It's a solid book, but it's overly long. It takes quite a long time to get to, what I assumed was, the major story of the book–finding a magic teacher for Diana. When this subject is finally touched on, I found it fascinating, but the author leaves it quickly. There are a few pleasant subplots towards the beginning that kept my attention, but about halfway through it became a chore to read the book (and I even put it down for a month). The author also delights in exploring historical characters; however, I tired of this quickly as I felt they didn't add much to the story.
I enjoyed the first half of the book and was intrigued by McCandless's story, but had a hard time getting through the second half, which mostly speculates on McCandless's state of mind. Krakauer devotes several chapters to his own wilderness sojourn to try to relate to McCandless, but I was ultimately bored by this and found it unnecessary.
A fun, quick summer read. Kyra is strong and smart and stands up for her beliefs. Getting to see the dystopian government corruption and the decisions that lead up to it were interesting. And, although it was a small moment, I enjoyed Wells addressing that it is nice to feel protected, but that Kyra doesn't have to be because she is strong enough to do it herself.
Looking forward to Book 2.
This is obviously Clarke's magnum opus and when it is good, it's amazing, but unfortunately for me there were many parts where the story dragged and the interesting and boring didn't balance out. This is a book where everything connects, even when you can't possibly see how at the time, and that in and of itself is impressive.