The Improbable Theory of Ana and Zak by Brian Katcher

TL;DR

TBR #1167, added Jan 8 2015

finished 5/17/16

I really liked the premise of this book, and I'm ashamed to admit I almost quit it to return to some other time. We've had really terrible weather recently (ironically, what I imagine Seattle weather is like), and I've been really listless because of it. I didn't find Ana or Zak endearing at first and I wasn't in the mood to read 300 pages of them. 

Thankfully, I followed the "read til page 50" rule, and by then I'd built up enough curiosity that I got through the whole book by the evening. (So I can tell you for a fact this can be read in an afternoon.) I'll readily admit that my feelings about Ana and Zak were probably influenced by this gray weather we've had these past three weeks. 

(Seriously, you know all those stereotypes about Seattle? About how it's always gray and kinda rainy and it's never sunny? We've had, like, two sunny days in May so far. It's miserable.) 

I'm really not sure the premise of the plot is plausible, but it sure as hell ended up interesting. These kids get into more shenanigans in 12 hours than I have in my five-year history of con-going. Like, good lord. Kinda makes me feel like I gotta step up my game a little bit. 

A ton of plot and character development happens over that period of 12 hours. Some things felt too sudden for anything to actually have changed, but I'm amazed by how much happened over the course of the book. There was so much more depth than I expected and I really did enjoy the journey. 

I completely enjoyed reading something set in a convention. I honestly never expected to get my hands on something like this, since con-going and reading YA don't exactly go hand-in-hand. At least, they're nowhere near the same audience. Washingcon was a little different than my experiences going to anime conventions, but it still felt familiar. I think it managed to capture a convention's vibe, especially when you're there for a mission. It's a pain in the ass to try and find a single person in a convention center. 

(Although, honestly, why didn't they ever call Clayton's phone? You gotta at least start there. Zak should've known trying to find him would've been a literal needle in a haystack search.) 

TL;DR I'm really glad I didn't try to put off reading this. It's a really good shenanigans book. After writing this review I'm definitely making "shenanigans" a category just like contemp or dystopian. I definitely think this deserves its own classification.