Truancy: Hard to Put Down

Raven continues her review of Truancy.

Truancy is shaping up to be a quick read that's difficult to put down. I fully intended to stop exactly in the middle to write my mid-read update, but I don't have a lot of self-control, so I kept reading "just one more chapter," and lo and behold I'm now more than two-thirds done.

Fukui has come up with some fascinating characters. The best are the ones with secrets. There's one set of secrets in particular that's being slowly revealed as I move through the book, and I'm dying to know the full truth. Fukui's good at doling out information piece by piece, leaving readers (this reader, at least) eager for more. And turning the page to find out more.

There's a larger secret too, the secret of what the setting for the story - this experimental City run by Educators - really is and what its real purpose is. I'm not sure if that mystery will be resolved by the end or not, but I'm guessing it will.

The story itself is still a simple one, oppressors versus oppressed, but it's not simplistic. Neither side is all bad or all good. Of course, the main character, Tack, has his own personal struggle going on in the midst of this larger story. I'm interested to see how his struggle will be resolved and what impact it will have on the larger, more political story.

I think it's time to pick up the book again and read "just one more chapter."