The Scavenger by Aidan Lucid
[Review]
Synopsis
"A trio of friends leap into a mystical and dangerous adventure to better their troubled lives in The Scavenger by Aidan Lucid. A coming-of-age story with heavy allegorical elements, this YA novel highlights the power of friendship amidst struggle, and reveals the hidden consequences of chronic trauma, bullying, and abuse in young people. The story may have undertones of “be careful what you wish for,” but the themes Lucid explores are important and timely. Blending fantastical elements with relatable relationships, authentic dialogue, and common struggles too often left undiscussed, this book does what YA literature should always strive for ”" educate, entertain, and inspire." - Self-Publishing Review.
Three Separate Wishes. One Twisted Nightmare!
Just like Hopps Town, their humble home, Jessica Barlow, Jared Duval, and Adrian Cole are fostering dark secrets. Plagued by loss, cruelty, and physical abuse, these friends are kindred spirits, bound by anguish and elusive dreams. They’re soon to find the key to change, but any happy future will demand they face a haunting past and brave a lethal present.
Deep in the forest on the outskirts of town, aging and nearly forgotten, there stands a well from another time. Happening upon this relic, Adrian goads his companions to join him in making a wish. Soon, difficult though it is to admit, their luckless lives do seem to shift. The only problem is, the changes aren’t at all as they’d imagined. Seemingly, they’ve only left the pan to face the fire.
Should they hope to both survive and thrive, they’ll need to pool their wits and draw on mystic inner-power. Solving Hopps Town’s greatest mystery now means life or death.
Review
Be careful about what you wish for
This story is told through the eyes of three teenagers Jared, Adrian and Jessica who are all locals at Hopps Town. The story is dark from the moment you begin it which definitely had me engaged from page one. Jared is from a religious family but his mum is struggling to come to terms with Jared's sexuality as she doesn't view being gay as part of God's plan, however, it is clear from the start that she does love her son. By all accounts, Jared's home life seems like a relatively happy one but at school is tormented by a homophobic bully who is making his life hell, he just wants to escape her grip and find someone with who he can be happy with. One point of concern for me about Jared is that his character seems underdeveloped, the author had a great chance to really dive into the issues surrounding his sexuality but chooses never to really delve into it and it seems like a great lesson that could have been taught was missed, nevertheless, Jared was a likeable character who easily kept me entertained, I just wish there was more depth to his character. A further issue that I had with this character was that the author states that he is a black male which is enough in itself but the author then goes on to make Jared speak completely different to his other friends as if to highlight that Jared is black, it seemed excessive and needless.
Jessica's home life is in ruins, her mother has completely turned her back on her since Jessica's father disappeared, again I think a more in-depth back story as to why her father left would have been great and why exactly her previous loving mother turned into such an abusive and hateful woman towards her daughter. Jessica's mother seemingly takes a u-turn and become the loving mother Jessica has longed for but there is a much darker reason as to why this has happened. I thought Jessica was an ok character but felt more could have been done to make her character more complex.
Adrian is the guy that all girls swoon over but really he just wants someone beautiful to love. I found Adrian much harder to like, I felt like his whole character was very bland and that he wasn't really necessary for the story.
Overall, the book was very engaging and it's great for a quick spooky read, however, I feel like the author made potentially brilliant characters but didn't develop them enough. I really enjoyed the plot which serves as a warning to be careful about what you wish for. Aidan is clearly talented and I feel with just a few tweaks he could really perfect his work.
Thank you to Aidan for the copy of "The Scavenger" in return for an honest review.
About The Author
Born in July 1981 with a very rare syndrome known as Moebius Syndrome, Aidan has never let that stop him achieving his goals in life. Mr. Lucid began writing back in 2002 after a religious experience. In 2004 after plucking up the courage to send out his material, he was published seven times that year. Over the next decade, Aidan's works appeared in various local and international anthologies, magazines and e-zines. From March to December 2007, Aidan wrote film reviews for the award winning Irish newspaper, "The Kerryman".
In 2019 Aidan's YA epic fantasy novel, "The Lost Son" was published. He hopes to release the sequel in 2020 (Taken from Amazon).
Follow Aidan Lucid on Twitter: @TheZargothian
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