Review: The Amanda Project, Invisible I by Stella Lennon

Sep 7, 2009 by shanyn

Title: The Amanda Project: Invisible I
Series: The Amanda Project #1
Hardcover, 352 pages
Author: Stella Lennon
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: September 22, 2009
Source: Publisher
Buy: Amazon

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Book Summary (from Goodreads.com):
Mysterious, charismatic, and one of a kind—the only way to find Amanda is to think like Amanda.

When enigmatic freshman Amanda Valentino arrived at Endeavor High, she chose three people—Callie, Hal, and Nia—to guide her through the choppy waters of her new school. Except she didn’t tell them about each other. When Amanda leaves, the three must reluctantly work together to figure out why. But once they start piecing together the cryptic clues that Amanda herself is leaving for them, they realize that everything they thought they knew about her is false. The more they dig, the mystery of where—and who—Amanda is deepens.

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Review:
The back of the book says “What happened to Amanda Valentino? Readers can help find out in this interactive, collaborative eight-book series.” I guess I didn’t totally grasp the “eight-book” part of that quote. The novel starts out innocently enough, describing characters at school and their interactions with Amanda – I had a few issues with the lack of adult intervention in some places (why do I think like such a mom?). My biggest gripe about this book, however, is that basically nothing is solved at the end – now that I have re-read the quote I shared above, I realize it’s supposed to go over eight books, and if they solved much in this first one they wouldn’t have things left to say.

Not all is lost, however. I did visit www.theamandaproject.com, where readers are supposed to go to help find Amanda, and I was pleasantly surprised. It seems like something I would have loved to be involved with when I was younger – clues, mystery, etc. It made the book come more alive, and settled my feelings a bit. I’m not sure if I will seek out the next 7 books, though it is a little intriguing to see how the author will pull it all together – she made some clever connections in the first book so I can only imagine what will be next.

My advice is to visit the Amanda Project website to get a feel for what is in store, and then pick up the book if it’s something you’re interested in. It definitely was not meant to stand alone, and you’ll be disappointed if you think so.

Buy: Amazon

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