Deformity

by Simon Bartolo

365 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2011

About the author

Simon is a writer and translator. His books for children have all won national awards. Perhaps the most popular is Sqaq l-Infern and the rest of the Fiddien trilogy which he co-wrote with Loranne Vella. He started his theatre career with his own group Aleateia. For many years they devised and built performances under his direction. His plays have been performed at many major theatres in Malta and Gozo and also in other countries like the UK, Egypt, Greece, and Denmark. He is currently working on a new series of stories for children about traditional creatures from local folklore.

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed every word of every page of Deformity. It has an excellent plot in a great setting. A gripping voice throughout reflects the age and mentality of the characters who transform the story into a modern grim fairy tale . . .

[Lucie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm having a hard time to evaluating this book. On one hand it has some immature writing that just kept disturbing my reading experience. That Brad Pitt look? The crazy I-love-you-to-death-and-we-will-make-it-through teenage love? [SPOILER]Lycon, the brother??[/SPOILER] Also, Bartolo started a lot of threads and didn't finish them all properly. The form wasn't proper. I always felt like it's only a beginning of the story. Always new plot twist, really, the story was ever-changing but not in a good, thought-through way. Characters were kind of shallow and I couldn't believe them. That seems like a lot of complaints, doesn't it? And yet I'm thinkg about 3 or 4 stars. Because I loved the idea, I loved the imagination, I loved all the extra info the author gave me about his fictional world. And I enjoyed reading it and that's more important for me than perfect form. I even think I might read it again in the future. So consider this 3,5 stars.

[Julia Hering · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've rarely read a worse plot. I mean the whole thing started out quite promising, one could've made such a great story with the beginnings and then comes along some fantasy-science-fiction nonsense. Characters are lacking severely on substance, and the more you get to the end the less sense everything seems to make.

My recommendation: Don't waste your time and find a better book.