Review and Giveaway The Waves (The Island #2) by Jen Minkman

REVIEW

The Waves is the second book in The Island Series. It can be read independently, but I recommend you to read the first volume too. The Waves presents the life and the point of view of that Fool, the one that Leia (the main character in The Island) meets and that could represent for her and for the other people on the island, a step to a possible better future.

If I liked The Island, I liked even more The Waves. The tone is changing, it’s more serious (without being boring), more profound. The events are harsher (or at least you see them this way because of the atmosphere and the feelings that the author awakes very swift) and the consequences as well. Raised in a society with a strict frame and a doctrine even stricter, Walt will try all the range of emotions: from distrust, disappointment, rage and helplessness, despair, to hope and determination. Intelligent, bold and with a clear mind (with the help of a character that I loved), he will take a decision and will respect it in spite of the possible repercussions. His way of being, of thinking and evolving will make you love him early.

The events in this second book link and sends you to The Island, succeeding this way to satisfy my „demand for more” that I was talking about in my review for the previous volume, fulfilling somehow the story, whether it’s about Leia and Walt’s relationship or the faith of the inhabitants of the island. I could say that I would have liked more Leia-Walt moments, but it’s just a wish, given that I know the characters. More detail, or the centering on this relationship would have been a flaw, if you look at the volumes as a whole.

To be appreciated is the author’s success in creating two different, but credible worlds, starting from the same event. She defined well the human features and the reason of the schism, but also the fact that the totalitarianism and the abuse are easy to obtain, being the vices of the human being.

I was only five, but I still clearly remember feeling a cold shiver running through my body after hearing that last remark. Most children in Hope Harbor are scared of the stories their parents tell them about the Unbelievers: if you don’t visit the temple every week, they will get you in your sleep. If you don’t listen to the priests, they will send you out into the wilderness behind the Wall where the Unbelievers dwell, their robes of black and masks of horror a sure sign of their sinfulness. Once they sink their claws into you, there’s not a chance you will ever return.

But that was then.

I know better now – because I’ve been there, and yet I am still alive.

Romanian:

The Waves este a doua carte a series The Island. Ea poate fi citită de sine stătător, dar eu vă recomand să citiți şi primul volum. The Waves prezintă viața şi punctul de vedere al acelui Fool pe care Leia (personajul principal din The Island) îl întâlneşte şi care ar putea reprezenta pentru ea şi pentru toți oamenii insulei, un pas către un posibil viitor mai bun.

Dacă The Island mi-a plăcut, The Waves mi-a plăcut şi mai mult. Tonul se schimbă, este unul mai serios parcă (fără a fi plicticos), mai profund. Evenimentele sunt mult mai dure (sau cel puțin le percepi astfel din cauza atmosferei şi a sentimentelor pe care autoarea le trezeşte foarte repede) şi urmările pe măsură. Crescut într-o societate cu o organizare strictă şi cu o doctrină şi mai strictă, Walt va încerca toată gama de trăiri: de la neîncredere, dezamăgire, furie şi neputință, deznădejde, la speranță şi hotărâre. Inteligent, curajos şi cu o gândire limpede (cu ajutorul unui personaj pe care l-am îndrăgit), va lua o decizie şi o va respecta în ciuda consecințelor (repercursiunilor) posibile. Modul lui de a fi, de a gândi şi dezvolta te vor face să-l îndrăgeşti rapid.

Evenimentele din acest al doilea volum se leagă de şi face trimiteri la The Island, reuşind astfel să-mi satisfacă acea „nevoie de mai mult” de care vorbeam în recenzia volumului anterior, întregind parcă povestea, indiferent dacă e vorba de relația Leia – Walt sau de soarta locuitorilor insulei. Aş putea zice că aş fi vrut mai mult „Leia—Walt”, dar e doar o plăcere cunoscând personajele. Mai multe amănunte sau axarea pe această relație ar fi fost o greşeală având în vedere volumele ca un tot unitar.

De apreciat este reuşita autoarei de a crea două lumi diferite, dar verosimile , plecând de la acelaşi eveniment. A conturat bine trăsăturile umane şi motivul schismei, dar şi faptul că totalitarismul şi abuzul sunt foarte uşor de „obținut” fiind vicii ale ființei umane.

 

Book #1

Our review HERE

‘I walk toward the sea. The endless surface of the water extends to the horizon, whichever way I look.

Our world is small. We are on our own, and we only have ourselves to depend on. We rely on the Force deep within us, as taught to us by our forefathers. 

If I were to walk westward from here, I would come across a barrier – the Wall. Behind it, there are Fools. At least, that’s what everyone says.

I have never seen one.’

Leia lives on the Island, a world in which children leave their parents to take care of themselves when they are ten years old. Across this Island runs a wall that no one has ever crossed. The Fools living behind it are not amenable to reason – they believe in illusions. That’s what The Book says, the only thing left to the Eastern Islanders by their ancestors.

But when a strange man washes ashore and Leia meets a Fool face to face, her life will never be the same. Is what she and her friends believe about the Island really true?

Or is everyone in their world, in fact, a Fool?

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About the author:

Jen Minkman (1978) was born in Holland, in the town of Alphen aan den Rijn. When she was 19, she moved between The Hague, Salzburg (Austria), Brussels (Belgium) and Cambridge (UK) to complete her studies in intercultural communication. She is currently a teacher of English, career counsellor and teenage coach at a secondary school in Voorburg, Holland. She tries to read at least 100 books a year (and write a few, too!). She is a published author in her own country, and translates her own books from Dutch into English for self-publication.

In her spare time, she plays the piano, the guitar and the violin. For every novel she writes, she creates a soundtrack. 

'I have always been drawn to writing. My first book was a sci-fi novel at the age of eight, which I painstakingly typed out on my dad's typewriter and illustrated myself. Nowadays, I stick to poetry, paranormal romance, chicklit and/or fantasy. In my home country, I am the first-ever published writer of paranormal romance, and I will gradually make my books also available in English (seeing I have to re-write and translate the books myself, this will take some time!).'

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