I have been waiting a long time for this book. I had to settle for the CD version, as the print copy still isn’t available in the U.S. However, listening to the book on CD made exercising and housework fun for awhile!
On the whole, it is a worthy addition to The Ellie Chronicles. The war is now done, although there is still plenty of “unofficial” violence. Ellie is working her parent’s ranch, and caring for Gavin, a troubled war orphan. She tries to balance these responsibilities with her desire to help protect her country. Ellie is a very analytical person, and her reflections on friendship, responsibility, war, terrorism and violence add a deep dimension to a book that otherwise could be just mindless action scenes. This leads to my main complaint about the book. Some of the action scenes seemed to be needlessly drawn out by Ellie’s inner monologues. Sometimes they would go on for so long, I’d forget that she was driving a jeep through the outback while being shot at by enemy helicopters. However, since I was listening to the book instead of reading it, I think this bothered me more than it normally would. Usually, I just skim if the action slows down, but that’s hard to do on a CD!
On a side note, I very much enjoyed the reader, Mikaela Martin. She is so easy to listen to, and her Australian accent is delightful.
From the outside, Kirsten and Walker have nothing in common. Kirsten is a rich, white girl who lives in a nice home with her parents and sister. Walker is a black boy who lives with his single mom in a run-down part of town. Choldenko writes an interesting story about two middle schoolers who start out as strangers, and end up supporting each other through the trials of family and life in 7th grade. In the process, Kirsten and Walker discover that they have more in common than they ever could have imagined.
