The Always War

Short books are pretty fun to read, and I settled down with this one on a Saturday afternoon. It is the story of an ex-military pilot named Gideon, a girl named Tessa, and a kid named Dek who get stranded in the enemy's territory - and discover that the war might not be exactly what they think it is.This book drew me in (I saw it in the library and the premise sounded awesome) and while the writing itself was great, there was a lot of confusion going on. I had the mystery figured out 1/4 of the way into the book. And I have to be honest: I didn't like Gideon. He ran around the whole time yelling "I surrender, I surrender!" and choking on sobs. Not the most stalwart soldier. At any rate, the brightest spot in this book was Dek, the snarky, brilliant street kid who stows away on their adventure. Even then, however, I felt like there were a few holes that weren't filled. I easily would have liked this book more if the other main characters - Tessa and Gideon - were more enigmatic.