Name: Yoss
ISBN: 9780385731874

Odo Hirsch

A boy of fourteen sets out from his idyllic village high in the mountains into a world full of deception, where many are drawn to him, but all who seek to possess him will pay a price.

Yoss

Grace McCarter

Surprisingly lacklustre. As Odo Hirsch was one of my favourite YA fiction authors from childhood, perhaps it was merely my high expectations that made this book flop. Hirsch used twenty different moments to define each character when one would have sufficed, twenty different examples to prove each point he had to make when, again, one could have sufficed. Whoever was responsible for editing this piece of work seems to be as efficient as the bumbling blue doctor. Yoss was able to heal himself independently despite the doctor's feeble guesswork. I wish I could say as much for 'Yoss', the novel. Too much time was spent leaning on tired cliches and over-explaining, and not enough spent on propelling the plot forward. The first three-quarters of the book was its beginning, and the last quarter tried desperately to move the (still) underdeveloped plot all the way through to the 'end'. The last page was a convenient little wrap up of how changed and reminiscent the protagonist felt upon return home from his journey. It left me feeling, frankly, patronised. Yes, Odo, I understand that the 'journey' was both literal and metaphorical. I understood that after reading the first three lines of the novel, yet it was needlessly and tirelessly re-iterated with every turn of the page. The grand portion of readers are more than intelligent enough to figure out things in novels that are neither shown nor told, at times. I wish Hirsch would have used a little subtlety, and at least given me room to try!

Yoss

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