Reviews for The Fight for Arkenvald

The average rating for The Fight for Arkenvald based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-12-09 00:00:00 Max Strickland Loved this book when I was a kid.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-12-17 00:00:00 COUTOULY PASCAL Why was such an ineptly conceived and badly written book published? Am I missing something? Jane lives with her grandmother in the remote British village, Lydcroft. She goes around with two young men: Jimmy, whom she had known since childhood, and Alan, who recently moved to Lydcroft with his stepfather, Nick, a London doctor and researcher. When Jane is bitten by a rabbit, she undergoes a personality change and, intermittently, can play the piano and dance, abilities she lacked before. Machines upset Jane, and when agitated, she telekinetically destroys them. When Jane causes the television to explode, her grandmother is killed. Jane’s scientist neighbor, Miss Cotterel, gives Jane a home, but locks her in at night. Examining Jane’s blood under a microscope, Miss Cotterel and, subsequently, Alan’s stepfather, Nick, learn that Jane is a host for extraterrestrial parasites. Not only is the science utterly unconvincing, but the characters are plunked into the novel with no back-story. Why does Nick, an eminent physician and researcher, leave London for a remote backwater like Lydcroft? Why should Alan and Jimmy, who obviously dislike one another, be inseparable companions? How can Miss Cotterel and Nick INDEPENDENTLY OF ONE ANOTHER conclude from Jane’s blood that she has been infected by extraterrestrial parasites, activated by starlight? Despite its unconvincing science, POWER OF STARS might have worked if the characters had exhibited the slightest tenderness or concern for one another. Lawrence’s characters are continually enraged, interacting only through petty bickering. Stephanie Meyer’s YA novel, THE HOST, provides an instructive contrast. Meyer’s rather silly novel has the same premise: extraterrestrial parasites travel from planet, seeking living entities as hosts. In contrast to POWER OF STARS, however, THE HOST works (sort of) because the reader sympathizes with the unexpected tenderness that develops between human host and alien. In contrast, the reader neither identifies with, nor feels the slightest affection for, anyone in POWER OF STARS.