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Jan 4, 2016

My Thoughts: Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski

4 frosted brownies.

Cover Love:
Yes.  This has such a creepy feel to it.  I love the font and I love the tagline at the top.  It all works!

Why I Wanted to Read This:
The synopsis caught my eye right away.  It seemed like such a weird and scary idea.  Here it is from GoodReads:
On Marin’s island, sunrise doesn’t come every twenty-four hours—it comes every twenty-eight years. Now the sun is just a sliver of light on the horizon. The weather is turning cold and the shadows are growing long.

Because sunset triggers the tide to roll out hundreds of miles, the islanders are frantically preparing to sail south, where they will wait out the long Night.

Marin and her twin brother, Kana, help their anxious parents ready the house for departure. Locks must be taken off doors. Furniture must be arranged. Tables must be set. The rituals are puzzling—bizarre, even—but none of the adults in town will discuss why it has to be done this way.

Just as the ships are about to sail, a teenage boy goes missing—the twins’ friend Line. Marin and  Kana are the only ones who know the truth about where Line’s gone, and the only way to rescue him is by doing it themselves. But Night is falling. Their island is changing.

And it may already be too late.
Romance?: We come in at the start of a possible romance between Line and Marin.

My Thoughts:
The world of YA and MG books has been so saturated with dystopian books that I forget there are straight up fantasy/sci-fi books that aren't dystopian.  This is a fantasy book, set in a world vastly different than ours.  It's not futuristic, it's just not our world.  And I loved that about this book!  I loved the setting and getting to know the rules right along with Line, Marin and Kana.  But I felt it moved a bit slowly in letting us learn anything.  It didn't dissuade me from wanting to know, though.  I just wish information would've come a little bit quicker.

I like the little added mystery, it was the kind that an experienced reader (adult) picked up on pretty quick, but a younger reader would be wowed with the twist!  I liked all three characters with Kana being my favorite.  The circumstances that lead up to them being left on the island were plausible.  The only thing that made me question is why they ever go back to the island.  They live 14 years away, why would they even both coming back after that time.

There was enough darkness and things that go bump in the constant night that I was having a few nightmares.  The ending was very satisfying for me and it wrapped everything up.  I would like another book in this world, but I don't have to have the same characters.  I would love to know why they feel the need to go back to the island after 14 years away!

To Sum Up:  This one is going to be a big hit in my library.  Creepy, but with some good twists, I think that middle schoolers will love reading this story!

Book from my personal and school library.

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