Thursday 18 January 2018

REVIEW: Shell by Paula Rawsthorne

Pages: 416
Format: Format
Publisher: Scholastic
Genre: Thriller
Release Date: January 4th 2018
Buy The Book: Book Depo - A Great Read

What if you thought you had died, only to wake up to find that your brain and eyes had been transplanted into someone else's body?

When Lucy, a teen diagnosed with terminal cancer wakes up cancer-free, it should be a dream come true. But faced with a life she didn't choose and trapped in a new body, Lucy must face the biggest question of all . . . How far would you go to save the one you love?


My Thoughts:
Well, this was quite a wild journey. Shell follows teenager Lucy Burgess, after a doctor successfully gives her a life-changing operation to save her from terminal cancer: a body transplant. Due to the nature of the surgery and the fact that it's not exactly legal, Lucy, now known as Renee, has to keep her new identity a complete secret. With her friends and the rest of her family outside of her parents believing she is dead, Lucy struggles to accept her new body and life.

This book is weird, but in the best possible way. I've read a story before that dealt with a brain transplant, but it was more of a light-hearted take on things, so it was quite something to read a story that delved into the dark side of what it would be like if body transplants were a reality. The few chapters after Lucy first wakes up from the operation are completely chilling. I was easily able to put myself in her shoes and imagine what it would be like to be in that terrifying situation. Her anxiety pours out through the words, making it tense and gripping to read.

My heart broke for Lucy trying to adjust to her new life as Renee. The realisation of what it means for her, of having to play dead to the people she loves, is such a blow to her once she returns home. Emotions run high in some of those first scenes back at her family home, especially when she comes face-to-face with her beloved pet dog, Arthur. As a dog lover, her scenes with him after her surgery were hard to swallow.

What I particularly liked about this book was the discussion about morals regarding death and how far people would go for life. Cancer didn't give Lucy a choice, but when there was a choice for her regarding her death, her parents took that into their own hands. It's a pretty dark theme but I enjoyed it more than I expected to. It's one of those things that encourages you to think about what you would do in that situation. The doubts that Lucy had towards the end of novel also made her more believable as a character because no matter how much she wanted to do the right thing, obviously fear plays a part at some point.

The final few chapters of this book are so action packed that I literally couldn't put the book down until 2am when I finished it. I GLADLY LOST SLEEP FOR THIS. I'm very glad that I picked this one up when I did though because it's given me my reading mojo back. This was a perfectly thrilling read to start off the new year.

Royal Rating: 

 

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