Keeper's Book Reviews: Review: Thunderstone by Barbara Pietron

Sneaking out at night, driving without a license, and falling for a guy weren’t things fifteen-year-old Jeni expected to do while visiting Lake Itasca, Minnesota with her family. The guy, Ice, turns out to be the local medicine man’s apprentice, and when he tells Jeni she’s connected to the spirit world, her first instinct is to run. But after Ice’s stories of a mythical underwater monster—that Jeni allegedly released—prove true, she realizes it’s up to her to contain the beast. Jeni must first convince herself that she’s able, and then save the locals, Ice, and ultimately herself.

“…well-written and entertaining…Jeni makes for a likeable protagonist that readers will identify with,” – Publishers Weekly

~A copy was received from Scribe Publishing for review~

I really wish that some authors would try and make more professional-looking covers; this cover looks like something a teen made on Photoshop. The reason I say this is because this book was actually really good and better than I had expected, but it's never something I would have picked up at the library or bookstore. I'm guessing that at least half, if not more, of the reader population judges books by their covers when at the store, and it's not doing authors any good if they don't try and appeal to these "cover-judging" readers as well. And yes, I'm am one of those "cover-judgers."

Ignoring the indie-style cover though, I really enjoyed the plot of the book. The plot took off almost right away, and we pretty much meet all the main characters within the first few pages of the chapter. It basically goes like this: Ice, whose full name is Shattered Ice, is holding out some money to to Jeni in the hope that she'll accept the money and give him the statue she'd just bought but Ice had really needs. Then comes along Tyler, Jeni's cousin, who thinks that Ice is trying to get Jeni as a prostitute or something. A great start to a great book. The above mentioned characters are probably the most important people in the novel, and they're seen a lot throughout the rest of the story.

This was another book that didn't have a love triangle, and in this case, it was a good thing because the simple romance worked between Jeni and Ice. The almost shy advances and straight-forwardness of their love fit the Native American theme of the book, and the fact that Jeni herself seemed to have a connection to the Native Americans - she was what they called a priestess - also helped the comfort between the main characters seem sensible than if they had no connection.

What troubled me after finishing the book was that when I was reading, I felt that there was probably a second book and that this was a series. Everything in the end of this book seemed incomplete; not incomplete with possibilities, but incomplete like "when do we learn the other stuff?" I looked up the series on Goodreads and at least so far, it isn't one. As for now, it looks like this is a stand-alone novel, which personally, I think makes no sense. Still, I didn't enjoy this book enough to want to read the next book, so it won't be troubling me too much.

I did like the relative simplicity of the storyline though, and I liked that this was a pretty fast-paced book. I'd probably recommend this book to middle graders since there isn't too much depth in the story; any teens looking for an easy yet engaging read might also stand to try this out. Overall, Thunderstone was an original read that kept you hooked once you learned about the cat-monster. I really did mean it when I said it was better than I'd expected:)