for a great portion of the book, because I had never fully grasped the concept.
The same goes for the characters. LUMINOUS shifts between multiple characters points of view rather arbitrarily, making it so that the identity of the murderer is not long a secret. I would be alright with this, except that I felt like the murderers justification for his cold-blooded actions was only partially explored, and existed mostly in circular monologues declaiming his self-importance or the righteousness of his motives. Consuela did not feel as developed as she couldve been, either. So she has this astounding new talent, and wants very much to return home to her family, but beyond that she did not seem to have much else to make her really fill out as a three-dimensional character. My lack of connection to the characters, along with the books uneven pacingI was intrigued at the beginning, and then felt like things were dragging on and onleft me feeling a little on the outside of the story.
Still, LUMINOUS packs some powerful and thought-provoking themes, and may be extremely rewarding for the patient reader who likes the supernatural challenge. Check it out if it seems up your alley or if you want something different.
LUMINOUS wasinteresting. Okay, interesting might be a tad generous. LUMINOUS is ambitious, and beautifully written, but at times it was a confusing and emotionally distant read for me.
Dawn Metcalfs writing is astounding, an awe-inspiring combination between the rhythmic hypnotism of freestyle poetry and deliciousness of rich and unusual prose. This is something I feel like I dont see much of in current YA, that I wouldnt mind seeing more of, these creative risks with writing style.
The concept of the Flow is very intriguing, and certainly unlike anything Ive read. True to the whimsy of the writing style, the Flow is never fully explained, or at least is not explained in a way that solidifies its presence and purpose for me. Thus, my head was spinning for a great portion of the book, because I had never fully grasped the concept.
The same goes for the characters. LUMINOUS shifts between multiple characters points of view rather arbitrarily, making it so that the identity of the murderer is not long a secret. I would be alright with this, except that I felt like the murderers justification for his cold-blooded actions was only partially explored, and existed mostly in circular monologues declaiming his self-importance or the righteousness of his motives. Consuela did not feel as developed as she couldve been, either. So she has this astounding new talent, and wants very much to return home to her family, but beyond that she did not seem to have much else to make her really fill out as a three-dimensional character. My lack of connection to the characters, along with the books uneven pacingI was intrigued at the beginning, and then felt like things were dragging on and onleft me feeling a little on the outside of the story.
Still, LUMINOUS packs some powerful and thought-provoking themes, and may be extremely rewarding for the patient reader who likes the supernatural challenge. Check it out if it seems up your alley or if you want something different.
I was drawn to this book by the beautiful cover and then read the synopsis and found it intriguing. I actually received an Advanced Reading Copy of it through Librarything's Early Reviewer Program. It was a very creative book and has some intriguing ideas in it; although at points the writing is a bit hard to follow.
Consuela finds a lump at the back of her neck and is worried about it. Her mother agrees that Consuela will go to the doctor if it is worse in the morning. Then Consuela finds that she can put her fingers into the lump and actually remove all of her skin; leaving her a glowing Skeleton. She finds she can makes new skins out of things like water and air. While experimenting she ends up meeting other teenagers with strange powers and finds herself part of the Flow. A serial killer is loose in the Flow and Consuela must figure out how to stop the killer, otherwise she may never have the chance to return home.
This was an odd book. It is very creative and has some really neat ideas in it. At times it is beautifully written and has some excellent imagery. At times though there were also things that didn't make sense. Why only teenagers in the Flow? Why was she able to talk to her mother when she got home in the beginning but not later?
The idea of the Flow is interesting, but I have to say it is a bit difficult for the reader to figure out what is going on at the beginning of the book. The reader needs to suspend disbelief and kind of just..well..go with the flow of the story. As the book went on I understood better the kind of "other place" the author was trying to create, but it did take some piecing together to get to that point.
The characters are intriguing. All of them have different powers and complex backgrounds. While I did find them interesting, they never really came alive for me. The book seemed more focused on what they could do in the Flow than on who they were and what they thought. This was complicated by the fact that there wasn't supposed to be much emotion in the Flow itself.
The story gets a bit creepy at points. The whole concept of Consuela peeling off her own skin weirded me out a bit, as did the fact she traipsed around as a skeleton. There were portions involving the serial killer that were also a bit unsettling; although they never got too scary for me.
The story ends well and in such a way that there could be more adventures involving Consuela, although I haven't heard anything about that. As for the author's writing style, I am a bit on the fence about it. Metcalf's writing has moments of beauty, but it also had times where things were kind of vague. It wasn't the easiest writing to read and you had to read it very slowly and carefully to make sure you understood what was happening.
Overall a very intriguing read. If you are interested in reading something unlike anything you've read before definitely pick this story up. The concepts of the Flow and how Consuela can makes skins out of organic matter are interesting. The story does get a bit creepy, but should be appropriate for young adult and older. The writing style wasn't my favorite and the characters weren't as engaging as I would have liked. Still this book was very original and interesting, so I would recommend it for people who want something a bit different.
Consuela finds a lump at the back of her neck and is worried about it. Her mother agrees that Consuela will go to the doctor if it is worse in the morning. Then Consuela finds that she can put her fingers into the lump and actually remove all of her skin; leaving her a glowing Skeleton. She finds she can makes new skins out of things like water and air. While experimenting she ends up meeting other teenagers with strange powers and finds herself part of the Flow. A serial killer is loose in the Flow and Consuela must figure out how to stop the killer, otherwise she may never have the chance to return home.
This was an odd book. It is very creative and has some really neat ideas in it. At times it is beautifully written and has some excellent imagery. At times though there were also things that didn't make sense. Why only teenagers in the Flow? Why was she able to talk to her mother when she got home in the beginning but not later?
The idea of the Flow is interesting, but I have to say it is a bit difficult for the reader to figure out what is going on at the beginning of the book. The reader needs to suspend disbelief and kind of just..well..go with the flow of the story. As the book went on I understood better the kind of "other place" the author was trying to create, but it did take some piecing together to get to that point.
The characters are intriguing. All of them have different powers and complex backgrounds. While I did find them interesting, they never really came alive for me. The book seemed more focused on what they could do in the Flow than on who they were and what they thought. This was complicated by the fact that there wasn't supposed to be much emotion in the Flow itself.
The story gets a bit creepy at points. The whole concept of Consuela peeling off her own skin weirded me out a bit, as did the fact she traipsed around as a skeleton. There were portions involving the serial killer that were also a bit unsettling; although they never got too scary for me.
The story ends well and in such a way that there could be more adventures involving Consuela, although I haven't heard anything about that. As for the author's writing style, I am a bit on the fence about it. Metcalf's writing has moments of beauty, but it also had times where things were kind of vague. It wasn't the easiest writing to read and you had to read it very slowly and carefully to make sure you understood what was happening.
Overall a very intriguing read. If you are interested in reading something unlike anything you've read before definitely pick this story up. The concepts of the Flow and how Consuela can makes skins out of organic matter are interesting. The story does get a bit creepy, but should be appropriate for young adult and older. The writing style wasn't my favorite and the characters weren't as engaging as I would have liked. Still this book was very original and interesting, so I would recommend it for people who want something a bit different.
