 So I finally got around to reading Struck by Jennifer Bosworth who is actually not Jennifer Bosworth anymore she's Jennifer Wolfe now, but and I Don't really know how to Introduce this. You know, I don't know how to start this off. There's nothing about this book that like Comes together in such a way that allows me to just say yes, this is what it's about And this is how it made me feel this is the introduction song It's not very good, but it's not too long. The setup for the story is really weird It's about a girl named Mia Price who is addicted to being struck by lightning and So her family moved to Los Angeles where it doesn't rain very often and therefore there's not much lightning But then there is a massive earthquake which destroys most of the city and leaves them cut off from the rest of the world and Then there are two separate cults that think Mia is the key to the end of the world and In spite of that, it's not as weird as it might sound like while you're reading It's not actually that weird or at least it doesn't seem that weird I don't know. Maybe I just got Stockholm syndrome got sucked in or something like It's bizarrely mundane a lot of the time like the actual events of the story aren't that strange up until near the end near the climax the characters don't have any really out there personalities except for like maybe the villain and Like to give you an example of how not weird this feels even though it probably should Despite Los Angeles being, you know destroyed and being cut off from the world and there's very little food very little water and electricity very little medicine and Like law and order has almost completely broken down in spite of all that the main characters all have to go to school still like Mia and her brother Drive to their old high school every day and They go to class there and like they mentioned things are different than they used to be because you know the earthquake destroyed a bunch of stuff a bunch of people are dead, but I It's weird because that's not weird if that makes any sense like this story is full of stuff like that Which is just too mundane and it feels like something that would happen in real life almost even though the circumstances are so out there So this book is weird in some ways because it isn't weird I suppose I should finally get around to saying whether or not I liked this. I did you know I liked it. I wanted to love it though because you know the setup for it is just so Bizarre and out there that I was expecting it to be like really kooky and weird Especially because this is a first-time author like Jennifer Bosworth slash wolf has written other books since then but you know, this was our first one, so I was like, okay. Yeah, weird stuff. Let's see what goes on but I don't know. It just wasn't that weird and there's parts of it which are just like Clumsy and not that well put together. So while again, I did like it. I just I couldn't bring myself to love it It's a good book, but I can't say it's great Part of why it's so difficult to talk about this book is that it's really hard to pin it down or define what it is You know, like it's hard to define what genre it fits into. It's hard to really say what it's about beyond the broad strokes it's hard to point out any like unifying themes or anything like it's just I Don't know it's kind of all over the place and I feel like that should make me hate it But I just I just don't so I'm going to have like a regular review bit And then there will be spoilers and hopefully the spoilers section will give you an idea of just how Weird it was to go through this even though a lot of the events aren't that weird like I keep using the word weird I'm sorry it but that is just the thing that comes to mind whenever I think about pretty much any aspect of this book So like I said earlier, this is a book about a girl named Mia Price. She's addicted to being struck by lightning She's in Los Angeles Big earthquake happens suddenly. It's basically a post-apocalyptic wasteland where everyone is fighting over food and stuff And there are two separate cults that try to recruit her and think that she is the key to Ending slash saving the world There's one called the followers which is led by this guy called Rance Ridley Prophet And if you saw my video on book trailers or you watched my stream where we went over some of them You know what this guy looks like and it's kind of amazing Three days from now God's storm will arrive and cleanse this earth of the wicked Only you my followers will be saved Also, yes, his name is Rance Ridley Prophet like they mentioned in the book He had his last name legally changed to Prophet Because subtlety, I guess I don't know and he just runs a cult called the followers And there are these people called the seekers who tell Mia that she has special powers and the seekers also have crazy special powers and I mean, that's not really a spoiler that happens like really early on and I think you could probably figure there's something supernatural going on here just based on the premise But still that that's basically what's going on here and also there is A skyscraper which is entirely a nightclub Like yeah at the epicenter of the earthquake all the buildings went down except for this one skyscraper which is just standing there tall and Defiant I guess but it's just turned into one giant nightclub now And it's just constantly full of people called rovers who don't really do anything in the story Like there's no characters who are important to the plot who are rovers the rovers as a group don't really do anything They're just there Filling up that entire skyscraper and throwing a party at the end of the world This book is very much a standalone, you know, like by the end of the story It doesn't end on like a cliffhanger or anything and I feel like I got Most everything out of it, you know, I feel like there's a beginning There's a middle and there's a satisfying conclusion or at least mostly satisfying conclusion but it is open for sequels at the same time and I mean this was uh 2011 I think is when it came out So that was like, you know when the dystopia boom was