Down to Oath by Tyrolin Puxty

Reviewer: The Banned Bibliophile

Received: Publisher

Release Date: April 2018

Moons: 4/5

Goodreads Summary:

You have to find yourself before you can leave.

Codi lives in the exceptionally drab town of Oath; a settlement without colour, children or personality.

When a child manifests in the library and introduces Codi to parallel towns that contain aggressive, manic versions of herself, she must decide between saving Oath...and saving herself.
After all, how much can you truly trust yourself?

My Thoughts:

There aren't that many books where I don't want to spew everything that happened in it in a mini summary before I head into more intensive thoughts. (I'm a compulsive spoiler who cannot be tamed!) But there is something about this book that I want to keep from everyone out of a fear of genuinely ruining the whole story. (What's happening to me?!) The wonderful thing of Puxty's novel is the execution and reveals, which, much like thrillers, give off the sense that you should go in as blind as possible.

So, to be as descriptive as possible without giving too much away: I love how this book was fast-paced right out of the gate and rarely slows down. You jump right in and never look back, which is a style I never complain about! To put it simply, the book's creativity is ever-present, and the overall subject matter and themes are extremely thought-provoking.

The beginning of Down to Oath hits you with mystery, and the setting reminded me of some of my favorite books like The Giver, which I loved. The main character Codi is everything the rest of her peers are not; she's inquisitive and imaginative, constantly in search of knowledge and self-expression. Also, she loves libraries and believes in the power of stories, winning my bookish heart!!!!

The story explores a great deal of concepts that I think can be enjoyed by a wide audience, but my favorite is how Puxty highlighted discovering who you are and your intricacies. Additionally, her writing style fits the tone of the book perfectly, but it might be important to point out that the writing is simplistic in some respects. For me, this was not a problem but rather worked well with the story, but I might see older readers being hesitant about this. However, this book is so intriguing that I would definitely recommend it.

Comments

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