I thought a book about a giant waterslide, travelling all the way along the Thames, was an intriguing. I assumed there would be a bit of a build up and some resolutions at the end, but this book really is the journey of a boy on this slide.
There was some interesting descriptions and tension built by Poppity, the missing, eccentric inventor, the bad weather and the flash backs of the narrator, but I just couldn’t get behind this book. For me, it would have been a perfect quirky short story but just doesn’t hold up to anything longer. I am sure the concept of a giant waterslide will be appealing to many children, but it was just a bit too bizarre for me to recommend to my children.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my views.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book, but this was a meandering ride. This professed "thirty three minute ride" took far longer to tell than experience, and I struggled to mentally find student readers that I thought would be grabbed by this one.

3.5 stars rounded up. I find the lore of this author and the premise of this book very charming and interesting but unfortunately, the actual writing fell a little flat. I wanted it to get weirder! Either way, I know that I will probably pick up books from Bigfoot again in the future, the conceit is just too good.

Wow! Flume was not at all what I had expected - once I hopped onto the water slide, I had to follow it turn by twisty turn until I reached the end in one sitting. I could not find a single place where the action slowed. What a way to discover the truth of why you're afraid of water!
Highly recommended.

This was a ride... I loved the intro but about half way it became a little repetetive. Had some problems with keeping up with the plot. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review
Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Flume: a thirty-three minute aquatic mystery looked so cool and exciting when I requested it. It’s about a group of kids who ride this super-high, super-long waterslide in a futuristic, sort of dystopian London. The slide takes 33 minutes to get from top to bottom. The book takes longer than 33 minutes to read. (This confused me for a bit, but I figured it out. The book is 170 pages long.)

The book obviously has a strong concept, but I felt like we definitely got a proper story and it didn’t just rely on its concept to be entertaining.

The characters were fleshed out and I really cared about them. The dynamics between them were really well done too.

Where I had issues with Flume: a thirty-three minute aquatic mystery was the plot. It’s a mystery story, as well as being about the ride down the slide, but I felt like the plot was too easy and sometimes too much of a stretch. I also felt like I was missing some backstory about the characters, and maybe the world, to make the mystery make sense, or to make me care about it more.

The main problem I had with this book is hard to explain without spoilers. SPOILER< I wanted to read about the slide and I didn’t get to see that. The book took me in a completely different direction and cut out the best bit that the book had sold me. > SPOILER This made the book really disappointing.

However, I did enjoy it and it is such a cool idea. It was a fun way to pass an hour or two and I did enjoy Flume: a thirty-three minute aquatic mystery. I rated it 4.25 stars because it was really fun. I maybe wouldn’t spend your money on this one though, if you want to read about the actual slide.

4.0 stars

I loved the high stakes shared throughout the book, it really added to the tense atmosphere! The ending was insane, though. I can't deny that.

3.5 rounded up
This is a read in one sitting book. I couldn't stop reading. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

I wanted to enjoy this book, especially after reading the reviews. The premise sounded promising but didn't deliver what I wanted it to, if that makes sense. Granted, I'm not the intended audience for this book - though I usually enjoy the genre. I think the first few chapters could be edited to make it easier to get into the story. The prose is lovely, though; I can see why people like it. However, I wasn't a fan.

An unusual and convoluted story, visceral and vivid in imagery, combining coming-of-age, a Victorian-type of upbringing of a young boy by his mysterious and elusive uncle, phobias, flashbacks, and an eccentric explorer/inventor who died or else disappeared--who knows? I am reminded of the novels of John Bellairs.

*free copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review*

I'm not sure how to start this review, except by saying that I was so damn engaged by this book I ended up hunched over my tablet late at night with my hood up, because I'm scared of giant sea creatures but couldn't stop reading.

This book was really something. I am obssessed by the idea of a thirty-three minute water slide!? Like, the sheer SCOPE of that is insane. Imagining that suspended above the London skyline is something else, and I think the constant movement of the characters through the flume was what kept the book from dragging. All of the imagery was incredible, and the idea of being stuck in this flume in the middle of an electric storm? Terrifying. The book is split into three segments with three different parts of the flume - the Core being the most interesting and also the scariest for me - and the world-building and backstory to it is amazing.

Grammatically, this book was perfect. No complaints at all, the writing flowed and our three main characters jumped off the page. I really enjoyed Flo and Yam as a pair of friends for the main character, the former being a techy girl who likes numbers and fixing things, and the latter being something of a hippy boy who goes with the flow (pun not intended). Shanks, the protagonist, was interesting as a narrator, and I found all of his flashbacks and the way his backstory mystery unfolds - as well as the story of Mr Poppity, the explorer who created the flume in the first place - satisfying (even if a smidge predictable).

Me finding it satisfying does not, however, mean that this book was not really, really weird. I love weird books, and I'm not going to spoil the ending, but it was just straight-up bizarre. If you had asked me how the book would end, I would have guessed about a thousand other endings before the one I read. It feels like a bit of a fever dream, or perhaps a very odd simulation. Also, I have some questions regarding Flo and Yam and whether or not they were supposed to be reincarnations of certain people, or whether they just shared similarities to help Shanks jog his memory. Either way, I enjoyed their company all the way down the flume, and I'd say it's still less traumatising for a child than Jacqueline Wilson's The Cat Mummy, so would probably recommend it to upper-primary school.

Tl;dr: An inventive fever dream. 4.5 stars.

I requested Flume as I love to visit waterparks with my family. A thirty-three minute waterslide? How could that be? This story chronicles the decent of a boy (and his friends) down this massive slide. Throughout the journey Bigfoot, uses imagery to create the atmosphere all around the main characters. The main character tells the story through the first person and much of the story is driven by imagery and his fears. It was hard for me to suspend my reality to believe that it could take that long to slide down a waterslide which took away from the story for me, unfortunately. You might be better at this than me. Middle school students would enjoy this as a read aloud and so much can be drawn from the messages about conquering your fears and imagery in writing.

Thank you Net Galley, Bigfoot, and BooksGoSocial for the opportunity to preview this title. The opinions shared are my own.