Rock On ~ Denise Vega (earc) review

Rock On: A story of guitars, gigs, girls, and a brother (not necessarily in that order)
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
March 5, 2012
296 pages
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Orion, "Ori," Taylor lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for The Band to Be Named Later (that's not their named, they don't actually have a name yet), has always been Del Taylor's little brother. The big-star's ignored little brother. That was supposed to change now that Del was in college. Sure people would still ignore him, but at least he'd be able to concentrate on his band and their music.

Just as Ori's starting to listen to his friend that maybe he's not the dorky, ugly, rightfully-overlooked brother of Del Taylor, Del returns from college with no explanation as to his sudden appearance. Is Ori going to be able to focus on his band and get it together with Del back in the picture?



If there had been more explanation as to why Del was home, sooner, or more exploration of the relationships, I think I would have enjoyed Rock On more. I kept waiting for just a little bit more about why Del was back. Even more so when another relationship was affected and we didn't get much explanation there, either.

While, in retrospect, I do think the lack of examination and talking things out really did fit with Ori and Del (teenage guys aren't usually going search out the chance to talk things out and find out what's going on with each other), as a reader it was slightly frustrating to have that part of the story left unknown.

I did really appreciate the story being outside of the norm, though. Not only is it about a high school band -it's also about Ori's attempts to deal with his all-star brother suddenly home from college without reason. As much as we learn about the band progressing toward Battle of the Bands (and finding a band name), we also learn about Ori trying to find where he fits. He's not the big athlete his brother was and now with that brother back and making things unbelievable difficult he's just trying to make his band work and make the music he loves.

The ending of Rock On was great and I love the way things came together for the different characters and wrapped things up.

Rating: 7/10


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