super big and everyone was trying to cash in and be the hunger games and This one it might sound kind of like it's one of those and it is definitely drawing some inspiration from it But it's really not it's very much its own thing and the fact that it's not a series It's not stretched out more than one book is kind of proof of that The book also is not particularly long or short like it's a little under 400 pages. You can see there It's it's not that thick, uh, but it's a decent length But it feels really short, you know looking back on it It feels like not that much happens and that sounds like a criticism But not really because usually when you say not much happens in a book That's because it's boring and events don't really They aren't that exciting and they don't feel like they're leading into one another or anything And this one we have some problems with that like a lot of the plot is basically just Mia meeting somebody And getting into trouble and then Mia meeting somebody else and then getting into trouble And Mia meeting somebody else and getting into trouble and all the while there's exposition going on But like it doesn't really seem to build to anything until near the very end when The villain becomes a bigger deal and then his plan comes into motion and then we go to the climax But yeah up until then it's just like yep. Here's Mia meeting Jeremy Who is like I guess her bad boy love interest or whatever. Here's Mia meeting Katrina who is One of the seekers who tells her that she has special powers Here's her going to buy something from a drug dealer, but then things go wrong You know, it's like it's it's an issue with the story structure and pacing and Like again, it's not horrible because most of these events are fine on their own Like they're not individually boring, but looking back on it It just feels like it goes by really quick and not always in a good way The villain rance ridley profit seems like really powerful and intimidating at first, you know He has the minds of his followers in his grip just by speaking to them, you know And hell he's even blind and he is still Really good at getting people onto his side like Like I don't know how to explain it But you know, he seems like a very powerful cult leader Even before the world ended or the world didn't end But even before the massive disaster that destroyed most of Los Angeles And then after that disaster happened and people are looking for hope and stuff Like he takes advantage of their fear and their despair and he brings in more and more people into the fold and He seems like you know like a big threat Like he's very intimidating and kind of scary because you're thinking like yes This is how cult leaders work But then near the end and I guess my old spoiler here We find out he has just mind control powers And I mean again, this is a story about people with weird powers It's not that strange that the villain would have him, but you know again minor spoiler But yeah, like that's how he gets so many people onto his side and honestly that just made him Lesser of a villain for me, you know because he Just it seems so much more Potent, I guess if if he's just manipulating people with his words, you know Because that's how real cult leaders do it It makes him seem a little more real a little more human, I guess and that just makes him scarier Whereas this he's just like yes the magic bad guy who uses his magic powers So again, this is uneven like he's really good And then he's not at the beginning of the story Mia seems like an addict, you know again She's addicted to being struck by lightning it makes her Well, honestly the way it's described it seems like it makes her kind of horny But whatever that that seems unintentional But you know, it seems like this would be a story about her, you know Trying to recover and trying to accept herself and trying to understand herself and about self control and all that But her arc is really more about protecting her brother and her mom And I mean, I guess there is some stuff about accepting herself like acknowledging she has these powers and everything but it it's just So all over the place. It it's weird and like again these individual arcs aren't bad It just starts off like one thing and then suddenly it's another There's Jeremy who at first seems like he'll be You know a villain at first and then he'll slowly grow to love her or something and then he'll be her bad boy love interest But there's really no process of him turning good He just kind of seems like a villain at first and then he's good Like I mentioned earlier this setting seems like it's in the middle of an apocalypse You know, there's the earthquake which destroyed los angeles and then it's mentioned that there are massive disasters happening elsewhere too, which are destroying Large chunks of the world at least Which is part of why I was saying it is open for sequels like we don't know exactly what's causing all that But it doesn't seem natural and it's mentioned that the united states is at war with a bunch of other places Which is part of why their uh relief efforts in los angeles are so crappy So like it's in the midst of an apocalypse But the characters also go to high school And they deal with petty drama there like not that much, but they deal with petty drama there Uh, it seems like there would be a whole lot of time devoted to Mia trying to control her powers and learning what her powers even are because like Even after reading it. I can't exactly define what they are but There's very little of that, you know, this book just seems like it's going in so many directions and then it goes in different directions and That would make it seem almost like it's unfocused, but it doesn't feel unfocused This book is so uneven, but at the same time I've liked so much of it. You know, I did like Mia, she's a Fun protagonist to follow. Uh, I did like her relationship with jeremy well enough. I didn't think it was amazing But I mean, he's at least not abusive or anything I liked Some of this setting that they built like they didn't really dive into it that much But I I liked it, you know, I liked the villain for a while