The writing was good and the action kept me reading, but the extreme starvation and body disfigurement issues make it a better premise for adults than children and teens. ( )

What first drew me to A Single Stone was the fact that this is essentially a younger version of the YA and Adult dystopian novels that I love. I was so excited to see how Meg McKinlay would bring Jena's sheltered world to life, and how she would address the society as a whole. I won't lie, I had pretty high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, it failed to reach quite as high as my expectations were set.

To start with the positives, I can say that Jena's society is fairly well laid out in this book. The reader quickly understands that the mountain, and the harvest, are the focal point of life in this small society. Status in Jena's world is based on how much one is able to contribute to the community, and that means that the girls who can descend into the mountain are the elite. I loved this concept, and especially loved the fact that Jena's backstory didn't allow her to be too proud. Her life hasn't been an easy one, and so Jena takes nothing for granted. Which is important in this story.

What I missed, mainly the further I got into the book, was real character development. Although Jena definitely learns the dark secrets that her society hides, she never really grows as a person. I think, and this is completely my opinion, that the lack of real dialogue in this book is really what sets it back. We see what Jena thinks. We see what she does. We never see her really stand up for herself, or her beliefs, though. It made really falling in love with her as a character, and therefore with the characters around her, a lot more difficult.

In fact, I think what this book really needed was just more time. More pages to bring Jena into her own. More opportunity for interactions with her fellow community members and, especially, more time for adventure in the mountain. The book flew by, but I was left at the end feeling like something was missing. I loved the concepts presented in this book, but I feel like they weren't as fleshed out as they could be. So I'm sitting at a three star rating. ( )

This was a short but well-written novel and I really enjoyed reading it. It was layered and complex in a quiet way. It was subtle yet transparent as it showed you Jena's life, the secrets of the village, and the dangers of the mountain. The writing was intelligent and thought-provoking, which I really wasn't expecting it. I found myself rereading sections of this story, not because it was hard to understand but because it was just so powerful! This novel may have been targeted for teens and middle schoolers, but I can easily see adults reading and enjoying this story! Don't be fooled by its deceptive slowness; this novel picks up the pace and the events roll out fairly quickly! A great story, and I'm really glad to have gotten a chance to read it!

I received this novel as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

For more reviews, visit: www.veereading.wordpress.com ( )

Fourteen year old Jena lives in an isolated post-apocalyptic community that is dependent on girls who are small enough to squeeze through tunnels in the mountains and harvest the mineral that is the community’s main source of light and heat. An unexpected discovery leads Jena to question what she has been taught and what is going on in her community.

This is tightly focused, with puzzle pieces slowly but steadily revealed. I liked the way the story explains enough - but not too much, leaving some loose ends. I think it would have made a bigger impression if I had read it when I was fourteen, or if Jena had had to deal with more emotional fallout from others’ reactions to her discoveries.

In the mountain, in the dark, it didn’t matter what you looked like. It didn’t matter whether you had been born into your smallness or helped along by the knife, by the careful breaking and compression of your bones. It mattered only that you could get the work done. ( )

This book really engaged me without me even noticing! I was surprised, because it is easily a YA target, but it fits on the shelf beside The Maze Runner and The Giver. Definitely a lot like the latter but unique - it is no copy cat novel. Sure, at a certain point the outcome is obvious to a mature reader, but I still enjoyed reading through the whole thing. a younger inexperienced reader may not predict the ending. It could easily be a book studied by a class in school, too, because it has appeal beyond just females even though it is a matriarchial society. There are themes of sexism, ethics, family, class, obligation, community, and responsibility to be explored. The writing is simple but smooth and never interfered with the story. Worthwhile!

I got this book as an advanced copy from LibraryThing's Early Reviews program. ( )