I received an digital review copy as part of the blog tour in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre:
Age Range: MG
Star Rating: 3.5 stars
Series: standalone
Blurb:
On a remote Scottish island, fourteen-year-old Max’s life changes forever when he loses his hearing in a boating accident. Struggling to make sense of his new life and finding it hard to adapt in school, he begins to notice other — even stranger — changes taking place when a new wind farm appears off the island’s coast.
With the help of three school friends with additional support needs, Max discovers that a sinister scientist, Doctor Ashwood, is using wind turbines to experiment on the islanders. They must find a way to shut down the government’s secret test before it spins out of control.
Blurb taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
WAR OF THE WIND is an interesting sci-fi mystery with great disability representation.
I loved the disability representation in this book. At its heart are four kids with additional needs. We get to see characters who are deaf from birth and those who loose their hearing later in life. They both have different approaches and feelings, therefore, towards their deafness.
I really loved seeing Max adjust to his new situation, all the resentment he has towards his life changing so drastically and anger that it’s changed people’s perceptions of him. It has affected some relationships but also given him this chance to look at himself and his own biases.
This is a story on the Upper MG/Lower YA boundary. It has a focus on friendship with no romance, which was nice. Personally, I’d put it into MG over YA because of the way it tackles emotions – it felt like the discussion and portrayal was aimed slightly younger.
I wish there had been more nuance in the use of wind turbines. The plot does read a bit like a conspiracy theory without a “well these wind turbines were hijacked for evil reasons but that doesn’t make the turbines themselves evil” to balance it out. I wish there had been a nuanced discussion about how there can be a tension between different environmental groups and communities over the placement and effects of turbines.
There are a few throwaway lines early on but then the book just goes into “the turbines are being used to control people and effects animals” without any discussion of the positives. This is a book for kids, and while I don’t think books should whack them over the head with lessons, I do think it’s a bit reckless to tell a story that sounds like a conspiracy theory without any balancing views. If there had been nuance (and thus I hadn’t spent half the time reading going “there’s more to this than is being told”) then it would have easily been a 4 star read.
Read my reviews of other books by Victoria Williamson:
Middle grade:
Standalones:
Young Adult:
Feast of Ashes:
- FEAST OF ASHES (#1)
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 