Book Review: Amber House by Moore, Reed, & Reed

 Amber House by Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed, and Larkin Reed
Release Date: October 1, 2012
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Pages: 368
Received: ARC from publisher
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Page

Summary

From Goodreads:

"I was sixteen the first time my grandmother died . . ."

Sarah Parsons has never seen Amber House, the grand Maryland estate that's been in her family for three centuries. She's never walked its hedge maze nor found its secret chambers; she's never glimpsed the shades that haunt it, nor hunted for lost diamonds in its walls.

But all of that is about to change. After her grandmother passes away, Sarah and her friend Jackson decide to search for the diamonds--and the house comes alive. She discovers that she can see visions of the house's past, like the eighteenth-century sea captain who hid the jewels, or the glamorous great-grandmother driven mad by grief. She grows closer to both Jackson and a young man named Richard Hathaway, whose family histories are each deeply entwined with her own. But when the visions start to threaten the person she holds most dear, Sarah must do everything she can to get to the bottom of the house's secrets, and stop the course of history before it is cemented forever.

Review

Characters

I'm a character girl, and I pretty much disliked to hated all the characters. So my stars were shriviling up and dying right off the bat. I was super disappointed.

Sarah is the kind of girl like Nora from The Book of Blood and Shadow, and I don't ever really click with that kind of character. She bores and frustrates me with her emotional distance and slightly haughty approach to others.

Sam, Sarah's brother, was probably the most likable character, but he wasn't working for me either. Apparently he's autistic, but apparently in the world of Amber House "autistic" doesn't actually mean what it means in real life. Instead, "autistic" means "super special, precocious, and wildly brilliant beyond his years!" There were a few superficial nods to actual diagnostic criteria, but they were barely there and not very realistic.

So every time Sam came into the story I was torn between softening and liking him and being totally annoyed because his characterization was WRONG. I tried hard to pretend he wasn't autistic so I could just enjoy him as a regular character, but the authors made a point to not only mention it a bunch of times, they even tied in the super special power of fake autism into the MAIN CRUX of the plot! *GAH*

Then there's Sarah's mother, and she is AWFUL. My gosh, she's like a villainess she's so cruel. She reminded me a little of Lady Tremain from Cinderella with her ruthlessness and the way she tried to use her daughter to gain status. Worse, I think we're supposed to feel for her on some level, and while usually I love stories where the villain is given so much depth that you DO start to feel for them, Amber House isn't that kind of book.

Which leads me to my overarching character complaint: They were too cardboard. They felt like checklist characterizations without much substance to back up the surface level descriptors.

Story

I'm a gigantic Gothic fiction fan, so I had pretty high hopes and expectations for Amber House. In terms of plot, I'd say Amber House was about 70% there for me.

There are two scenes that stand out in a BIG positive way and I'm pretty sure I'll remember for a long time. One is especially fantastic for its sheer creativity and holy-cow-I-want-that factor. It's incredibly awesome. (The hidden house).

Amber House definitely had the secrets from the past mingling with the present thing going on and I loved how Sarah's soft-paranormal ability let me peek into that past. I had a blast unravelling the family secrets and piecing together the truth about the Bad Things that happened.

Also, Amber House (the actual house) is one of THOSE houses that's big and glamorous and special and I love getting to explore all its nooks and crannies (and secret passage ways! And other even cooler secret things!). 

But, as with the characters, it all felt a little lacking. I wanted more from everything. The family secrets, once revealed, felt a little "That's it?" and also kind of convoluted. There were a few threads that I felt were left hanging, too.

The slavery sub-plot made me feel like I was back in elementary school being talked down to by teachers explaining how everyone in the past was either an abolitionist SAINT or an EVILLLLL slave owner who spent every waking second of their days whipping and raping their slaves. Yes, this is a YA book, but no, young adult readers aren't stupid and don't see the world in stark contrasts.

There was also a decent amount of time spent on "normal teen things" with Sarah going out on dates and stuff, and I was totally bored during these scenes. Also, it was of the more angsty teen variety than the romantic comedy light variety (she angsts about her mom and her parents' divorce, too).

I'm chalking my boredom up to a combination of my indifference toward the characters and the fact that I don't really like contemporary teen issues to begin with. There was nothing wrong with the writing here though, so readers who tend to like those things shouldn't have the problems I had with it.

Romance

Meh. There's a kind of love triangle, but I didn't get the feeling Sarah was really into either guy, and neither was I. Neither relationship dominate the plot though, so the fact that both felt underdeveloped and lackluster didn't affect the story much, which is fine by me since I like plot to take center stage over romance anyway.

Bottom line

Amber House was decent and I enjoyed the time I spent reading it, but I don't feel the need to keep my copy. I think I might have enjoyed it more if this had been my first introduction to Gothic fiction. I know I would have enjoyed it more if I clicked more with the characters.

Still, it's a fun way to spend some time and the fact that it's a standalone (or, at least it works fine as a standalone...any word on sequels?) is nice. If there was a sequel, I don't think I'd read it (too many books, too little time, and Amber House wasn't strong enough to make the sequel cut for me).

While there wasn't anything (that I can remember) that would make this particularly inappropriate for MG readers, I don't think it would appeal to them as much. Likewise, I'm not sure how engaged adult non-YA readers would be, especially given the more "teen" issues. The pace is moderate with some lulls and bursts of action, though it felt longer to me than it actually was.

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

Do you have any questions about Amber House that I haven't addressed? 
Feel free to ask in the comments!

Looking for another book like this? 

You might like: 

Click on the covers to go to my reviews/Goodreads.

Tweet