REVIEW | Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

*** please note, this review may contain spoilers***

Summed up in a sentence?: "This book is definitely for lovers of YA, world-ending reads!

SYNOPSIS

One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time—from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as The Travelling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains—this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet. Sometimes terrifying, sometimes tender, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.

MY OPINIONS

I absolutely adored this book. Whilst I'm a sucker for any kind of dystopian typically, this one stood out to me. There's nothing paranormal or creepy about characters, nobody has odd powers, it's just about a random selection of people throughout a number of locations who are all connected in one way or another. It just so happens, that these people are survivors of a potentially world-ending pandemic that has wiped out 99% of the population 48 hours after they first show symptoms. 

When we first delve into the novel, the scenes seem unimportant and somewhat unnecessary. However, these scenes are key to the future of the novel. This is something that is usually the case across all novels, and in this book in particular, we get to see something that enlightens our knowledge of one of the key characters of the novel.

The plot jumps between characters and time-zones after almost every chapter. For me, this is something that I really struggle to comprehend as a read. Why not just write the novel in chronological order following a chain of events? It just makes more sense that way! Whilst I thought this would bother me and become a nuisance throughout the book, it actually didn't bother me at all. In this novels situation, it is necessary and done very well, allowing us to learn about characters as if we are someone they are talking to for the first time, learning about their journey, how it began, and where they are hopefully headed. 

The character developments of Kirsten and Clark in particular are two that I appreciated the most in the novel. 

When we first meet Kirsten, she is no more than 8 or 9 year old, and acting in King Lear alongside a once-famous actor. After seeing him die on stage, and the events following afterwards - the pandemic - she then becomes one of the members of the Travelling Symphony, a company that travel from town to town spreading Shakespeares plays, trying their hardest to keep what little they have of the previous world alive. 

We see Kirsten go from one terrified young girl, to a woman that knows how to handle herself. She mucks in with the duties with the symphony, has her wits about her, and longs for nothing more than a normal life with no pandemic. 

Clark, is Arthers best friend from his education days, and is always the first to hear the latest on Arthers trials and tribulations, particularly when it comes to women. When he hears of his death, he begins the journey to his funeral, and just happens to bump into Arthers second wife Elizabeth, and their son Tyler, who are on the same flight. That flight just happens to be one of the last flights to depart on earth, as the pandemic strikes almost instantly after take off.

When the flight is diverted, with no hope of the journey being complete, realisation sets in, and Arthur makes a home for himself in the airport, along with several other passengers from diverted flights. Over the years, he collects little snippets in souveniors of life before the pandemic, and opens a museum in one of the lounges. Word spreads of this museum, which brings travellers from far and wide to see relics from the 'old world'.

Over the course of years we see different viewpoints to allow us to see a broad spectrum as to how the epidemic has effected people around the globe (or the US at least). This was something I found a little confusing now and again, but it was easy enough to pick up different journeys in each chapter.

MY RATING


Overall I am rating this book 4 out of 5 stars. Whilst I did really enjoy the book, I felt that it lacked a little something, and was slightly over-doing it in places that didnt need that.
This book is definitely for lovers of YA, world-ending reads!

REVIEW || HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD

Yes, you read that title correctly,

I, along with the majority of the world (or so it seems), was one of the lucky ducks who got the book the day it was released, simply by popping along to my local stockist of the book, and buying it half price (or at least my other half did whilst I was at work, so thank you a thousand times over!

Naturally I was 1000x more anxious about reading this book than any other, apart from the 7th HP book coincidentally enough. And I had every right to be. This series, or the Harry Potter franchise as a whole, made not just my childhood, but many others, brighter and better just by picking it up at all.

Now I totally get that the series isn't for everyone. And hell (is hell even allowed to be said?) some may prefer the movies. But all I have to say is, give this script a go. Maybe the movie enthusiasts will prefer it moreso than those favouring the book series, due to it actually being a script!

Anyway, now that I've finally completed it (it took me a week) I'm going to try my best to compile my thoughts in the least spoiler-esque way as possible..

OK, so nineteen years later, we find ourselves transported to Kings Cross, pretty much exactly where we left off at the end of Deathly Hallows. We're approaching the entrance to the platform, and there's a little bit of nerves coming from Albus Severus, who is heading to his first year at Hogwarts. For me, this scene, along with several others throughout the script, echoed scenes we've already seen earlier in the series, some of which were almost word for word! (If you've completed this you'll know what I'm on about). So once we're through the wall (luckily no flying cars this time) the good old Hogarth Express is waiting, and we meet Rose and her family and parents, The Weasley's. As the board the train to Hogwarts, they go to find a carriage, and this is where the story really takes off, as we meet Scorpius Malfoy, son of Draco.

Now I'll drop my summary here, for fear of spoilers. Let's move on to my thoughts. 

Everything reeked of familiar scenes and scenarios. I understand we have to go through the whole process with Albus in the same way as we did with Harry and Co but it's almost too alike. I understand that Rowling didn't write it alone but on the other hand maybe that should have been a good thing? We could have possibly seen more interesting aspects or changes to Hogwarts but these seem to have been brushed aside, which really is a shame.

I did enjoy several of the character developments, particularly Scorpius and Delphi, although Delphi's development was perhaps the one that shocked me the most, as that plays a crucial twist in the play as a whole.

Overall, I'm giving the script 3 out of 5 stars.  I really wnjoyed several aspects including the twist, but for me it was all a little too familiar to the original series, and it was as if a couple of people had forced Rowling to write those familiar scenes as they couldn't let go of the series. This is such a shame though as the script had so much promise, and Rowling is an amazingly talented author, but this time, it sadly just didn't work for me.