Review: Runaway
Runaway
Meg Cabot
3.5/5
Meg Cabot is a very dependable writer - her books are interesting, easy to read, and always a fun ride. Runaway is the final book in the Airhead trilogy (I'm just finishing trilogies left and right here). I would definitely recommend reading the series in order; if you don't, you're going to be terribly lost. I was a little iffy on whether to pick this one up or not, I enjoyed the first book but wasn't sold on the second, but I'm glad I did. Review has spoilers.
From Amazon.com: Emerson Watts is on the run: from school, from work, from her family, from her friends, from herself. With everyone she loves furious with her for something she can't explain, and nothing but the live Stark Angel fashion show on New Year's Eve to look forward to, Em's reached the end of her rope. . .what's the point of even going on? But when she discovers the truth about Nikki's secret, she knows there's only one person she can turn to.
Will Christopher be able to put aside his personal feelings and help her expose her employer to the world? Is it even fair to get Christopher involved--since if he agrees, there's every chance that Stark Enterprises will try to have them both killed--this time, permanently?
Maybe it would be better for Em to just keep on running.
I didn't reread Being Nikki before reading this, and that was probably a mistake. It starts right where the last one left off, and I was a little confused over some of the smaller details. The major thing was that I thought Nikki was in Em's body - which I figured out she isn't - but I still don't know who's body she's really in. The fast start makes things interesting, and except for a few small things, I picked up on it quickly.
The style of this is a lot like Meg Cabot's other books - a very readable teenage girl's voice. For the most part it flows smoothly, but there's a couple points where the internal monologue gets too much. Someone will ask a question, Em will start thinking and reply a page and a half later - and I'm sitting there wondering why the other person doesn't notice the 30 second pause. I also found it a little harder to stay interesting in her thoughts; I'd find myself skimming them without taking much in.
The characters are both fun and decently fleshed out. They're all a little stereotyped to some extent (except for probably Em), but that tends to be how Ms. Cabot writes. I did get a little annoyed with Em at times - she's fairly immature and has trouble communicating. I know that's typical teenager behavior (especially in young adult fiction), but it went a bit far. I really liked Christopher and Em's relationship; it was realistic and had its problems without going overboard. I didn't like Steven and Lulu - which made me sad, because I really liked both of them separately. They were a little much together, though, and didn't have any chemistry. The theme of everyone pairing up at the end seemed a little overboard - it's okay to be single! The seventh graders don't have to date - but again, fairly typical for YA lit, and even more so for Ms. Cabot.
Actually, I wasn't much of a fan of the ending in general. They solved it a little too easily, and Mr. Stark was a little too incautious (hey, we're having the biggest New Year's Eve party in the city, so let's have a super-secret meeting upstairs!). Christopher and Felix getting jobs as head of Stark Industries really annoyed me - but that's more of a pet peeve of mine (teenagers/kids being so much better at technology that they can easily break through the college graduates' work and then get hired to work for companies). I did like how Nikki found her niche, though it seemed it came too easily.
The book focuses on several major themes: how important being pretty is, finding out who you are, and what crushing on a boy changes. I thought they were all handled really well - a little heavy handed at parts maybe, but it is for younger aged young adults. There were only a couple of times where I thought it dragged on a little much.
Overall, this is a fast, fun read. It suffers the common pitfalls of YA - slightly stereotyped characters, implausible plot, extra-neat-with-a-bow-on-it ending - but it handled some major issues well and finished up the series nicely. If you're a fan of Meg Cabot's other work, I recommend it.
The cover: I love the covers to this series. It represents the books well, the font's great, and the model's gorgeous. I'm not a huge fan of the pose on this one - I think it would have been better if she wasn't looking back over her shoulder. I love the back cover (under the cut). I'm glad I wasn't the model for this shoot, though - could you image having to run around in those shoes?
Reading order:
1. Airhead
2. Being Nikki
3. Runaway