A quick disclaimer:
I’ve never been much of a YA reader.
But with the growth of the genre, I’ve checked out a few things &
have been pleasantly surprised. Pantomime, however, seems much closer
to the core of the genre, & as such I’ve had some problems.
It’s very difficult to discuss any sort of plot points
without dropping massive spoilers. The
majority of the book centers on Micah, a teenager who has run off to join the
circus. In the background we have
vestigial technology from a former civilization, as well as hints at mythology
which provide clues to Micah’s identity.
The prose in Pantomime is gorgeous. Evocative and fleeting, Lam proves herself as
a wordsmith. Additionally she does an
excellent job of characterization. While
the cast of characters is relatively small, there is nice development of each
of them, with each character having distinctive voice and motivation. Additionally, I really enjoyed her approach
to world building. Rather than having
long infodumps, Lam parcels out the history of the world piece by piece, slowly
adding information and creating mysteries to be solved later.
My problem comes with the central conflict in the book. At its heart, Pantomime is about Micah’s journey of self-discovery. Micah is slowly building a personal identity
that is independent of the one that had been received. It’s all very well written, and surely
central to the core of YA. But as a
reader, it’s just not a conflict that I find compelling. Since this is so central to the book, I wouldn’t
recommend this to someone, like myself, who is not heavily into YA books.
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