Friday 10 February 2023

Book Review: "Silence is Goldfish" by Annabel Pitcher

Kindle:
Hardcover:
Paperback:
⭐ out of 5

If you've read any of my other recent book reviews, you'll already know that I start 'em all off by saying that each book starts off with the full truck-load of stars and that I'm always hopeful that they will all still be stuck firmly in place by the time I close the back cover.  You'll also know that I always give my reasons for knocking off any stars and that the usual reason for taking a star off a truly fantastic book is because of the use of trademarks or copyrights or whatever.  I've also replaced a star once so far because the author had taken the time and trouble to get permission to use the brand name and that one little sentence at the very end of the book was all it took for me to replace the well-deserved star and made the 4 star book back to the full 5 stars.  It's only happened once so far, but I'm more than willing to do it again each time it happens in future. 

Let's get on with the review, shall we? 

Oh deary me.  I'm only on the second page of the Kindle book and the first star is coming off for the use of a well-known film series... I seriously hope that's the only star lost and that it's replaced if there's that magical sentence right at the end, but for now, we're already down to 4 stars. 

Page 3 has brought another brand name but I've already knocked off a star for potential trademark infringement, so we're still at 4 stars.  It's a good book so far, written in the first person, but how the author managed to sneak two trademarks, in the first few pages of the book, through the production team before publication is beyond me! 

It's a good job that this is a teen book because of all the swearing so early on... not sure I'd want a 12 year old to read it though, so the second star is wobbly, but holding on by the skin of its teeth right now. 

More swearing in the second chapter but a good read despite that.  The second star is still very wobbly, but clinging on for dear life. 

Chapter 3 was good, but more un-necessary swearing that could have had the same effect without swearing, so we're down to 3 stars after 3 chapters, but I won't be taking off any more for trademark infringement or completely unnecessary swearing now, which is a relief. 

Chapter 4 was good... is this the start of the silence bit? 

It's very nearly lunchtime, so I'm gonna leave it there until I've finished eating then I'll crack on with it this afternoon. 

Back now, so lets carry on with the reading... I won't do chapter by chapter comments any more 'cos this review is already too long lol 

Oh dear, now there is talk about male bodies below the waistline... that's too much for 12 year olds so another star is, unfortunately, coming off.  If it was handled more sensitively then it would've been fine, but the more I read the less I think this author knows about her target audience unfortunately.  We're already down to 2 stars at only 10% of the way through, so it's not looking good that I'll even get to 25% and still be reading and reviewing, let alone finishing the book! 

And the final star comes off because of the way a character's name is written and pronounced several times that really isn't appropriate for the age group this book is aimed at, so at 17% I'm officially stopping reading 'cos I can't take any more stars off it now if I needed to.  I had high expectations for this book after all the positive reviews, but it's a huge disappointment to me unfortunately and I don't know how it was ever published.

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