Challenge the first: Read the bookI guess if you really think about it, I failed this challenge. This books was a big, fat DID NOT FINISH. I saw the book on one site or another a good while ago and thought the premise was really, really interesting. I gave it a shot, but why torture myself into reading something I didn't like?
Book Title/Author: Cycler by Lauren McLaughlin
Publisher/Year Published: 2008 by Random House Books for Young Readers
Where I got it: library
Rating: DNF
This book has such a great premise. A girl turns into a guy for 4 days every month. Awesome! Tell me more! What is that like? How does she use this special power? What would I do if I gender-swapped once a month? Well, in the disappointing turn of how this story was written, Jill uses meditation to block out her alter-ego, Jack, and instead focuses on being a complete parody of a woman trying to subversively trap herself a man.
No really.
Are you kidding me?! You have such a unique premise for a story! But instead it gets turned into "How do I get him to ask me to the prom?!" Not even just that really, but "How can I use the subtle art of manipulation and bitchery to snag myself a man."
Jack was... slightly better, but probably because we were with him less. But he too was a farce of masturbatory tendencies.
Maybe this was meant as a satire against gender stereotypes, fighting against the man through showing how silly one could be. If this was the intent, it did not come across that way to me. I don't know if it would to the target audience (since it is YA I assume this is teenage girls), but something tells me that at this age, most people would not be looking for the deep message and instead focusing on the surface.
In short, I didn't finish. And I don't want to. From what I can tell, this is nothing special. Just a great concept with no payoff.
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