My Rating - 1 out of 5 stars
Publisher - Library and Archives CanadaGenre - Fantasy
Publishing year - 2019
Language - English
ISBN - 978-1999410810
Pages - 439
My Review -
Boone & Jacque is the first book in Saddleton's Secret series written by A.G. Flitcher. The plot is based on revealing the secrets of the town they lived in. The boys' curiosity leads them to unveil an age-old rivalry between two royal brothers.
Boone's father, Crom, is an alcoholic. He beats his son and wife, Jane, daily. Jacque is a fostered child living with Dontin's family and Boone's neighbor. While Boone comes from a low-income family, Jacque's foster parents are wealthy and consider themselves superior to everyone else. For them, Jacque is nobody; they fostered him to make a good impression on other people. Jacque and Boone both have their fair share of pain in the story, and I feel sad for them, but after a certain point, they just disappoint me.
Spoiler Alert:
Being ten years old, they are egocentric, rude, undisciplined, rebel, and uncivilized; the same goes with all the other characters of this story. It is one of the reasons I was not fond of the novel. Second, the plot has many unnecessary details that made it lengthy but not interesting enough. The things happing in the town with Soka, wild dogs or the way to prison was the only thing that had something engaging; other than that, the narrative seems pretty dull. The way characters behave simply irritated me.
The words that A.G. Flitcher used are not suitable for children; even reading the child misbehaving with an adult or, in the end, Shammy touching Boone's groin is simply ridiculous. The adults also behave erratically and irrationally. Dontin's family is a powermonger and dominating, while Boone's parents are not affluent but have a twisted mind of their own. The narration also indicates prejudice regarding culture and autism (disorder); it proved to be a significant set-off for me.
Apart from the language and characters, the story has gory and distressing descriptions that made this fantasy book inappropriate for children. For me, the plot had the potential to evolve into a splendid tale, but it didn't. The opposing characters didn't leave any powerful impact; all they did was rubbish conversations with each other.
In starting, the story kept me hooked with the fairy tale part and character building, but soon it all goes down. I hope that the author considers these points and works on them for his future projects. This book is not for everyone, and I certainly do not recommend it to kids/teens, but if you do like offensive, erogenous, intense descriptions from a child or an adult's perspective, you can read it.
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