But we didn't get that much about his personality or anything And like I said, he becomes less intimidating once we realize he has powers, but I don't know at the same time I just I liked this book. I I can't even point to exactly what it was But just the way all of these parts clumsily meshed together just I was into it So I don't know if the if the idea of the premise interests you at all I would say check it out at least, you know, maybe maybe don't buy it, but at least read sample pages on amazon or check it out from the library or something And if it doesn't hook you then maybe you're just different than me, but I don't know I was into it But that's about all let's go to the spoiler section and hopefully that will help things make a little bit more sense You're right. Hey So as I said It feels like very little actually happens in this book even though looking back on it I can point to a fair number of individual events, you know Like we have Mia meeting the followers, Mia meeting Jeremy, Mia meeting the seekers And the climax and there's a scene where she goes looking for her brother and goes to the giant tower nightclub Out of all the weird stuff in this book that is the thing that really sticks out in my mind like why Why is that a thing? But then we get to near the end of the book like the last quarter of it maybe the last 20 percent and then Her mom who has been kind of brainwashed by the prophet already gets like full on brainwashed by him And then Mia also gets full on brainwashed by him and Then he's going to use them to do his evil plan, which is to destroy the world We don't really know why he wants to do this or what his goal is for afterwards But he he wants to destroy the world And so he sets up this wedding where he's going to marry Mia's mother Okay, and she manages to break through his mind control a little bit before this And then he also brings in all of his followers and Some of them also have powers It's it's really not explained how these work Just like some people have a lot of energy in them and can affect energy around them And Mia has like a whole bunch because she's the protagonist. She has to be super powerful And He's also going to be broadcasting it on tv and basically even though there is no storm. He wants to summon another storm It which will then the lightning will strike In the fault in the tectonic plates and cause another earthquake But this one way bigger and it will cause like a chain reaction of other earthquakes and tsunamis and volcanoes going off and stuff and that that'll destroy the world and The way he's going to do this is again by just He's convinced all the followers that the storm is going to happen and again some of them have powers and so Like all their powers are being subconsciously combined together And then he also wants Mia to be there as the final ingredient to like really summon the storm And I know this sounds like weird and kind of vague and that's what it is like you understand it well enough to like Feel as if there's not really any plot holes or anything But still it is kind of odd how vague all of this is so prophet forces Mia to like get the storm started and it starts going and then the seekers come and they use their powers to fight a little bit And Mia like overcomes everything and she kills prophet using her powers And her mom seems like she's about to die But then she strikes her excuse me with lightning and it like cauterizes the wound on her neck because prophet slit her throat and She lived I don't know how well that would actually work, but okay sure whatever And then They're on the beach while this happens and then she like runs to the giant rave tower And stands on top and then she like gets struck by more lightning and just absorbs the whole storm into herself And prevents it from destroying the world And then after that her and jeremy are a couple And I mean it's kind of insta-lovy You know like again, they didn't seem like they hated each other up before this point They did seem like they were at least getting along as friends, but I didn't feel any chemistry or romantic connection between them But yeah, they're a couple now and then that is just That's the end of the book Another reason why it felt like this was kind of prepping for there to be sequels But then they just they never came out and I highly doubt there ever will be any like I know there is a spin-off prequel novella, which I believe follows Jeremy before the events of the story, uh, but yeah, it's I don't think there'll be any sequels because it's been almost 12 years since this came out and the author has not Touched it since and in fact she seems to be focusing more on screenwriting now, which I mean fair enough but yeah, she's she's not writing books anymore, but yeah, like that's uh that's the end and mia It gets struck by lightning and gets more scars because from the beginning of the book she covers up most of her body because After being struck by lightning she has like these weird red lines which are scars all over her except for like her neck up And then after being struck again at the end of the book It also covers her face and she has like red veins in one of her eyes now And it seems like it's saying okay. She's super powered or something So I don't know it just there's things here that seem like they're hinting at a sequel to come but it just it never did And yeah, that was that that's struck Like I said, there's not really any unifying themes here That tie it all together. The story is very clumsily put together The world building is surface level at best And yet I just I really liked it and I want more And I can't exactly explain why which is a little embarrassing as a critic, but you know, I just I don't know something about struck just really grabbed me And I mean we're probably never getting more, but I did enjoy it a lot. So Yeah, those are my scattered thoughts on this very scattered weird book But I I mean I I didn't hate it. That's all Subscribe and watch the video and ring the notification bell like like the video comment on it Share it around all that stuff. 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