Switched (Trylle Trilogy #1)

Switched by Amanda Hocking
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Well, this was interesting.
I've read and heard some much about Amanda Hocking lately - even an article on a major Italian newspaper - that i finally decided to give it a try.
I'd like to start by saying that this is my second attempt at a self published author and the first one didn't go well. The other book I read was ALMOST HUMAN ~ The First Trilogy ~ 3-in-1 Edition and the main problem with it was the editing. The book was probably 150 pages longer than necessary and there was so much internal monologue of the characters that i skipped and skipped and skipped.

With Switched the fundamental problem is basically the same: editing. This book is better than the one i mentioned above but it still needs a professional hand working through it. It certainly does not need to be cut. On the contrary. It jumped from action to action to action without much character reflection at all. Wendy goes from finding Finn creepy to falling in love with him without maturing the feeling inside her at all. BAM! I've fallen for him.
The dialogue is horrific at times, there are long parts where the characters are just bickering and repeating things over and over.

The second part of the book was definitely better than the first. The writing flowed better, even the dialogue got better and I almost never "furrowed my brow" like the characters so many times did. I was kind of shocked at the end when the escape scene is described in, like, 20 lines. It felt like Hocking was tired of writing or had finished her word count for the day and decided to cut it short.

Plotwise once again i can't really say this book was anything new or original. I appreciated the Troll theme - that is new - but the rest is pretty much standard in YA lit now. Finn, especially, reminded me of a mix of Patch from Hush, Hush (the stalking) and Sonny from Wondrous Strange.
Wendy I didn't like AT ALL. What a pain in the ass she is. She kind of sounds like a badass at the beginning and then she turns in this whiny, please Finn save me thing. Tove and Rhys I liked, especially Tove, an interesting character with a lot of potential. Matt is a totally underdeveloped character and i'm guessing we'll see more of him in the next installment.

All in all, I can say this book was OK. Considering it is self published it is even good. But I also think that Hocking needs to mature as a writer, get published and acquire some new ideas. I will be looking for her work in a few years time.


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