Thursday 13 August 2015

Review on One For Sorrow




 Tom Afflick is no stranger to time travel, so when he suddenly finds himself once again hurtling backwards through time, this time to 1881 he is slightly more prepared for what is to come. Tom bumps into a man called Lou, who turns out to be Robert Louis Stevenson himself. With the help of new and old friends, Tom must convince Lou to pursue his dream of turning his story, Treasure Island into a book. However, old faces appear, and Tom must once again face his arch enemy, William McSweeney. Will he be able to convince Lou to focus on redrafting his book, or will McSweeney catch him and change the course of history?

I adore the Tom Afflick series and this book was a brilliant end to the trilogy. Tom meets Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of the book that Tom had been reading on the train to Edinburgh. One For Sorrow contains all the action and adventure I have come to expect from this series, and like the previous books, I read it extremely quickly as I just couldn't seem to put it down. It is fast paced and there is never a dull moment. 

Although I was initially sceptical about the return of McSweeney in Seventeen Coffins, I enjoyed his appearance in One for Sorrow almost as much as I did in Crow Boy. I found the explanation for why he was following Tom through time interesting, as it showed that when we are afraid of something we often let it control our lives and try to run away from it rather than facing it head on. McSweeney could be a metaphor for fear itself, as once Tom conquers his fear of McSweeney, he becomes powerless.

One of the main things I loved about this series was the complete lack of romance, so I was slightly disappointed when Tom and Cat's relationship turned romantic. Although it was only a sub-plot, I found it to be unnessiary. If I was a fourteen year old who could time travel, I know that romance would be the last thing on my mind.

I found the ending really interesting, as it was somewhat left over for the reader to decide what happened to Tom. I love the idea that came from one of my favourite authors John Green, that once an author has published their book, it belongs to the reader. I think this is extremely relevant with One for Sorrow, as my interpretation of what happened could be different to someone else's. 


I overall loved this series and highly recommend it to anyone interested in things that are a bit wibbly wobbly timey wimey.


One for Sorrow can be purchased HERE (for U.S residents click HERE)

Be sure to check out the other books in the series, Crow Boy and Seventeen Coffins


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