Publisher: Blue Crown Press (October 17, 2011)
Format: Kindle Edition
ASIN: B005WXFG54
I have to say I didn’t feel very sorry for the main character of Chand’s book Far Sighted. In fact, I spent much of the story wanting to deliver Alex a good flick to the ear. This is not indicative of bad writing on Chand’s part but in fact quite the opposite.
Alex, the teenage hero, is so believable I did on occassion catch myself muttering “oh get over yourself”. Alex, blind from birth, loves his mother – even if she does baby him somewhat, does not get on particularly well with his father and doesn’t fit in at school.
All of this is exacerbated when two things happen at once: he begins to have visions and a mysterious and exotic new girl at school befriends him.
The visions lead to the discovery of a latent pyschic ability,the new girl his introduction to love.
The teenage characters in this story are strong and believable – being grumpy and a little preoccupied with himself makes Alex more credible in my eyes (I have two teenage sons – I recognise this trait). The issues Alex deals with and his reactions to the girls he becomes friends with are beliavable and move the story forward smoothly.
I found the adults a little less engaging but as they are secondary characters for the main part, this wasn’t really a problem.
Refreshingly the teenage protaganists didn’t save the day by blowing raspberries at the experience of their elders but by drawing on it – while it can sometimes be rewarding to see the youngsters win by breaking the established rules, it’s good to see there is value in those rules,if only occassionally.
There were a couple of weak spots in the story. When Alex’s mother learns of his psychic abilities she is not in the slightest concerned, claiming she had figured it out already. Given that Chand had written her as slightly fragile and a bit over protective of her son, there was a great opportunity here for some great scenes. I hope Alex’s mother gets
a little more of the spotlight in further installments and we get to see her really angry at least once.
The second spot was the ending which came abruptly and without warning. Now there is a caveat with this observation – this is obviously a series in the making and the idea is to get you to read the next book. The technique works brilliantly but the truth is if I don’t get a chance to read Book 2 (I get hit by a bus, fall off the edge of the earth, lose my Kindle)I find it frustrating that
this installment didn’t end….
A good read for teens and great to see a main male character who is an ordinary guy.
Nicely written and bring on the next book.
by Angelique Jurd for The Kindle Book Review
