Rating: 3 stars
Headline: “Flume” struggles with its weak characterization and plot, making it a less engaging read for its intended audience
Review:
Flume is a middle grade novel, written by an author who goes by the name ‘Bigfoot’. This is the author’s second middle grade novel, following on from their previous publication, The Projectionist.
Told through the first person perspective of Shanks, Flume follows this young boy who receives a ticket to ride the infamous water slide Flume for his birthday. Set in central London, England, this hair-raising ride involves many twists and turns and maybe an abandoned boat or two, as Shanks and his friends navigate this perilous ride and the mysteries that surround its creator. One thing is for certain, this will be a twelfth birthday Shanks will never forget.
To say this story is fantastical would be an understatement. To truly get into the story readers have to put aside logic, such as why a water-based ride would be open to the public in the middle of a thunderstorm, given the slide is routinely hit by lightening. Then there’s the location aspects, such as the ride being high in the sky and skirting around The Shard, a notable London landmark on the edge of the River Thames. By the time we’re told that the ride’s inventor, Mr Poppity, was perceived to have done a “bodge job” on building the ride, only to go missing three summer ago in mysterious circumstances, then as a reader you just have to accept everything at face value and go along with it. Still, there’s being fantastical, and then there’s being downright bizarre. Sometimes detail is scarce, other times it feels like an info dump.
As a reader, there doesn’t feel like there is any strong plot or character motive driving the story. If Shanks is so terrified of this ride, why does he feel obliged to jump down it? There isn’t quite enough at stake to hook readers in from the offset, instead the storyline only sort of comes into focus about a quarter to a third in.
For its intended target age audience of middle grade, Flume misses the mark when taking into account the lack of a strong storyline that drives the plot forwards in a meaningful way.
AEB Reviews
Links:
Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews – “Flume” by ‘Bigfoot’
Purchase Link: “Flume” by ‘Bigfoot’ (author website)
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