The Floating Boy and the Girl Who Couldn't Fly by P. T. Jones is a cleverly written book for children ages twelve & up.  The dialogue has just the right amount of snarkiness.

It is well done for the time when teens are not always comfortable with their peers & environment. It has touches of crush/romance as well as science fiction.

"She laughs, thinking she can embarrass me more than I can her.  Oh, Mother."

It's a fun story to read & moves fast.  Because it kept my interest, I gave it four stars.

"The kids form a circle around the tree.  They're full of righteous sugar & corn syrup, & they jump & throw their arms in the air like they're about to kill Piggy.  Lord of the Flies is the one summer book I got to, all right?"

I received a complimentary copy from ChiTeen & NetGalley.  That did not change my opinion for this review.

Link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/Floating-Boy-Girl-Who-Couldnt-ebook/dp/B00UWCXKNK

This works best when the two authors - who use the pen name P.T. Jones when they are writing together - don't try to sound hip or cool or like teens.   Because it takes a lot of bravado, I believe, to do that and get away with it, and this felt more like effort, which is a shame because I really liked the characters and plot and book as a whole when it didn't try so hard to be like what teens are like. 

See, the characters feel like people: full and fun and like they don't need to be super-hip.   But they try, and I found myself rolling my eyes at some of those points.   Still, at some point it let go of the effort, and it was a far stronger book.   Without that, the characters shone through, and I really enjoyed the slow and steady pace of this novel.   It wasn't clear where it was going at some points, but the journey was so fun it became the point. I  wanted to see how the story between the characters unfolded even more than I wanted to know how the mystery was solved. 

There was one minor nitpick, too.   I thought I'd remember the page numbers, but apparently not.   During a chase scene, bare feet are mentioned, and later wet socks are mentioned.   Since the main character was running away, with her little brother on her back, she had no time to put on socks, nor would she think of doing so given the circumstances. 

Overall, though, I liked this.  I'm finding I like more of a slow burn, though, where time is taken with the characters.   I wanted to write a longer review, but I've been having a migraine today.  I ended up going inside while the boat for the whale watching came into port, and I couldn't stand comics in general, especially not Watchmen, so I finished this instead.   I'm glad I made this choice, because this was just far too fun to put off any longer. 

I'm gonna go make dinner, and maybe sleep soon.  Not sure if I'll finish this tonight.   

It's a little slow, so I might need a break.  I get why it's a little slow now, and I really like the character interaction and how the past is slowly unfolding through their conversations.  I'm just so exhausted right now that slow is making me sleepy. 

I'm still having a problem, which is that in some places the youthful phrases feel forced.   It's not often, but enough that it's a bit of a distraction for me, which is a shame because this is a mature teen, who hangs out with less mature teens - and I was one of those - although she's got her flaws, like panic attacks.    And fear, especially when combined with precociousness, can make one a little mature I think.  Or it feels like it could with this particular character; she feels realistic to me. 

I like her a lot.   But I may put her down for a graphic novel - ChiZine's first - and I've got a nice little surprise with that one, too!

They both agreed it was likely, although no guarantees.   I'm amongst one of the first.   See, they aren't at the same conventions/in the same places that often.   They happened to both be at Readercon this year.  

Even this possibility made me happy.  I've met Paul Tremblay, half of the duo before, but I've never met Stephen Graham Jones.   (And I'm not outing them, by the way.   In the published version of this book?   They get named in about the author.   I would never do that, didn't even Google them in case they wanted to stay anonymous, and just happened to look in back so I knew to look for Tremblay who told me that Jones was around and pointed him out to me when I asked before the Shirley Jackson awards.)

I'm happy to report that Jones was lovely.   I didn't have much of a chance to talk to him because it was right before the awards, milling outside and waiting for the doors to open. I knew he'd be there because I was told, so I was sort of rushing to find him before he left the con this morning.   But we had a polite if short conversation, mostly about how wow, he thought this was the first book they'd both signed.   After that?   The doors did open, the earlier panel spilled out, and we all eagerly got our seats.    

Anyway, I was really resistant to this the first couple of pages.  I haven't read any of Jones' work, but I have read Tremblay's.  I think I was expecting his work for an older audience, and once I let go of those expectations, it started working for me. I  do have a minor, ongoing issue but I'll get to that in my review. 

Just wanted to share the story about this book.   

                     Arc provided by Diamond Book Distributors through Netgalley

                          Release date: November 11 th 

DNF at 11 or 12 % .....

Instead of saying something along the line of this being a mess, and how much I didn't enjoy it (something that you can probably see by my rating), I am just going to share with you guys, what I felt while reading a few pages of the story.

_______________

Oh, for Heaven's sake, could you stop with the religious references already?

Yes, I get it, you're different!

And...extremely judgemental...

o_O

Also, Muggles...ahahah....not really, because it is not your joke to make....especially multiple times. :/

Also, girl?

Could you be more cliched with your dark clothes and red stripes in your hair?

Ugh.....

And then out of the blue, the boy just starts flying o_O ? The hell? Was it the doritos? Is everyone hallucinating?

Am I hallucinating? o_O

(why did I request this title? Oh, right I didn't...it was on the "read now" section...)

Is this supposed to be magical realism or some strange form of  science fiction?

Also, what's with this writing? Was this edited?

This doesn't seem to have been edited...

o_O

"It all sucks", the main character says.

You got that right, girl: This sucks.

And if you're a day older than seven years old, I'll paint my hair pink!

Fifteen? This girl doesn't sound fifteen...nish :/

What?

Did she just jumped into the river pretending that she was trying to commit suicide?

And are you really talking about anxiety disorder in such a blasé manner?

WTH??

And:

"So, Logan, he’s completely vomitous(..)"

 Am I am done: I am not this book's intended audience.

Stephen Graham Jones' Official Site 

Paul Tremblay' Official Site 

Bookdepository.com