I think John Boyne might be breaking my scale. Or, maybe since I said I wanted to read more five star books I’m just following my own resolutions and reading the good stuff, I don’t actually need to rate exactly how good all the good books are! Whichever way this was an excellent book.

We met the main character Evan briefly in Water, and it seem as though the quartet of books will be linked by each having a minor character turn into a the major character in the next volume. So I’m guessing we’ll see Willow from Water again in a minor role in Air to complete the circle, or perhaps there’s something else up Boyne’s sleeve. I’ll look forward to whatever it is anyway.

The book concerns two footballers on trial for sexual assault. It’s a really tricky subject and there were times when I thought I was going to throw the book across the room as I was upset with how the characters saw the world. It’s the backstory before the sexual assault that makes the book and complicates everything. And it’s a measure of how well the book’s written and how carefully balanced the story is that I kept reading despite being annoyed in places. I wasn’t entirely happy with the resolution, but I’m not sure there’s a resolution I would have been happy with that would have felt at all reasonable for the characters.

I’m excited to get to Fire and Air.