Book Review: "The Age of Miracles" by Karen Thompson Walker

My library didn't have this categorized as a YA book, and it really should have been. Nothing against YA books, I know several adults read them and think they are great, but with a few exceptions they aren't something that I find myself reading regularly. The main character is a 12 year old and I couldn't help thinking that I would like this storyline better if the character was a little bit older. Anyway, probably not great book blogger form to start with a criticism so let's back it up and talk about the plot.

Something has happened (no one knows what exactly) and now the earth is spinning slower and it's having a lot of repercussions. Like time is added on in an inconsistent way so there's sometimes where the sun doesn't go down for 36 hours or longer. There's weird magnetic field stuff. Gravity is effected, like birds can barely fly; everything becomes heavier (if that makes sense). In the middle of all of the end of the world feeling type of stuff Julia is a 12 year old only child with parents who have a strained marriage and is going through all of that awful stuff that 12 year olds go through.

I would have like this book more if it did a little more world building. I know that Julia is the main character and we're supposed to be the most interested in her; but I would have been more interested in hearing what was happening around the world and how people were dealing with the changes as opposed to her interactions at the bus stop with her crush.I wanted a wider lens.

If you have a yound reader in your life who might have an interest in a book that's a little more dystopian but not as dark as an Divergent or Hunger Games this might be a good place to start. There's not much violence, no sex, (I think) no swearing. So all in all, not a book for me, but not a bad book per se. 

2.8 stars out of 5!