Summary: Sway is about a girl whose mother leaves after a horrible fight on the first day she's home from rescuing people from a storm. Her seemingly-boring father decides to take her on a trip in "The Roast," an RV that he reconstructed after being broken. He introduces her to the power of "Sway," the magic contained in old soap from famous people. This power can rub off onto people who wash their hands with the soap. Through Sway, the two bond together instead off the main character, Cass, being annoyed by her father.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Plot: Sway's plot is amazing. Its plot had me nearly crying one second and laughing the next. It's extremely nuanced as well, with huge attention to tiny details and little things that later prove to be important to the story. There are some amazing plot twists as well, like the falsehood of the soap slivers and Toodi's (the mom) elaborate lie.
Plot score (40% of final score): 10/10. No large faults that I can find.
Characters: The main characters in Sway are almost as good as the plot. Cass is in character for a 10-12 year old girl, with her own unique bits like "noodling" (drawing things that happened in her life from a slightly abstract perspective). She doesn't seem quite so detailed at the start, but only a minor issue. Cass's dad, Douglas (or M.B. McClean when marketing soap) seems to be boring, but shows her the interesting power of Sway. Toodi doesn't show up very often, but she legitimately loves her daughter (but apparently not enough to stay faithful to Douglas).
Character score (30% of final score) 9/10. The point deduction is only because of the Cass issue at the start of the story.
Setting: The setting is varied in this book, but, as in all the other categories, Turner pays incredible attention to detail. The settings are established well, even in throwaway settings. The only exception to this is Cass's house, which is the setting for the first few chapters.
Setting score (10% of the final score): 8.5/10. Some issues in Cass's house, but not too major.
Mood/style: As mentioned a bit in the Plot section, the book made me laugh and then cry the next second. That takes a lot of work to switch between moods so fast, but the author does this fairly smoothly. There are some exceptions, but for the most part, the fast-switching mood is good. The style is a bit eccentric, which is not objectively bad, but in my (subjective) opinion, it's a bit overdone. I found myself somewhat annoyed by "wrength" and "uh-gane." Just use real words, please.
Mood/style score (20% of the final score): 7.5/10. Some minor issues in mood switching and the style is too eccentric.
Overall rating:
9/10
In short, I would definitely recommend this book!
