Review: Numbers

 

Title: Numbers

Author: Rachel Ward

Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic

Release Date:  February 1st 2010

Where to Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Borders

 Whenever Jem meets someone new, no matter who, as soon as she looks into their eyes, a number pops into her head. That number is a date: the date they will die.

Burdened with such an awful awareness, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. But while they’re waiting to ride the Eye Ferris
wheel, Jem notices that all the other tourists in line flash the same number. Today’s number. Today’s date. Terrorists are going to attack London. Jem’s world is about to explode!

Note: There are spoilers throughout this review. Proceed at your own will.



Numbers by Rachel Ward has such a compelling description that I had wanted to get it since I first saw it's spine on the shelves of Barnes and Noble. I love stories that combine things like math and numbers or futuristic things because they're such a breath of fresh air to everything else.

I'm sorry to say that I was just a little disappointed. The story is supposed to be about a girl who sees numbers when she looks into the eyes of people. Those numbers represent the day they're supposed to die. However, when I started reading the story, that became mostly like the underlying theme. It was what connected events, but it wasn't the point of the story.

Jem, the main character who sees the numbers, becomes involved with a kid named Spider. They become good friends, but all of a sudden their world is upturned when they're caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. That accident causes them to high tail it out of their home in London while the police chase them down across the country. That there was the main plot. And I disliked it. I was hoping for a story delving into the options of having this power of seeing death dates and where to take it. But no. That wasn't the case at all.

Again, as I've said in many other reviews, I dislike stories where a young teenage girl claims to fall in love and becomes pregnant. While I think Spider and Jem had a good non-cheesy relationship, I disagree wholeheartedly with the pregnancy issue. She gets pregnant at 15 for Pete's sake! I can't help but wonder what kind of message these books send out to all the teens reading them. I know there's tons of teenagers out there like that now, but that doesn't make it okay and Num8ers just falls right into line with the many books promoting teenage pregnancy.

The only thing I did like about the book without a downfall was Ward's writing style. It was so incredibly unique and new. The little jokes and such made it all even better. Sure, there were somethings I didn't quite get because it's England jargon, but it wasn't hard to figure it out.

Over all, it's an interesting read, but it fell short of it mark in my opinion.

I gave it 3 sporks