• Home
  • Review Policy
  • Book Reviews
    • Action
    • Fantasy
    • Mystery
    • Non-Fiction
    • Paranormal
    • Romance
    • Science Fiction
    • Young Adult

Silk & Serif

A Book Blog

Review: Peak

August 15, 2015 · Leave a Comment

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review: PeakPeak by Roland Smith
Published by HMH Books for Young Readers on August 1, 2008
Pages: 257
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Buy on Amazon, B&N
Goodreads

After Peak Marcello is arrested for scaling a New York City skyscraper, he's left with two choices: wither away in Juvenile Detention or go live with his long-lost father, who runs a climbing company in Thailand. But Peak quickly learns that his father's renewed interest in him has strings attached. Big strings. He wants Peak to be the youngest person to reach the Everest summit--and his motives are selfish at best. Even so, for a climbing addict like Peak, tackling Everest is the challenge of a lifetime. But it's also one that could cost him his life.

Since his earliest memories Peak Marcello has loved rock climbing. He spends every moment he can fine tuning his skills, every summer at a climbing camp and most late nights tagging skyscrapers. When Peak is finally caught red handed climbing a skyscraper his family strikes a deal with the judge. Peak must leave New York to live with his father in Thailand or face Juvenile Detention. Unfortunately, Peak’s father hasn’t checked back into his son’s life out of the kindness of his heart: he has a plan for Peak that will save his failing climbing business. Peak could become the youngest person on Earth to climb Everest, but danger and subterfuge could also cost him his life.

I remember reading The Everest series by Gordon Korman when I was in my early teens. I loved the unique idea of rock climbing kids experiencing a once in a live time, high risk adventure. I loved those novels and gobbled them up without pause. Long live the library and the ability to check out an entire series at once!

It probably wasn’t a huge leap for me to instantly request Peak by Roland Smith based on its subject matter. Young adult literature and rock climbing kids? Count me in!

The novel is well researched, well written and (my favourite) concerning rock climbing adventures. I loved the realism behind the climb up Everest: garbage dump camps, the problem with human waste on the trails, frozen bodies above the Death Zone and the careful attention to how lack of oxygen can affect the human brain. At no point does Smith romanticize the climb. It’s important that people understand the decades worth of filth that accumulates up a mountain when hundreds of people make the climb every year.

I liked Peak. He was from a wealthy family who clearly gave him the best of everything and indulged in his every whim but Peak was not a spoiled brat. He cared about those around him, felt compassion and understood how lucky he is with his lot in life. He was also waay more forgiving than I ever could be..

Unfortunately, the only character I enjoyed was Peak. The rest of the cast are using a fourteen year old kid to get what they want. Peak climbs Everest on his own, often carrying Sun Jo’s supplies as well as his own while Sun Jo often spends time on the back Yaks or being babied by others. Zorpa steals Peak’s top of the line climbing gear to outfit Sun Jo which no one even comments on. Sun Jo comes from a family of Sherpas and yet consistently under preforms a soft American boy. I think I would have loved this book if Sun Jo was a stronger, more compassionate character.

The fact that Zorpa has his own plans to get Sun Jo to the top isn’t the issue – its the way that Smith makes it happen. The entire book is literally about an old man manipulating a child so that another child can claim the glory. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but Sun Jo does very little to earn his place and is rewarded in the end with Peak’s friendship. I am totally for helping those in need, but when that person does very little to earn it and even does morally ambiguous things to you? I just can’t get behind that.

I understand the message: self-sacrifice, compassion and altruism. I just didn’t like how Smith went about getting there. Peak was written for a younger audience so perhaps my visceral reaction is inappropriate. I don’t know. I just know that from the first moment we see a lot of unforgivable behaviours by the adults in Peak’s life and a lot of selfishness on Sun Jo’s part. It ruined a really fantastic book for me.

This book will appeal to those who enjoy novels about adventure, rock climbing, high risk situations and sports. It will also appeal to the risk taker in everyone, capitalizing on the desire to do something more than the day to day.

About Roland Smith

Roland Smith is an American author of young adult fiction as well as nonfiction books for children.
Smith was born in Portland, Oregon, and graduated from Portland State University and, following a part-time job at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, began a 20-year career as a zookeeper, both at the Oregon Zoo and the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, Washington. Smith’s books have won “Book of the Year” awards in Colorado, Nevada, South Carolina, and Florida, as well as in his native Oregon. Smith lives in Tualatin, Oregon with his wife and stepchildren.

