Review: Strangelets by Michelle Gagnon

Summary

17-year-old Sophie lies on her deathbed in California, awaiting the inevitable loss of her battle with cancer…
17-year-old Declan stares down two armed thugs in a back alley in Galway, Ireland…
17-year-old Anat attempts to traverse a booby-trapped tunnel between Israel and Egypt…

All three strangers should have died at the exact same moment, thousands of miles apart. Instead, they awaken together in an abandoned hospital—only to discover that they’re not alone. Three other teens from different places on the globe are trapped with them. Somebody or something seems to be pulling the strings. With their individual clocks ticking, they must band together if they’re to have any hope of surviving. 

Soon they discover that they’ve been trapped in a future that isn’t of their making: a deadly, desolate world at once entirely familiar and utterly strange. Each teen harbors a secret, but only one holds the key that could get them home. As the truth comes to light Sophie, Declan, Anat, and the rest must decide what to do with a second chance at life—if they can survive to claim it

My thoughts

I liked reading this story but it has its flaws that made me not love it, even though I was interested in the idea, the science aspects and it was thrilling enough.

What kept me reading was the mystery, the question about what happened to these teenagers, about what is going on. I had absolutely no idea what could have gotten them there right when they were facing death. It takes a long time until you get all the answers and not knowing is what kept me going.

While searching for answers exciting things happen. It is a thrilling story, the teens’ lives are in danger, they face unknown dangers and have to look out for themselves in this strange version of their world without having any clue about what happened.
When I got answers I was fascinated by the idea but was a bit disappointed how fast they solve their problem. It was more pure luck than knowing what they are doing. It would have liked to get more details about the science behind it and get a solution that’s based on knowledge.

The characters, for me the most important thing in a story, weren’t as interesting as the story itself. These teenagers make for a diverse group of people. Everyone of them comes from a different country and they all have different strengths and weaknesses. My problem was that I knew exactly how this group would go on, who would bond with whom and where a love story might start. This group was so predictable. Only one of these characters was able to surprise me and wow, I really didn’t see that one coming.

Michelle Gagnon had a great idea for a story and turned it into a thrilling adventure for this group of teenagers. Sadly I didn’t care much about these characters because they were too predictable, fit too many different cliches for my taste. I enjoyed reading it, I couldn’t put it down because I wanted answers and I’m definitely going to look into her other books.