Review of A New War

[Mariah Taylor H]

[Following is a volunteer review of "A New War" by Alexander Farah.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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A New War by Alexander Farah was a decent book to read. I recommend this book to young adults who want to learn how not everything is black or white, as this book demonstrates this principle extremely well.

I gave this book three out of five stars for the way the characters in the book are portrayed. The characters are a little flat in most cases, and downright unlikable in others. The main characters did not seem to learn as the story went on, growing with each other as a story is meant to portray.

For example, the main character Melhel’s defining trait seems to be that he is blunt. That doesn’t change – and given the fact the book is mostly grounded in a political kind of atmosphere, it does not make Melhel likeable, it just makes him predictable and kind of cruel at points. The author could have had Melhel learn throughout the book to be a little more tactful – or at least choose a better time and place to speak so bluntly.

Too much of the book is devoted to telling us the inner workings of that world’s politics and very little of the book contains ‘war’. It’s also a book that has a character expressing shock about the role women have in day-to-day life in the kingdom, but after that, it isn’t really touched upon anywhere else in the book, which can be confusing for the reader. The addition of another female character in the book is welcome but could have been done better, both in the way she was introduced and her role later in the story. The editing of the book might make a few readers put down the book and not open it back up again.

I do feel like there may have been a few too many characters in many scenes; most of the parts I liked were either two or three people in focus. The book was very busy in that sense and left very little room for character development. The book did have a good storyline, even though not every plotline is tied up at the very end. The ending is genuinely a shock, as I did not guess what was coming and was delightfully surprised. It is unclear if this book will be part of a series or is a standalone novel; if it is a standalone, the book does leave a lot of questions unanswered. If it is part of a series, the ending does leave the reader wanting more.

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A New War
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