Website | Goodreads

  • Related Posts
  • Same Genre
  • 2.5 Star Books
Review: Immunity
Review: Smoke on The Water
Review: Resistance – Dave vs The Monsters #2
Author Interview: Anders De La Motte
How Blogging Has Changed My Life
Review: The Morning After Memoirs
Review: Every Hidden Thing
Review: Manwhore
Review: Always Happy Hour
Review: Hag-Seed
Review: Wishes for Christmas
Review: The Anthrax Protocol
Review: Bats
Review: Girl’s Guide to The Apocalypse
Review: Machinations

Filed Under: Action, Adventure, Reviews, Uncategorized, Young Adult

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Welcome!

Welcome to Silk & Serif! A blog dedicated to Young Adult, Science Fiction, Romance and a dash of non-fiction. Great books celebrated by an avid literary community resident. Read More…

  • 317
  • 175
January 2023
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031  
« Nov    

Currently Reading

Meal Prep for Weight Loss: Weekly Plans and Recipes to Lose Weight the Healthy Way Meal Prep for Weight Loss: Weekly Plans and Recipes to Lose Weight the Healthy Way by Kelli Shallal
Nightfall and Other Stories Nightfall and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov
Last Exit Last Exit by Max Gladstone
Biology 11: College Preparation, Student Edition Biology 11: College Preparation, Student Edition by Alexandre Annab
The Lost Village The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
Visit my shelf on Goodreads

Reviews by Rating

★★★★★
Review: Bones Inside and Out
Review: The Ship Beyond Time
Review: The Twilight Wife
Review: Future Shock
Review: Beyond the Red
Review: Seize The Night
Review: Scarlet

★★★★½
Review: The Doors of Eden
Review: Adrift
Review: Little Heaven
Review: Every Hidden Thing
Review: A Time of Torment
Review: The Summit
Review: Hell Divers
Review: The Hatching
Review: Dan vs. Nature
Review: With Malice
Review: The Great Hunt
Giveaway/Review: The Incredible Star Portal
Review: Crooked Little Lies
Review: Cowgrrl Up: Live
Review: Cinder
Review: Readers of The Broken Wheel Recommend
Review: In The Air Tonight
Review: Emergence: Dave vs. the Monsters
Review: Undertow – Michael Buckley

★★★★
Review: Magic for Liars
Review: Ninth House
Review: Future Threat
Review: The Drifter
Review: Last Day on Mars
Review: The Cottage on Pumpkin and Vine
Review: Tridents Forge
Review: The Immortals
Tour: His Country Bride
Review: Sutherland’s Secret
Tour/Review: The Aftermath
Review: Jackaby
Review: Resurrection Science: Conservation, De-extinction and the Precarious Future of Wild Things
Review: While You Were Gone
Review: Manwhore
Review/Tour: Unforgiven
Review: How to Clone a Mammoth

★★★½
Review: The Rush’s Edge
Review: Cataclysm
Review: Addicted to the Duke
Review: Tell The Wind and Fire
Review: The Girl from Everywhere
Review: MemoRandom
Review: Depraved Heart
Dave vs The Monsters: Ascendance
Review: MARTians
Review: Santa 356
Review: BIGLAW
Review: Immunity
Review: Shattered Blue
Review: The Thirteenth World
Review: Death on Ibiza
Review: The Bourbon Kings
Review: Smoke on The Water
Review: Never Cry Wolf
Review: Heat of the Moment
Review: The Corridor
Review: Chaos and Moonlight
Review: Great Zoo of China – Matthew Reilly

★★★
Review: The Birthday Boys
Review: Chasing Shadows
Review: Long May She Reign
Review: Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis
Review: Night Watch
Review: The Book of The Unnamed Midwife
Review: Wolves
Review: Freenet
Review: A Whisper of Desire
Review: Nirvana
Review: The Morning After Memoirs
Tour/Review: The Sweet Spot
Review: The Black Tongue
Blog Tour/Review: When The Stars Align
Review: Resistance – Dave vs The Monsters #2
Review: Lumière
Review: The Worst of Times
Review: Ever Near
Review: Wishing Cross Station
Review: TAG
Review: Moonkind
Book Blast/Review: Deal With The Devil
Review: Finches of Mars

★★½
Review: Bats
Review: Machinations
Review: The Anthrax Protocol
Review: Wishes for Christmas
Review: Girl’s Guide to The Apocalypse
Review: Peak

★★
Review: Always Happy Hour
Review: The Long, Long Life of Trees
Review: Stranger King
Review: To Catch a Lady
Re-Review: Nirvana

★½

★

½

Blogroll

Bedtime BookwormKelsey's Cluttered BookshelfThe Book Addict's Guide

Theme Design By Studio Mommy · Copyright © 2023

Copyright © 2023 · Hailey Wells Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in