The Lens and the Looker by Lory S. Kaufman
Pages: 336 pages
Publication Date: March 16th 2011 by The Fiction Studio
Age Group: MG
Source: Publisher
Series: The Verona Trilogy #1
Challenge(s): 150+ reading challenge,TBR pile challenge, Dusty Reads Challenge
Buy this Book: Amazon
Summary(from Goodreads):
There’s hope for the future, but what about the past?
It’s the 24th century and humans, with the help of artificial intelligences (A.I.s) have finally created the perfect post-dystopian society. To make equally perfect citizens for this world, the elders have created History Camps, full sized recreations of cities from Earth’s distant pasts. Here teens live the way their ancestors did, doing the same dirty jobs and experiencing the same degradations. History Camps teach youths not to repeat the mistakes that almost caused the planet to die. But not everything goes to plan.
In this first of a trilogy, we meet three spoiled teens in the year 2347. Hansum almost 17, is good looking and athletic. Shamira, 15, is sassy, independent and an artistic genius. Lincoln, 14, is the smart-aleck. But you don’t have to scratch too far beneath the surface to find his insecurities.
These three “hard cases” refuse the valuable lessons History Camps teach. But when they are kidnapped and taken back in time to 1347 Verona, Italy, they only have two choices; adapt to the harsh medieval ways or die. The dangers are many, their enemies are powerful, and safety is a long way away. It’s hardly the ideal environment to fall in love – but that’s exactly what happens. In an attempt to survive, the trio risks introducing technology from the future. It could save them – or it could change history.
I loved learning about all the little gadgets they had in the future just as much as I loved reading the pretty realistic account of how people lived and worked in the past. The three main characters were troublemakers, and they initially wanted to go into history camp causing trouble. I wish we would have learned more about Shamira. We did not find out too much about her, and to be honest I never really saw the trouble maker aspect of her personality, so I would have liked some more insight on her. Maybe in the next book? Lincoln was the most trouble of the three in my opinion. Hansum started out wanted to disrupt the peace but I think he was quickly genuinely interested in everything and how it all worked. Plus there was the whole crush on a girl in the past issue. I won’t say too much about it, because I don’t want to give anything away. But I will say that I thought there interactions were adorable. I liked how the romance was interspersed throughout the story, but it wasn’t the true main focus.
What I loved the most about The Lens and the Looker was the way everything was described. I could see this being a great informational book for younger kids and teens. They will get an idea of how things worked in 14th century Italy. Everything is really detailed, and presented in a really interesting way. I really enjoyed reading this book and I can’t wait to start the second one in the trilogy.
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| 3.5/5 Gavels |
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aLmYbNeNr
Great review! I enjoyed this book very much. It was better than I expected it to be. I’ve read the second book as well and it was just as good. I’m looking forward to the third one as well as the spin offs!
Wendi
I too love history and I love your review of this book. Its on my to read list now. Thank you