Author: Lana Krumwiede
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Whitney Finalist
This book would be rated: G or PG
In Taemon's world, people don't use their hands. Instead, they channel their powers to do things like open doors, make meals, and feed themselves. And at the beginning of Freakling, Taemon seems to be at home in his world, except for the small fact that he seems to have extra powers-- the ability to see into the future, to understand the inner workings of objects. In Taemon's world-- these extra powers are dangerous.
But Taemon also has a more immediate threat-- his older brother. Within the first fifty pages of the novel, Taemon loses his traditional powers, which renders him even more vulnerable and gets him exiled from his home. Greater dangers are looming on a larger scale as well.
I loved the first few chapters of Freakling. The descriptions of the way Taemon's world works were so interesting, and I loved learning about the tensions within his community and his family. But after the accident which took Taemon's powers took place, I felt like the story went in a different direction than I had expected-- it started out with a lot of internal conflict but gradually shifted to where the external conflict seemed more important. So the second half of the book didn't match the promise of the first half, but the concept of the book was interesting, and Krumwiede sowed many seeds that can be resolved in future installments of Taemon's story.
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