The Lightning Tree - Lene Fogelberg - ★★★.½

AUTHOR: Lene Fogelberg

NARRATOR: Austenne Grey

PART OF SERIES: The NI Revolution Trilogy, #1

GENRE: Young Adult Thriller, Magical Realism.

RATING: 3.6 Stars.

In a Nutshell: This contains all the features I hate about the YA genre, and I still enjoyed it to quite an extent! All credit to the innovative storyline. First of a series, and hence the ending is ‘To Be Continued’. Expect magical realism, not fantasy.

Story Synopsis:

A year ago, sisters Flora and Fauna were near a tree when it was struck by lightning. Now fourteen-year-old Fauna is in a vegetative state, and seventeen-year-old Flora is trying her best to fit in a world that views her as ‘that girl’.

When Flora discovers a body in her yard the day after her junior year at high school ended, she doesn’t know that it is just the first of a bizarre series of deaths. Police are sure that the foster boy next door, Carl, who is also Flora’s friend, is involved in the crimes. Soon, Flora learns a weird secret, and it is up to her to convince everyone about who might be responsible for the creepy events.

The story is written mostly in the first person perspective of Flora.

Note: This is not Fantasy but Magical realism. It’s like an alternate history set in contemporary time, with some fantastical elements inserted in our reality.

Where the book worked for me:

🌳 I loved the concept of the book. Even if I try to be discreet about the theme, the fact is that the name of the series and the Goodreads blurb give you enough of a clue to know who is behind the murders. Given the way we treat this planet, the premise might seem farfetched, but it was still interesting. I enjoyed the vendetta agenda, though it was outrageous at times.

🌳 I also loved the title and how wonderfully it was incorporated into the plot. Can’t tell you more!

🌳 I liked the connection between the two sisters. Their names were apt for the plot.

🌳 The story was the main, or probably the only thing that kept me going through this book. I am not too fond of the YA genre, and had requested this mainly for the imaginative theme (and partly for that stunning cover!) The author does justice to the promise shown in the blurb.

🌳 The writing is quite fast-paced. Yet, the descriptions aren’t compromised upon.

Where the book could have worked better for me:

🌵 If you are an adult reader who might want to give this a try, know that it comes with all the YA trappings:

       🍃a rambling first person narration with repeated anatomical references (heart/eyes/cheeks/hands/yada yada yada);
       🍃 a budding romance; and

       🍃 almost non-existent character layering. Every teen is either a bully or a hero. Almost every adult is either an ignoramus or a jerk, sometimes both. (Why can’t YA authors write adults more realistically? Not all of us are irrational, judgemental fools. Well, not always, anyway.)

🌵 The ‘that girl’ idea is raked too often. It feels repeated and even exaggerated.

🌵 I couldn’t buy the idea that so much happened in such a small town, but maybe I’ll need to wait until I read the remaining books to understand why the “Natural Intelligence Revolution” began in such a nondescript location.

🌵 The final few chapters were a bit too wacko!

The audiobook experience:

The audiobook, clocking at a little over 6.5 hours, is narrated by Austenne Grey. She does a decent job of providing different-sounding voices to each character. Though her voices sound too farfetched at times, she still handles most of the book well. What I especially loved about her performance was her singing voice. There are a couple of ditties in the story, and she renders them most melodiously.

In short, keeping aside the flaws of the genre, the story has a bizarrely innovative plotline. As the first book of a planned trilogy, the plot leaves many things hanging to ensure that we return for the next installment.

The ending cannot be called a cliffhanger, but it does leave a lot pending with an almost-apocalyptic kind of feel. I am curious to see where the author takes it next.

Recommended to YA readers seeking a dark environmental thriller. Adults who have enough patience to read YA can also give it a go. It’s a good start to what seems to be a promising indie trilogy.

3.6 stars. (3.25 stars if I rate it as an adult. At least 4 stars if I think of it from a YA point of view.)

Note: The content gets quite dark, with some scenes bordering mild ‘horror.’ There is also a sexual assault scene. So this definitely isn’t for the younger ages in the YA group.

I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook from the author through ‘StoryOrigin’ and these are my honest thoughts about it.