DNF Review: Department 19

Author: Will Hill
Date of Publication: March 1 2011
Pages: 540
Source: Library

Jamie Carpenter's life will never be the same. His father is dead, his mother is missing, and he was just rescued by an enormous man named Frankenstein. Jamie is brought to Department 19, where he is pulled into a secret organization responsible for policing the supernatural, founded more than a century ago by Abraham Van Helsing and the other survivors of Dracula. Aided by Frankenstein's monster, a beautiful vampire girl with her own agenda, and the members of the agency, Jamie must attempt to save his mother from a terrifyingly powerful vampire.




Review:

I don't often stop reading books, but I was 195 pages in and I wasn't interested in the story at all. I was actually frustrated to the point where I didn't believe continuing Department 19 would bring me any joy.

The writing didn't work for me. I don't know why, but it failed to capture my attention. It had no emotion and it seemed to lack depth or personality. I couldn't read every sentence. I tried not to, but I couldn't help but skip boring parts. The descriptions weren't natural or believable to me.

The thing that turned me off Department 19 was the characters. They made such unbelievably stupid decisions that it was hard to sympathize with them. Jamie is a freaking neanderthal. He is insolent and refuses to listen to anybody. He's mouthy and I can't find anything redeemable about him besides that he loves his mother. I still can't stand him. He throws temper tantrums all the time. Like, he hears something he doesn't like and so he screams and flips over a table with sharp objects that could hurt the people around him. What the hell? Dude you're hurting. Whatever. That's no excuse for acting like an idiot. And this guy thinks he of all people can rescue his mother. With that type of discipline and self control? I don't think so.

Except that's something else I didn't like. He probably will rescue his mom. He's already some sort of prodigy within the department after 24 hours of training. He can already fire a T-Bone (don't ask) straight into the target. He's already from one of the most influential families although they still aren't the most powerful because we're supposed to feel bad for Jamie.

I don't like Jamie. His character rubbed me the wrong way. The story also seems not be my sort of thing which confuses me because this premise is totally my type. I'm disappointed in Department 19 but I don't want to continue reading it. Thus, DNF.

-P.E.

10 comments:

  1. I've never heard of this book before, but from the synopsis it sounds pretty good. Sorry you weren't feeling the book though. I've had a couple of those where I just couldn't get into the story. Thanks for the honest review!

    Janina @ Synchronized Reading

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    1. You never want it to happen but sometimes, books just don't click.

      -P.E.

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  2. I've never heard of this one too, but just by the blurb, it doesn't sound like it would be my thing. That sucks you weren't able to connect to the writing, but it's better to end a book when you're trudging through it with heavy feet. We read to make us happy, and if we're not happy, then there's no point, right ;)

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    1. Exactly! It's a pretty big commitment to read a book especially when you don't have lots of time so for me, I need to read books I enjoy.

      -P.E.

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  3. I'm surprised you made it so far, I usually make up my mind about a book within 10 pages xD I actually had this on my TBR so it's nice to know what it is really about and the issues you had with it. Needless to say, it's not on my TBR anymore!

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    1. I'm surprised too. I kept saying, "maybe it'll get better" and the font was huge too, so that helped.

      -P.E.

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  4. Sad to hear this book ended up not being what you would expect!
    Thanks for a very honest review, though!

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    1. I was definitely hoping for more action and a little more depth, but what you can do?

      -P.E.

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  5. Sorry you didn't like this one. Yeah, I find that books I'm not into rarely get better for me. Though I'm sure there are exceptions that I can't think of off the top of my head….

    Thanks so much for stopping by! Jen @ YA Romantics

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    1. Yeah, there's always a chance they get better but sometimes my patience isn't what it should be.

      -P.E.

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