Truancy: Final Review

Raven concludes her review of Truancy by Isamu Fukui.

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Now that I've finished Truancy, I have to say I hesitate to recommend it 100%. I still love the setting, this dystopian society centered around an oppressive school system (what can I say, I hated school). I was impressed with the characterization (with one exception), and I particularly liked the characters of Umasi, a pacifist who refuses to side with either the Truants or the Educators, and Zyid, leader of the student rebellion known as the Truancy. I thought they were masterfully portrayed as individuals with deeply-held beliefs, and their relationship with one another was also very well done. I liked that Isamu Fukui didn't hold back with these characters but put them in situations where their beliefs would be tested.

The story remained simple, but as I mentioned before, there were many facets to each side in the overall struggle between Truants and Educators. Neither side was portrayed as all bad or all good, although the Truants were clearly better than the Educators. But on both sides everyone had his or her own agenda, which sometimes clashed with the larger agenda. Fukui switches point of view a lot, taking readers into the heads of people on both sides (and into Umasi's head as well), so we get a rounded picture of all the action and what everyone is doing. The political and personal aspects of the story were nicely intertwined.

For most of the time I was reading the book, I was prepared to give it a solid recommendation. Granted, there were a few weak spots here and there. Fukui's narrative style includes a lot of varied dialogue tags (observed, agreed, declared) and a lot of adverbs. What I found was that during the tense moments these didn't bother me because I was so focused on the story, but during scenes with less conflict they tended to stand out and sound awkward. And certain scenes involving Tack (the main character) and his sister came across as overly peaceful and conflict-free (I don't want to say boring, because they weren't, but they were a little too rosy). However, I eventually realized what these scenes had been setting up, so I was prepared to forgive Fukui for including them.

Another thing I was prepared to forgive was the somewhat flat main character. Tack has great motivations for everything he does, and he's a good person who wants to do what's right even if he sometimes fails to do so, but ultimately he didn't quite click as a character. He was less interesting than Umasi, Zyid, or even the Mayor of the City.

But even this wouldn't have stopped me from giving Truancy a wholehearted recommendation. What changed my mind was the ending, which I found dissatisfying. Although Tack's plotline was resolved, Fukui left dangling several fascinating mysteries about Umasi and Zyid. Considering these characters' central role in the story and the way information about them had been steadily doled out as the story progressed, I felt Fukui had created an expectation that these mysteries would be resolved by the end. When they weren't, I felt cheated, especially because they had been a large part of what kept me turning the pages. It's also difficult to fully understand the story's world and these characters' motivations without knowing their complete history. A prequel called Truancy Origins will be coming out and should answer these questions, but I couldn't see any reason for Fukui not to resolve them in this book (incidentally, Fukui also has a third book planned; this information is on the Truancy website at www.thetruancy.com).

Besides this, the pacing in the last two chapters seemed to be off, and the focus shifted from the political story to one specific personal story instead of keeping them intertwined and balanced as Fukui had successfully done until then. Twenty-five pages were devoted to resolving one key relationship, and although it was an important one, I felt the other aspects of the story suffered as a result. The tone also changed, becoming more sentimental. Finally, Fukui seemed to be straining to make the point that violence isn't the answer. That conclusion didn't feel completely organic to the plot.

My ultimate verdict? I really enjoyed this book up until the last two chapters. I'll be reading Truancy Origins when it comes out. But I still have reservations about Truancy based on the ending. You've been warned.

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Links for Truancy:
All Raven's posts on Truancy
Original Debut Showcase
Author's website and forum

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."

Truancy - Initial Impressions

Raven is reviewing Truancy by Isamu Fukui this week. Here is the official blurb:

In an alternate world, in a nameless totalitarian city, the autocratic Mayor rules the school system with an iron fist, with the help of his Educators. Fighting against the Mayor and his repressive Educators is a group of former students called the Truancy, whose goal is to take down the system by any means possible—at any cost.

Against this backdrop, fifteen-year-old Tack is just trying to survive. His days are filled with sadistic teachers, unrelenting schoolwork, and indifferent parents. Things start to look up when he meets Umasi, a mysterious boy who runs a lemonade stand in an uninhabited district.

Then someone close to Tack gets killed in the crossfire between the Educators and the Truants, and Tack swears vengeance. To achieve his purpose, he abandons his old life and joins the Truancy. There, he confronts Zyid, an enigmatic leader with his own plans for Tack. But Tack soon finds himself torn between his desire for vengeance and his growing sympathy for the Truants….

I'm only about three or four chapters into Truancy, by Isamu Fukui, but I can already see why this book has the potential to become a cult classic among young people, especially high school students. In a city run by oppressive Educators, students struggle to keep their heads above water while dealing with teachers whose primary goal is to trample them down. It reminds me of my own schooldays!

Actually, I'm not joking. The book has the ring of truth. Of course, the situation in the book is exaggerated, but it feels very real. Anyone who's had bad experiences in school will be able to relate to this story. I'm sure it helps that it was written by someone in the educational system (Fukui is in high school). I'm just wondering whether his teachers have blacklisted him.

Fukui has stated that part of his goal in writing this book was to show that violence isn't the answer. Well, currently some of the characters are pretty convinced that violence is the answer, so I'm interested to see how Fukui twists the story and proves them wrong. Initially the book seems as if it could be a standard "rebels fighting oppressor" story set in an education-centered world (the rebels are young people appropriately known as the Truancy), but I don't think it's going to be standard. We'll see.