Review: Struck by Jennifer Bosworth

Title: Struck

Author: Jennifer Bosworth

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: April 26, 2012

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I’m not entirely sure if I read the full description for this book, but as soon as I saw the words lightning addict, I knew I would have to give it a try. It’s not a concept you see every day (or at all, even) and I was eager to meet this lightning addict myself.

Mia Price, unfortunately, was a bit of a disappointment.

It doesn’t take much to intrigue or convince me these days, and once I decided a book with a lightning addict for a main character would be completely exciting, I set my expectations for Struck incredibly high. I wish I could say I was right to do so, but this book failed to impress and a (small) part of me regrets having read it. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy parts of it – I can think of a handful of aspects that were impressive enough – I just wish it had delivered more.

My main issue, and what I believe is responsible for my general lack of enthusiasm for this book, was Mia Price. As a main character, and a potentially intriguing one at that, I expected her to leave a more significant impression. There was very little emotional investment from me and any reaction she seemed to draw was a negative one. I was either bored senseless by what was churning through her mind or extremely frustrated with her decisions. Now I’m hardly an expert, but when someone stands over you with a knife with the intention to kill you, you’re not supposed to be so quick to trust him again are you? The romance between Mia and Jeremy, her would-be killer, felt incredibly unrealistic to me, and, I hate to say it, borderline insta-love.

Ignoring my feelings towards Mia, I can say that the start was an intriguing one and the plot kicked off nicely. Admittedly, the whole concept of lightning causing an earthquake felt incredibly far-fetched to me, but I decided not to dwell on it. The rest – two opposing cults, the Prophet’s Followers and the Seekers, both looking to recruit Mia - I found interesting enough. The storyline was unique, which is something I’m sure many people will appreciate, and it progressed well enough throughout the course of the book. There was a tendency for the plot to fall flat occasionally, especially during the middle, but the climax was well-presented with a decent amount of action and suspense.

One thing I felt was missing was more lightning action. This is purely personal preference, but if Mia was a lightning addict, I wanted a better sense of what it felt like to crave this thing. More lightning strikes would have been welcomed, but that’s just me being particular.

Some of the secondary characters bothered me nearly as much as Mia – Parker, Mia’s brother, being one of them – but others were strangely fascinating. Mia’s mother, who was a strong supporter of the Prophet, and Rance Ridley Prophet himself are two that held quite a bit of my interest. I did think both were insane most of the time, so that might have had something to do with it.

Although Struck failed to meet my expectations, and Mia proved to be a less than impressive main character, I can still see this potentially appealing to many people. Jennifer Bosworth has created an original idea and I applaud her for that, I just wish I could have been more invested in the story. Overall, this was disappointing, but not completely terrible. 

Rating: 2.5 stars