Among the Imposters was written by Margaret Peterson Haddix. It is the second book in the Shadow Children series. Among the Hidden, the first book in the series, was pulpy. Unfortunately, the second book fails to carry Among the Hidden’s torch. It does not mean that Among the Imposters is not a great book, there are moments of brilliance within its pages, especially in terms of character relations, and what I like to call O crap moments.
A gulping reader could finish reading Among the Imposters in one day. Due to my slower reading speed, and the slow pace of the text, Among the Imposters took me 3.5 days to read. Overall, the readability of this book is strong. It’s a slim volume that packs a punch, but not quite a KO like its predecessor.
The O crap suspenseful section arises at the 60% part of the novel. For me, this section could have come much earlier. Many of the pages before the suspense and rising action are spent developing the protagonist’s character. He does a lot of “gazing at the floor.” The author uses gazing at the floor several times in the text, the first time was okay, but after I read it the third time, frustration started to blossom. The point, I think, was to make Luke appear as a hopeless kid. Later in the text, this strategy does not work, as Luke suddenly becomes brave, meaning the author used a lot of paper to develop Luke’s character in the wrong trajectory. It is assumed that the precursor, Among the Hidden, has been read before Among the Imposters. Why continue to tell readers he is timid for 60% of the text?
Thus stated, not all of Luke’s character development was terrible. Among the Imposters was the first novel that watered my left eye. Mentioning the death of a past character really drove home the emoticons, straight to my heart. It penetrated deep, reaching my facet eye lid. Amazingly, this section really revived the reading experience for me. Haddix does an amazing job making readers care about the relationships between characters, and more important, characters develop through their relations with others. An impressive feat that makes my heart palpitate.
Granted, I was only wet eyed briefly. Maybe my tears should have shed longer and harder had I not been on an MTR to Hong Kong; crying in public is not always the most enjoyable.
Again, Haddix does really well when she pushes a story forward through the relationships of two characters. When a sudden turning point occurs (you’ll have to read the book to find out what happens), the plots moves faster, and the entire pace of the novel picks up.
The ending disappointed, it does not make me want to pick up Among the Betrayed, the third book in the series. Among the Hidden really did inspire me to read Among the Imposters.
Not ready to let go of this series yet. Expectation was set high from the first book, and the second failed to meet the bar.
Summary of the review above:
+ suspenseful after the 60% point.
– Too much time spent developing one character trait
+ Strong readability, packing a punch for readers
– Not as well written, nor as suspenseful as its predecessor, Among the Hidden
+Excellent character development through the relationships of other characters, warning: tears may flow from this text
7/10