Thursday, April 22, 2010

Book Review: Runaway by Meg Cabot

Previously on Presenting Lenore: AIRHEAD review and BEING NIKKI review. Still, despite this being my review for the third book, you won’t find any spoilers here. So read on!

RUNAWAY surprised me. Usually, you have a real feeling for where a trilogy is going by the third book, and AIRHEAD and BEING NIKKI, though they definitely had their serious moments, struck me more as bubbly and frivolous. So I wasn’t prepared by just how deep RUNAWAY was and by how well it works as a social commentary (and warning?). And it's timely too, considering Facebook's annoucement today. I was like...ok..maybe I should quit Facebook right now?! What are they doing with my personal data? Would they use it like Stark corp does?! I spent a couple hours discussing the ethics issues it brings up with Daniel (and yes, you do wish you could have been a fly on the wall for those conversations…they were fab!)

I really liked how Cabot resolved all the various plot lines and character arcs – and the story feels liked it reached a very natural conclusion. I can’t say I have any complaints with this last installment (though as always, I COULD have had more Lulu – love her!).

But here’s the thing…I kind of wish this series could have been edited down to just one book. Honestly, there was quite a bit of filler I could’ve done without in the first two books. And ok, my imaginary one book story might have clocked in at 550 pages or so, but it would have packed so. much. more. punch.

Still, the first two books are fun enough that it’s no major sacrifice to wade through them to get to this awesome conclusion.

RUNAWAY has just been released in hardcover, so if you had been waiting to start the series, your wait is over.

8 comments:

bermudaonion said...

It's nice to know the series ends well. I hope to start it soon.

Hannah S. said...

Really? It's awesome to hear what you have to say although I thought differently.
I actually preferred BEING NIKKI to RUNAWAY!
However, I agree about it working as just one book... it'd be one book.
Thanks!
Love, Hannah

Steph Su said...

Hah, your review pretty much covers the same exact points as mine: the depth of the conclusion, the resolutions of the many story lines, being better off as one book. Cool!

Liviania said...

I'm one of those people who still needs to start the series. I'm glad to hear good things though; I like Cabot.

Zibilee said...

Glad to see this triple review of sorts, and glad to know that the end of the series doesn't disappoint. I am thinking that these books would be the perfect reads to share with my daughter. Thanks for the excellent review of these books. I will be looking for them!

Alyce said...

I hadn't heard of this series by Meg Cabot, so I'll have to check out your other reviews too.

Michelle said...

I really loved this series. Perhaps Meg could be convinced to do a follow up with LuLu as the central character. What I liked about her was that she was the typically annoying sidekick without the annoying. She was far more endearing than others have written in this same kind of story.

Memory said...

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed this one! I'm really looking forward to reading it as soon as I can get my hands on a library copy. I loved the first two.