The Boundless - FICTION
Will Everett wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but after his family’s fortunes change, he finds himself with a first-class ticket for The Boundless. The longest, most glamorous locomotive in the world, it stretches more than eleven kilometres long and pulls an astounding 987 cars: passenger cars, shooting galleries, gardens, an onboard swimming pool, cinema and much more. But its maiden voyage won’t be a smooth ride for Will. After witnessing a murder during a station stop, he barely makes it back onto the train (with a running leap!), then must work his way from the caboose forward to his father in first class—with the murderer and his cronies on his tail. Luckily, a clever and nimble friend is perfecting her act in The Boundless’s circus car, and there the real thrill ride begins. Sasquatches, bog-dwelling hags and illusions abound in this outsized middle-grade adventure.
Crystal 8F
ReplyDelete"The Boundless" by Kenneth Oppel was a great book. There were many positives, but I also found there were a few negatives as well. One of the amazing things about the novel was the main character William Everett. He's gone through being alone for most of his life, longing for adventure. His father isn't around often. Even when he is, to Will, he seems miles away. I enjoyed reading about Will, he wasn't perfect. He was flawed, and made many mistakes He seemed realistic, showing a large range of emotions throughout the book. Like when he finds out Mr. Dorian's true objective is to rob Van Horne's funeral carriage for a Krieghoff painting. William, in the end, managed to find courage. Maren, on the other hand, was a strong female character. She helps Mr. Dorian because once he gets the painting, he will release her from their circus contract, and give her five thousand dollars. Maren has big goals, and wants to start a show of her own with the money. I really liked Maren, but I found she never really showed many emotions. She also seemed to be really good at most things, making her seem kind of unrealistic. I also found it strange how Will could have such an impression of Maren, without knowing her name (until three years later). Mr. Dorian was a clever and tricky man. He believed that the canvas of the painting was soaked in the fountain of youth (according to a legend). He needs the canvas, because he's trying to escape a hereditary heart disease (causing his grandfather, father to pass away at 39). I found his motives selfish, but I guess he couldn't really help it. But I cannot accept that after all he has worked for, the canvas isn't really 'magical', and he dies. It was a humongous plot twist that I didn't expect. The main villains (Brogan, Mackie and Chisholm), were very cunning. The main villain, Brogan, is after the last spike, and van Horne's gold. He believes it was unfair that he and his fellow workers dug up gold for van Horne, and he uses it all for himself. I found that logical, but with that, I couldn't decide which side I was really supporting. Both Brogan and Dorian's wishes were selfish. But in the end, I stuck with Dorian, because Brogan was more than willing to kill others to get the gold. I also found it slightly irritating that Brogan was always one step ahead, and always managed to easily slip out of sticky situations. The Zirkus Dante members were all very diverse, with many different talents (which made it quite interesting). For example, the Siamese twins stilt walkers Meng and Li Zhang. The plot itself is very complex, being that there are two groups that want something of van Horne's. In the end, I'm glad Brogan doesn't succeed (and Goliath the sasquatch gets his revenge). In conclusion, I'd give this book 7/10. There were some flaws, but in the end, there was enough of magic, action and plot twists to keep me interested.
Liam 7B
ReplyDeleteI have always been in love with Kenneth Oppel's books. He is an incredible author. However while this book was good, it disappointed me compared to his other books. I didn't like William's obsession with a girl he met for 5 minutes. What I loved was how the book, like Kenneth's other ones, constantly flirt with the unknown: the muskeg, the muskeg witch, the sasquatches, and the timezone shift. It was definitely a 9/10.
Lucas 7A
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this book. In general it was very exciting and I didn’t really have any problems with it. I really liked the way that the author used the different cars to make the story more interesting like when will is being chased by Brogan and he finds the animal car and when Maren has to slide along the tightrope underneath the electrified funeral car. It was fun to read about the different myths like the sasquatches and the muskeg hag and they were incorporated into the story pretty well. I found that most of the time I was interested and that there weren’t really any gaps in the exciting parts. I would rate this book a 8/10 because it was really interesting to read and the storyline was pretty easy to follow.