A guest review by Kris
The Blurb:
It’s the all-important Olympic season and eighteen-year-old American figure skater Alex Grady is discovering that there are many obstacles along the way on his quest to win a gold medal. For starters, he has to get through endless hours of practice under the watchful eye of his stern and slightly terrifying Russian coach. Then he has to contend with his all-American rival, Tanner Nielsen. Tanner has the talent, looks, poise and picture-perfect girlfriend that make him the ideal poster boy for United States figure skating.
Alex has the talent and his looks aren’t bad, but the filter between his brain and his mouth is missing, and he definitely doesn’t have a girlfriend. He doesn’t have a boyfriend either, although he finds himself thinking far too much about pairs skater Matt Savelli, which is ridiculous, since goody two-shoes Matt is totally not his type. Besides, Alex doesn’t have time to worry about dating, not with the Olympics looming, right? Can he find a way to go for the gold and still remain true to himself?
The Review:
I’ve done away with my usual subheadings for this review. This is because my reactions to The Next Competitor were up and down, which means that I’m going to be spending a large part of this review trying to articulate why at the end I thought it was only an ‘okay’ read. Sorries in advance if this is not the kind of review you were hoping for.
Firstly, the extent of my knowledge of ice skating comes from watching Hollywood movies and the German soap opera Alles Was Zahlt. I’m not a watcher of the Winter Olympics either so I can’t even bluff my way through a description of triple axel whatevers. I like the jumpy bits and when they twirl around really fast, but that’s about the extent of my knowledge. Given this, a large part of the detail to do with the description of this sport went over my head. I vaguely understood what was going on, but wouldn’t be able to tell you whether it was in any way realistic or not.
To be honest, and I’ll probably get shouted down for this, the ice skating theme wasn’t that big of a deal to me. Why? Well, obviously I’m not terribly interested in it. However, primarily it was because I thought that this plot of bad-boy-wannabe-sports-star-waking-up-to-himself-as-part-of-his-quest-for-glory-and-for-love could have been picked up and used in relation to any sport-themed book, Olympics or otherwise. Anyone remember the gymnastics film American Anthem or the pair figure skating movie The Cutting Edge?? There are a number of them around and along with this storyline you expect to see certain characters like the arch rival and the cranky coach/mentor. Goes with the territory. Enough said.
By the same token, I read and watch a lot of fiction aimed at young adults and realise that a fair amount of it – again, with the shouting down thing – does tend to be formulaic. Let’s face it, formulas are used and work for a very good reason. Generally, I can dismiss such tropes as long as something fresh is brought to the storyline. In this case, having the book’s main character being gay, and a not particularly likeable character at that, did give it an interesting twist. Still, it just did not live up to this potential.
For me, there seemed to be a lack of intensity that you would hope for with regards to this setting and situation. Conflicts; ranging from accidents to arguments to issues associated with being in the limelight to coming out, were also resolved a little to easily. Yes, a reader may ordinarily expect or in some cases want a young adult book to only touch lightly upon these kinds of subjects, but I think such an approach does a disservice to the story itself.
By the end of The Next Competitor, I was left somewhat satisfied, yet with the overwhelming feeling of wanting more. In particular, wishing for the development of characterisation as well as the further exploration of some of the central themes.
My recommendation:
The Next Competitor may be of interest to those who have been missing their ice skating fix following the Winter Olympics. If none of the issues that I outlined above are things that would bother you as a reader than I suggest you definitely give it a go.
Well, I am a total Olympics addict as many well remember but this is the second “meh” review I’ve seen for this so I don’t think I’m THAT hooked that I’ll pick it up. It’s a shame because we were talking about there not being many sports stories outside of the football and baseball.
Tam, my total knowledge of what was happening at the Winter Olympics came from your updates. LOL. It’s just something that only vaguely interests in a ‘isn’t that cool’ kind of a way. Therefore, I couldn’t honestly tell you how realistic it was in relation to the sport, rather only my thoughts about the plot, etc.
I also reviewed this one on my LJ and what’s sad about this book is it’s a total rip off of a documentary about Johnny Weir. If you’ve watched Pop Star On Ice, you get what the book is doing. The lead character Alex is almost exactly the same as real life skater Johnny.
I also found the writing and plot somewhat poor sadly.
Kassa, really?? I saw your review but didn’t read the details of it because I didn’t want to be too influenced by it – me being a sheep and all 🙂 – in terms of my own review.
I just… wow. I don’t even know what to say to that other than that is a major concern.
I’ve been a Johnny Weir fan for years, and I have to disagree. Aside from a few superficial similarities (and being gay, outspoken and coached by a scary Russian aren’t uncommon characteristics in skating!), I don’t see the connection between Johnny and the character of Alex. Johnny is a fabulous, flamboyant diva who loves fashion shows and garnering attention. He’s the kind of guy who wears a crown of roses in the kiss and cry and sings along to Lady Gaga while waiting for his marks. 🙂 Alex was obsessed with winning and didn’t have any of Johnny’s fun-loving, outrageous, high-heeled personality. Alex lived in a bare bones apartment and was all about training, training, training. Their core personalities are really quite different. If Alex had Johnny’s personality I’d cry foul, but he truly didn’t. The events that take place in the book are different from Johnny’s life as well.
I personally did enjoy the book. To each their own, of course, but I think it’s an unfair accusation to say the author copied a documentary on Johnny Weir. I think it’s easy to make superficial comparisons since the book concerns a real sport with some famous people in it (particularly Johnny at the moment) but as someone who follows skating avidly and is quite knowledgeable (if I do so so myself!), I found the book realistic and the characters very enjoyable (loved the flaws!) and not carbon copies of real people at all.
Kris: My knowledge of figure skating’s entirely from Tam’s updates during the Olympics and from the movie Ice Castles, so this wouldn’t draw me in unless it was utterly amazing… Sounds like I’m safe.
Chris, interestingly I’m beginning to think that it might be those of us who have only a vague interest in the sport who might get the most out of this book.
‘I like the jumpy bits and when they twirl around really fast…..’
Love this phrase.
I’m sure if the writing had been better, overall descriptions of the skating would have drawn you into the technicalities of it.
The blurb says that Alex is attracted to Matt, but Matt isn’t his type. So, why is he attracted? That doesn’t make sense.
Good review. Thanks.
John, thanks.
I was going to be all professional and use my Google fu to look up technical terms for whatever the heck those moves are, but realised that would be a couple of minutes of my life that I would never get back. 😉
“I’m sure if the writing had been better, overall descriptions of the skating would have drawn you into the technicalities of it.”
Quite possibly. Unfortunately that was not the case.
Kris
As someone who loves figure skating (but hates hockey) I was looking forward to reading this book. Now it will probably languish in file 13 which is too bad. Figure skating and bungee jumping – my two favourite sports. 🙂
Wave, I think we’ve proven beyond a doubt that my knowledge of figure skating is zero to none. LOL.
What do you always say?? Make sure you read a couple of reviews about a book before making a decision about whether or not it’s for you? Be sure to take you own advice, lovie. 😉
Hi Max
For some reason I can’t reply directly to your comment so it’s ending up all the way down here.
Many thanks for offering your opinion on the matter of the possible similarities between this book and the documentary. It is good to get a different perspective on such issues.
I also really appreciate you taking the time to comment about ice skating aspects of The Next Competitor. As I’ve said, I know nothing about the sport so it was interesting to read your POV about how realistic it was.
Thanks again. 🙂