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Maja (The Nocturnal Library)'s Reviews > Struck

Struck by Jennifer Bosworth
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My name is Mia Price, and I'm a human lightning rod.

After an incredibly promising start and a lot of excitement on my part, the second half of Struck really fell flat and completely failed to impress me.

On the surface, Struck is pretty original: a girl who gets hit by lightning over and over again is doing her best to keep her family alive and sane after a huge natural disaster, while being pulled in two different directions by religious fanatics and their opposers. Both groups are convinced that the Armageddon is coming in just a few days and that they desperately need Mia’s special abilities, therefore they’re ready to do just about anything to force Mia to join their side. To make matters worse, her family is also divided: her mother has been completely brainwashed by the powerful televangelist, Prophet, while her brother wants nothing more than to join the other group, Seekers. Sounds very interesting, right? And it is, for the most part, just be aware that you’ll find the same story we’ve seen a million times before if you look just a little deeper beneath the surface.

I felt that the thing that drew me to this novel initially, Mia’s ability to attract lightening, wasn’t explored nearly enough. That’s what I wanted to read about the most. After the delicious statement at the beginning of the book (“My name is Mia Price and I’m a lightning addict.�), I was expecting the author to take this much, much farther than she actually did. Instead she chose to go down a well-worn path: Mia running blindly into danger to save her mother or her brother, the beautiful, mysterious boy that simply refuses to tell her what his deal is, Mia being stupid, Mia being stupid, Mia being incredibly stupid� well, you get the picture.

For me, there comes a point in the book where I get so irritated by the main character’s choices that I stop caring for the plot altogether. I think what bothered me the most was that a lot of Mia’s problems could have been avoided with one or two serious conversations. She kept making stupid choices to keep her brother out of trouble, when all she really had to do was sit down and explain a few things to him. Same goes for Jeremy: he insisted on being vague while warning Mia to stay away from the Waste and the Seekers, when the whole truth would have been much more effective.


Still, I suppose if you’re in the mood for paranormal YA, you could do much, much worse than Struck. I have no objections whatsoever to Bosworth’s writing style, the beginning is very compelling, it pulls you right in so you don’t have to go through that torturous period of getting into the story. I just wish she maintained the same level of originality till the very end, instead of hiding behind tropes and clichés.

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Reading Progress

March 3, 2012 – Started Reading
March 3, 2012 – Shelved
March 4, 2012 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-11 of 11 (11 new)

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message 1: by Mimi (new) - added it

Mimi Oohhhhh, I can't wait to read what you think of this one, Maja! It sounds so cool! :)


Maja (The Nocturnal Library) It's pretty formulaic so far, but I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying it. I like the writing and I really like Mia so far. Let's hope she doesn't do something incredibly stupid. :)


message 3: by Mimi (new) - added it

Mimi LOL that's good to hear! :) I'll cross my fingers that awesome Mia remains awesome Mia! ;)


message 4: by Tatiana (new) - added it

Tatiana Surprise, surprise (not). Another bummer.


Maja (The Nocturnal Library) *sighs* I fear I might be a little tired of YA altogether. *gasps* Such an awful thing to say... :D


message 6: by Tatiana (last edited Mar 05, 2012 05:57AM) (new) - added it

Tatiana They just publish too many books that are essentially the same story, told over and over and over and over again.


Maja (The Nocturnal Library) True, and I get so tired of it all, but then I find a little gem like Wander Dust and it all seems worth it.


message 8: by Shauna (last edited Mar 05, 2012 10:15AM) (new)

Shauna Well said, Maja. Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. was what put me off before even picking up the book. The 'I'm a human lightning rod' draw is pretty intriguing, but at this stage if I see anything remotely resembling 'so-and-so wants to trust beautiful, mysterious boy', I just put the book down and back away slowly.


Maja (The Nocturnal Library) Yeah, lack of communication between characters makes me angry every single time. However, I have to admit that I still enjoyed at least parts of this book. I loved how LA was described post-earthquake.


±áÑ”±ô±ô²âµþÑ”±ô±ô²â ...the beautiful, mysterious boy that simply refuses to tell her what his deal is...
He seems to be in a lot of books, that dude!
Thanks for the review, Maja!


message 11: by Anushka (new)

Anushka Hmmm...sounds intriguing. Might try it out.
Great review, Maja. :)


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