Extraordinary Means
Robyn Schneider
Lane has been shipped off to boarding school with very little warning. He’s in the middle of preparing for college, and now is stuck in enforced rest – for who knows how long? When he runs into an old acquaintance, who knows what the future will hold for them?
You don’t immediately realise what is wrong with Lane, and I felt myself impatiently waiting for the reveal. The interaction between what I consider the two main characters was shy and tentative, just how I like my romance to be in a young adult novel.
The two perspectives of the novel didn’t feel clearly defined. Most of the time I could tell who was narrating, but at some points I would have been confused if not for the signposting. It’s something that an author can always improve on, and I think we’re going to see more good things from Schneider.
One of the key points to take away from this novel is that being busy to prove yourself sometimes means that you miss out on the finer points of life. Even if you think you’re doing what you want to do, sometimes it’s just nice to sit down – even if it takes awhile for you to get used to it.
The ending of this was bittersweet. Honestly, I couldn’t have seen it ending any other way, but it was still shocking and painful. I found myself reminiscing about the last chapter for a while after I had read it, which is always a good sign.
This novel made me make a new category of fiction. I wouldn’t consider it ‘Dystopian’ because the entire would hasn’t fallen apart. And equally, it doesn’t contain travel into other worlds with other creatures, so I wouldn’t call it ‘Science Fiction’. Instead, I’m thinking that I’ll call it ‘Future Fiction’.
I was sent this novel for review, which always surprises me when it’s a novel with over 200 reviews already on GoodReads. Is this perhaps a new cover? I’m happy to add some more talk about it to the internet – I think anything bringing highlights to antibiotics and infectious diseases deserves some time in the spotlight.
It’s something a little bit different from other things out there at the moment, and that makes me give it 4 stars. I won’t be rereading it any time soon though – I have way too many books on my plate, and I don’t think this one has enough to offer for a second reading.
