Frequency (2015)
Written By: Christopher Krovatin
Genre: Young Adult Urban Fantasy
Pages: 304 pages (eARC)
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Disclaimer: I was given an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Why I Chose It: I love fairytale retellings. They are my first love. And The Pied Piper might be my favorite fairytale so I figured I should try Frequency.
The premise:
Nine years ago, Fiona was just a kid. But everything changed the night the Pit Viper came to town. Sure, he rid the quiet, idyllic suburb of Hamm of its darkest problems. But Fiona witnessed something much, much worse from Hamm’s adults when they drove him away.
And now, the Pit Viper is back.
Fiona’s not just a kid anymore. She can handle the darkness she sees in the Pit Viper, a DJ whose wicked tattoos, quiet anger, and hypnotic music seem to speak to every teen in town…except her. She can handle watching as each of her friends seems to be overcome, nearly possessed by the music. She can even handle her unnerving suspicion that the DJ is hell-bent on revenge.
But she’s not sure she can handle falling in love with him.
Spoiler Free
Discussion: I really don’t know what happened with this one. The Pied Piper is one of my favorite fairytales and Frequency was very well-written. And yet, I just never really got into it.
Part of it was that I had a hard time connecting with Fiona or caring about the things she cared about. I think we were just too different, which I recognize is completely subjective and kind of a crappy basis for not liking someone. But I guess I’m just not cool enough to be a rocker and I had a hard time imagining myself as one. Fiona herself seemed like a fairly typical teen with a rocky relationship with her parents and a contempt for the other adults of her town. So, this ended up falling into the trap of portraying grown-ups as ineffective and unbelievable, which is one of my pet peeves.
I was also a little put off by the constant low-level hum of sex and drugs that pervaded the whole book. And yes, I know it’s a relevant topic right now, and Krovatin was making some deliberate choices in the portrayal of these subjects, but it just wasn’t for me.
With that being said, there were several other things about the book that I did enjoy. The Pied Piper is one of my favorite stories and I think the fairytale elements were the best part of Frequency. I loved the history of the Pit Viper (Pit Viper/Pied Piper, hehe, get it?) and how it paralleled ridding Hamelin of rats. And without spoilers, I think I can say the rest of the story between the teens and the Pit Viper lined up with the original quite nicely as well. And I love a well-done retelling.
Also, in the original, you’re not quite sure who the bad guy is. Is it a moralistic tale, warning people to pay their debts or “face the music?” Or is a warning to be careful who you let talk to your children? And that ambiguity played out in Frequency as well. You really aren’t sure who the real bad guy is until the end. And even then, there’s shades of gray. I really liked the ambiguous morals and the fact that Fiona had to struggle with some very real emotions around loving people who have hurt you and gaining and losing trust. She had to make hard decisions and draw a line in the sand, saying “I’ll go this far and no further.” I might not have liked her so much as a character, but I really respected her ability to make those hard decisions.
In Conclusion: I’m kind of sorry this one was a miss for me. I could see loving it if I was just a little more into rock and roll or if I’d really connected with Fiona and her romantic interests. But in the end, all I can say is that I just wasn’t that into it. I think someone else who actually gets all the music references and loves a bit of fantasy in their rock and roll would get a kick out of this.
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