After Reading: THE MARBURY LENS by Andrew Smith

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

Sixteen-year-old Jack gets drunk and is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is kidnapped. He escapes, narrowly. The only person he tells is his best friend, Conner. When they arrive in London as planned for summer break, a stranger hands Jack a pair of glasses. Through the lenses, he sees another world called Marbury.

There is war in Marbury. It is a desolate and murderous place where Jack is responsible for the survival of two younger boys. Conner is there, too. But he’s trying to kill them.

Meanwhile, Jack is falling in love with an English girl, and afraid he’s losing his mind.

Conner tells Jack it’s going to be okay.

But it’s not.

Andrew Smith has written his most beautiful and personal novel yet, as he explores the nightmarish outer limits of what trauma can do to our bodies and our minds. (Goodreads)

So, this one definitely kept me up late reading. The pacing is spot-on, as is the world building. I couldn't get enough! The whole premise is really fascinating, although disturbing on many levels: the abduction of Jack, the lens, Marbury pretty much as a whole, and then Jack's utter unraveling. It's creepy and fascinating. The lens and traveling between the worlds really came off as some kind of drug, which in many ways it was, and the portrayal was superb. As was the relationship between Jack and Conner--it was obvious they cared about one another deeply. The ending did leave me being "wait, what, that can't be the end!" but of course there's another one in the series that I must now get my hands on!

Have you read this one?