Moon Over Manifest

Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was.

Having heard stories abut Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a worn-out town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they were warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone” (From Book Jacket)

When I first started reading this book, I felt that this was going to be good. That is, until I got into the middle.

The middle was so long and borinnngggg. It starts off pretty nice and then it gets all bland in the middle of the book.

The writing style was like this: Abilene doing something in real life and then she goes to Miss Sadie (a diviner in this story) to hear stories about Manifest in the past.

Her goal is to find out more about her dad, Gideon but your not really into it because Miss Sadie is talking about these people you don’t know about. Why is she suddenly telling these stories? What’s the point? You get these answers near the end and I wish the author could have told readers earlier. Maybe it wouldn’t have been less draggy.

Whenever Miss Sadie would be about to tell those stories and I see a change in font, my mind just wants to: nuggggghslkdjflielaekkalf’lakf.sdfddddasas?????? I don’t know what the deal is with me and going into the past, but I just found it…tiring to read (?) Not to mention I was reading about Manifest’s past for the majority of the book.

Despite for some reason hating reading the past, I liked Jinx and Ned the most. (characters from the past) They seemed like two best friends who always get into trouble ya know? I think this book was more about Jinx’s life story then Abilene trying to uncover Gideon’s past.

Then it gets interesting in the end. THE VERY END, when Ned dies. It was only at the end where I didn’t feel like I was in a puddle of mud. Reading the ending of this book wasn’t worth the sluggish middle though. It’s a good story and all, but not really worth the read to me.

2.5/5