Review - Numbers by Rachel Ward

Numbers by Rachel Ward

Published 8th November 2008 by The Chicken House 

Star Rating - *.5

Goodreads Challenge - 85/50

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Since her mother's death, 15-year-old Jem has kept a secret. When her eyes meet someone else's, a number pops into her head - the date on which they will die. Knowing that nothing lasts forever, Jem avoids relationships, but when she meets a boy called Spider, and they plan a day out together, her life takes a new twist and turn 

My Thoughts 

This wasn't what I was expecting at all. I picked it up a while back based on the premise and I'd seen a couple people mention it and based on these things I was expecting a sci-fi/dystopian novel, full of action and adventure, but that wasn't what this was and to be honest I was a bit disappointed. When I started I was interested, I liked the writing and Jem's personality. I thought she was quite edgy and I was looking forward to seeing how her unusual ability fit into the story but this didn't continue. After the initial event everything seemed to go downhill. It was just a story about Jem and Spider on the run. Nothing else really happened and we didn't really see Jem's ability come through again other than her obsession over Spider's number. It got to the point where I found myself skim reading as the story just wasn't holding my interest.

When I first started the story I felt sorry for Jem as a character. She had had a hard start in life, loosing her mum and growing up in foster care, I could relate to that. I understood her want to distance herself from other people and her difficulty making a sustaining relationships with others but in the end I just found her to be annoying. She was full of self pity and it was only near the very end of the book that she finally realized that not everyone is out to get her. I also found Spider to be really irritating, I don't know what it was about him, his personality just annoyed me. The big thing that really bugged me though was how stereotypical the characters were. Spider especially, was doing all of the things people would 'expect' a black lower class boy to do such as, drug dealing, stealing cars and being on the run. This just didn't sit right with me. In my opinion we should be doing things to debunk these stereotypes not support them. I understand that the author may have done this so people can see the struggles that certain people are up against and I did appreciate how Spider cared for Jem as their relationship progressed. I just would of liked the characters to be a little less stereotypical.

Overall I didn't really like this one. It stared off on a negative as it really wasn't the story I was expecting to read and then it didn't really get any better. There are two other books in this series, which I own, and unfortunately I will be unhauling these. It is a shame as the premise was really interesting to me but you can't enjoy them all.

Overall Rating (1.5*)