Friday, November 17, 2017

The Edge by Roland Smith - ADVISABLE

Smith, Roland The Edge, 240 pages, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing, 2015, $17.99 Language: G (0 swears 0 ‘f”) Mature Content: G; Violence: PG13.

Peak Marcello, a 15-year old from New York City, who just came from a failed attempt at Mt. Everest, is called to be part of an international peace climb with participants from all over the world.  Each climber climbs with others at different locations.  While climbing in Afghanistan, Peak’s mother and several fellow climbers are kidnapped by a group of terrorists.  Peak, climbing guide Zhopa, and another climber named Ethan chase the group in the hopes of saving their fellow climbers.  They have already discovered the bodies of two other climbing guides.  As they get nearer, they discover the bodies of several more climbers.  When they finally reach the hideout of the kidnappers, they must fight to take back the remaining captives.  One of the climbers, a French girl, was the daughter of the French Ambassador to Afghanistan, and the terrorists, actually French extremists, kidnapped her for ransom money.

The book had great detail, especially the facts and details about climbing and the history of Afghanistan.  However, many of the characters could have had their stories developed better, and I feel like there was some unnecessary tragedy.

MS, HS  ADVISABLE  JB 8th Grade Student Reviewer

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