Title: The Dysasters
Author: P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Series: The Dysasters #1
Liked but didn’t love
I would like to thank P. C. Cast, Kristin Cast, and Michelle Cashman at St. Martin’s Press for inviting me to participate in the blog tour. I received a free ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the abridged non-spoiler version. Find the full spoiler review here.
Jumping right in—the illustrations were my biggest problem with the book. One, my imagination needs the exercise. Two, they interrupted my reading and pulled me out of scenes. Three, they weren’t good illustrations. Four, they weren’t even accurate! Drove me nuts! Save the graphics for the graphic novel, please.
I liked the premise, though I’d rather it have skewed toward fantasy and magic than science fiction, but it was interesting nevertheless, and the Casts didn’t make it complicated. I thought what the protags could do with their powers was cool, if a bit corny. I appreciated that the elements were somewhat sentient, and that each of the elemental powers came with a major weakness.
I related to Foster because I’m just like her—a sarcastic introvert who generally doesn’t like people or want to be around them, and whose honest opinions, practical nature, and blunt, straightforward approach to conversation comes across as bitchy and rude when that’s not how it’s meant. Yeah, sometimes she was just plain mean to Tate, but you’d probably be kinda snappy and on edge, too, if you’d just watched a natural disaster kill your family along with dozens of other people and found out that you can create tornadoes and that you’re suddenly neck-deep in a conspiracy you don’t understand or know what to do about.
I didn’t like Tate. A lot of reviewers seem to dislike Foster because she wasn’t perky and friendly and optimistic and liked Tate because he was. I’m the opposite. I thought he was an airhead and didn’t buy for second that he was into books like he said he was. He was a good person, sure, and had heaps of good intention, but he wasn’t serious enough for me to take seriously. He played into the glass-half-full thing a little too much; the gravity of the situation and consequences didn’t seem to weigh on him. All of the above trauma happened to him, too, but he was over it, like, a couple days later. While Foster was trying to figure things out and come to grips, he was off grocery shopping, playing with the horses, and hanging out with Finn.
The Casts made a solid effort to give the antagonists motivations and personalities that didn’t just amount to “bad guy because evil,” but Dr. Stewart is still a cliche in that he ultimately wants to rule the world and make everyone bow before him. Eve, however, was a very well-developed and three-dimensional character; an impossible, damned-if-you-do damned-if-you-don’t conflict always gains my sympathy. I liked Mark, too, and can’t wait to see what they do with his character. He was caught between a rock and a hard place as well.
There are a lot of expletives; the Casts aren’t afraid to toss the F word around, but I didn’t mind at all. In fact, I enjoyed it, because I like to swear myself. Also, there’s a lot of humor in the novel, and I found myself laughing out loud several times. “May the power of Christ compel you!” *snorts*
Overall, I liked The Dysasters, but I didn’t love it. I’m super excited for book two, though, because I want to see what happens with Bastien and Charlotte, the water kids. The Casts have a House of Night Otherworlds book coming in October, and they seem to typically publish two books a year, so I don’t expect book two of The Dysasters until early next year. Until then, I think I’ll borrow the House of Night audiobooks from the library and see if they’re any good. I LOVED P. C.’S Goddess Summoning series, so I’m prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt.
