Amy 
young adult, historical fiction
I did not love this one. I received the ARC of The Arsonist (Stephanie Oakes) from the ALA Midwinter Convention.
The story was told from three points of view in two different time periods--the late 1980s right before the Berlin Wall came down and the early 2000s. Ava's parts were the most interesting. It was told via her diary entries. Her story was intriguing. Molly's parts were told in letters she wrote to the third character while he was in a coma. Sadly, the ridiculous premise that Pepper was failing school and needed to write essays on various school subjects in order to graduate, including the fact that these essays did nothing to prove his academic knowledge, was weak and unrealistic. I wish the author had some better device for his thoughts. The three points of view were intertwined yet convoluted enough to make me have to keep working at remembering the connections. Werner's changing attitude and relationships with the characters, while to be commended, seemed unlikely. And the whole "journey" in which Molly and Pepper had to take part in order to solve the mystery seemed far-fetched…talk about improbable luck.
It had its positive moments and it was unique and creative. But, the characters all bugged me and never seemed real. And the overall storyline was clunky to read and slow-going at times.
The story was told from three points of view in two different time periods--the late 1980s right before the Berlin Wall came down and the early 2000s. Ava's parts were the most interesting. It was told via her diary entries. Her story was intriguing. Molly's parts were told in letters she wrote to the third character while he was in a coma. Sadly, the ridiculous premise that Pepper was failing school and needed to write essays on various school subjects in order to graduate, including the fact that these essays did nothing to prove his academic knowledge, was weak and unrealistic. I wish the author had some better device for his thoughts. The three points of view were intertwined yet convoluted enough to make me have to keep working at remembering the connections. Werner's changing attitude and relationships with the characters, while to be commended, seemed unlikely. And the whole "journey" in which Molly and Pepper had to take part in order to solve the mystery seemed far-fetched…talk about improbable luck.
It had its positive moments and it was unique and creative. But, the characters all bugged me and never seemed real. And the overall storyline was clunky to read and slow-going at times.
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