The Finisher
Hardcover | Kindle Edition
Written by David Baldacci
Scholastic Press
Release Date: March 4, 2014
Cover Price: $17.99
Vega Jane (quite possible the coolest name ever) is a 14 session female Wug. She lives in Wormwood with her brother, works as a finisher at Stacks, and spends time with the stuttering Delph. Everybody’s dirty, everybody’s hungry, and everybody exhausted….everybody….except the Council, of course. Surrounding Wormwood is the Quag, the whole Quag and nothing but the Quag. If you dare to even stick a pinky toe into the Quag, the garms, jabbits, and colossals will get you in a sliver if the freks don’t get you first. Or will they?
Vega Jane is not sure.
David Baldacci’s The Finisher is literally another world from the adult thriller novels he usually writes. This YA first of an obvious series has a very slow start as one tries to navigate the made-up language. It ends up pulling you out of the story in order to decode, rather than allowing you to fully immerse yourself into Wug life. Stick it out though. Baldacci ends most chapters with teasers, urging you to read on like:
“None of them would turn out to be right.”
and
“Until I knew my fate there would be no rest for me.”
Vega Jane’s search for the truth of her past and for all things beyond Quag, lead her to ask frowned-upon questions and search frowned upon (and completely restricted) areas. The Finisher is reminiscent of The Giver with a dash of Pleasantville thrown in. There is also plenty of action, a gargantuan mystery, and enough monsters to fill a Cherry Hill, NJ event. My advice? Stick with the first one or two chapters and you will be rewarded. To help you get through the beginning a little, here’s what you should know:
Session = year
a young = a child
light = day
flame water = alcohol
The rest you have to figure out for yourself.
Have a good light, little Wugs.
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