Review for "Intangible" by C.A. Gray (Piercing the Veil, Book#1)

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Intangible by C.A. Gray
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was an enjoyable read from beginning to end. I’m a sucker for stories that give nods to other stories/worlds that I love, but unfortunately for this book, too many nods took away from me rating it higher than a three.

Plot: Okay, with no spoilers, let’s just say that plot-wise--- totally believable, in the way that Harry Potter/Narnia, etc. are believable. In fact, although this story isn’t “exactly” a cookie-cutter version of those series, there are plenty of eh-hem “stolen” elements that made this book fun & interesting and easy to read/follow, but also easy to predict and definitely cliché.

Characters: So, you know how I just mentioned this book’s similarities to other well-known/loved series? Yeah, the biggest, most-glaring-est nod is the characters’ names. The M.C. is Peter, his friend is Lily (side note: I’m kinda over girls in books being named Lily at this point, personally. But who am I to judge? I really wish authors would stop this. There are a million other nice female names, JS). There’s also a Polly and a Eustace, and a ghostly thing whose name and persona reminds me of Mundungus Fletcher. There are character arcs here, some more extreme than others; and although I wouldn’t use the phrase “strong character development” to describe these characters, I would at least say each one was unique and distinguishable, enough.

The Writing: The story is written in 3rd person POV, mostly from Peter’s perspective. I didn’t notice too many errors/mistakes, so that was nice. The style & flow of this author made the book readable in one sitting.

In Case You Wanted to Know: As a YA novel, there weren’t any aspects of this book that’d warrant any kind of warning label; I would, however, like to say that although these kids are in high school and subjects like chemistry & physics are portrayed in some detail, the actual story-- plot-wise/overall theme/tone is and feels more Juvenile than Y.A., IMO. The author did an excellent job of mashing together so many stories. She even managed to include the King Arthur Legends making (it) a huge part of the back story. I also (honestly) liked her magical take on science because really--- isn’t that all magic is; science that hasn’t been understood yet?

Overall: The storyline/premise was great. The world-building and writing were enjoyable. I finished the book wanting to read more. This review comes after having read it a second time since I honestly remember very little from reading it only about 5 months ago. I did remember however from my first read-through noting how much this book combined a bunch of well-known/loved series (H.P., Narnia, His Dark Materials), and I remember getting the impression that the author tried too hard to produce an epic classic. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy reading the story, but the lack of originality left me feeling (twice now) like I’d read a sort of fan fiction. Regardless, I would still recommend this book to anyone who needs more of “that type” of book--- like a celebrity’s favorite cousin, Intangible fits right in.

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