Review of Blockhead
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Kayla Woodson
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- Latest Review: Blockhead by Kyle J.S. Bardell
Review of Blockhead
[Following is a volunteer review of "Blockhead" by Kyle J.S. Bardell.]
Blockhead by Kyle J.S. Bardell tells the story of Bronco, a young teenage girl who lives on a robotic horse ranch with Jericho and Rue, her parental figures, and Lockett, her lazy younger brother. Bronco dreams of a life away from the ranch, where she only has to be responsible for herself. One day, a woman arrives to take Bronco, along with other teenagers similar in age to her, back to the capital. Throughout the course of this book, Bronco eventually meets people from several different backgrounds, offering her glimpses into how people form groups based on shared ideologies.
Bardell manages to create a vivid, dystopian universe that portrays just how cruel and unjust humanity can become. Every group of humans that Bronco meets within the story of Blockhead is more oppressive than the last, even though they all claim to have run from oppression themselves. Additionally, each group believes humanity should live in different ways; as Bronco is only a young teenager, she is especially vulnerable to these almost cult-like mentalities. Another major theme of the story appears to be family, either shared through blood or experiences. I could tell that even with everything Bronco had endured, she still cared for her family, and chose them over anything else.
Unfortunately, Blockhead fell short of my expectations. During dialogue, there was no mentioning of which character was saying what; when conversations involved three or more characters, this sometimes made it difficult to figure out who was talking. Transitions between chapters were not always smooth. Another shortcoming was the character development; several times during my reading I noticed that Bronco would suddenly start believing and acting in a different way than she was only a few pages before. This made Bronco feel too wishy-washy. There were also many grammar and spelling errors. Lastly, the ending of the book felt like it stopped suddenly in the middle of a chapter, as if Bardell did not know how to tie up his loose ends.
I would rate this book with 2 out of 4 stars. As mentioned previously, there were many grammatical and spelling errors found within the book. Parts of the book felt more developed than others, especially in regards to the sudden ending. Because of these issues, I could not thoroughly enjoy the book as I believed I would. However, this is not to say that the book is completely terrible. Bardell has laid down the bones of what could become a truly incredible story with more editing and development.
There is no sexual content in this book, and very little profanity; while the f-word was used several times by one adult character towards the middle of the book, this was the only curse word that I explicitly found. I would recommend this book to anyone aged 16 and up, based on the themes and messages I explained previously. With the proper development, I could see this becoming a YA novel with the likes of The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner.
******
Blockhead
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Blockhead by Kyle J.S. Bardell tells the story of Bronco, a young teenage girl who lives on a robotic horse ranch with Jericho and Rue, her parental figures, and Lockett, her lazy younger brother. Bronco dreams of a life away from the ranch, where she only has to be responsible for herself. One day, a woman arrives to take Bronco, along with other teenagers similar in age to her, back to the capital. Throughout the course of this book, Bronco eventually meets people from several different backgrounds, offering her glimpses into how people form groups based on shared ideologies.
Bardell manages to create a vivid, dystopian universe that portrays just how cruel and unjust humanity can become. Every group of humans that Bronco meets within the story of Blockhead is more oppressive than the last, even though they all claim to have run from oppression themselves. Additionally, each group believes humanity should live in different ways; as Bronco is only a young teenager, she is especially vulnerable to these almost cult-like mentalities. Another major theme of the story appears to be family, either shared through blood or experiences. I could tell that even with everything Bronco had endured, she still cared for her family, and chose them over anything else.
Unfortunately, Blockhead fell short of my expectations. During dialogue, there was no mentioning of which character was saying what; when conversations involved three or more characters, this sometimes made it difficult to figure out who was talking. Transitions between chapters were not always smooth. Another shortcoming was the character development; several times during my reading I noticed that Bronco would suddenly start believing and acting in a different way than she was only a few pages before. This made Bronco feel too wishy-washy. There were also many grammar and spelling errors. Lastly, the ending of the book felt like it stopped suddenly in the middle of a chapter, as if Bardell did not know how to tie up his loose ends.
I would rate this book with 2 out of 4 stars. As mentioned previously, there were many grammatical and spelling errors found within the book. Parts of the book felt more developed than others, especially in regards to the sudden ending. Because of these issues, I could not thoroughly enjoy the book as I believed I would. However, this is not to say that the book is completely terrible. Bardell has laid down the bones of what could become a truly incredible story with more editing and development.
There is no sexual content in this book, and very little profanity; while the f-word was used several times by one adult character towards the middle of the book, this was the only curse word that I explicitly found. I would recommend this book to anyone aged 16 and up, based on the themes and messages I explained previously. With the proper development, I could see this becoming a YA novel with the likes of The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner.
******
Blockhead
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Blockhead by Kyle J.S. Bardell
