Wrath - Marcus Sedgwick

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AUTHOR: Marcus Sedgwick

GENRE: Middle-Grade Fiction.
RATING: 2 stars.

Outlier review here, sorry. But this book did nothing for me. 😕

Cassie Cotton has been missing since a few hours. Her friend Fitz, who is also in the same band as she is, ponders over why she must have disappeared and is determined to find her. What adds complications is that Cassie has always been unusual, more so since she claims to hear a weird humming noise from Earth. She believes this to be a distress call by the planet grappling with climate change because of human activity. Though Cassie is the prime focus of the narrative, the emotions come from Fitz’s perspective, as the story is written in his first person pov.

There are a few good themes in the book: friendship, bullying, music, respect for the planet and its resources, and parental relationships. As it is set in the present, it also offers a glimpse into children's feelings about the sudden change in lifestyle because of the lockdown. The story is set in Scotland and makes good use of the location.

One reason it fell short for me was the implementation. There are a lot of missing blanks in the story development. I mean, even something as basic as the characters’ age (or the grade they study in) isn’t mentioned. So when the story begins, you have no idea what age group the children belong to. I had to keep revising their age in my minds as clues were provided, but right till the end, I wasn’t sure of anything except that they were in the higher teenage bracket. Cassie’s parents are known environmentalists but they keep arguing with each other, to the point of being abusive. No reasons provided. Fitz’s mom has probably left his dad and him. Why? No reasons provided. With hardly any proper background, it was quite difficult to understand character motivations and empathise with them. And when the secret crush angle was added, I lost whatever little interest I had left.

Moreover, the writing style isn’t linear. While the present timeline is focussed on locating Cassie, a lot of the content is Fitz’s pondering over various past incidents, not necessarily in chronological order. So it feels quite disconnected, especially at the start. The content is also quite dire. (Barrington Stoke’s children’s books deal with dark topics frequently, but this beats them all in gloominess.)

Overall, it's a book about children but I'm not sure if it's a book for children. I didn't understand the point of it. But looking at the positive response it has received from other readers, I think I missed out on something here. Please go through their opinions before you make up your mind about this.

The recommended target age for readers as per the publishers is 12+.

My thanks to Barrington Stoke and NetGalley for the ARC of “Wrath”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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