Paranormal Archives - The Busy Bibliophile

Review The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

05/01/2013 by Andrea · 2 Comments

Title: The Eternity Cure
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: April 30th 2013 by Harlequin Teen
Format: Hardcover, 446 pages
Source: NetGalley
Series: The Blood of Eden | The Eternity Cure
5 owl rating

Summary

Allison Sekemoto has vowed to rescue her creator, Kanin, who is being held hostage and tortured by the psychotic vampire Sarren. The call of blood leads her back to the beginning—New Covington and the Fringe, and a vampire prince who wants her dead yet may become her wary ally.

Even as Allie faces shocking revelations and heartbreak like she’s never known, a new strain of the Red Lung virus that decimated humanity is rising to threaten human and vampire alike.

My thoughts

Allie is following her intuition, her sixth sense, on a long trek to find the vampire that made her. She can feel that he is being tortured, and when she sleeps she dreams about what he faces, and it’s like she’s there. Before long, she runs into Jackal, who is also answering the call of the blood. They follow the trail all the way back to the place Allie grew up, the place she ran away from when she was turned.

Oh, how I loved jumping back into this story. The world-building is simply amazing. Not only the regular world where vampires run the streets and they have their own way of doing things, but also the other world where humans are the minority. They are both such dark and unhappy places, yet I’m able to picture them perfectly in my mind.

Allie is back as her usual ass-kicking self. She’s still as selfless as she was as a human, this time traveling alone across dangerous territories to save another vampire. Kanin is back as her maker, and we learn much more about him and his past (and what a past it is!). And Zeke, dear, sweet Zeke, is back. Not quite the love-sick puppy he was before, he’s bigger and badder and hotter than ever. And Jackal! He is much more layered in this installment, and I honestly waffled several times over which side he was really on. I love when a book can make me wonder like that. There are a few returning characters, and I was pleased with their development (even if I wasn’t pleased with the direction they chose).

I loved the snark between Jackal and Allie. They were so funny, in a we’re-related-so-we-have-to-put-up-with-each-other-but-you-annoy-me-an-awful-lot kind of way. But there was also that edge where you didn’t quite know if Jackal really meant it when he said he was going to kill Allie while she slept.

The pace was a bit slow at times, and the constant traveling was tiresome, but overall, I liked the speed of the novel. It generally zipped along and there was always something big happening – a fight, revelation or twist. There was rarely any downtime for me to catch my breath. I would call it a roller coaster ride, and a thrilling one at that.

The sum up

I loved every minute of it and wait not so patiently for the next one.

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Filed Under: 5 owls, Bad boy, Chemistry, Dystopian, Fast pace, Paranormal, Scary, Steamy hotness, Swoon-worthy, Vampires, Young adult ·

Review: Teeth by Hannah Moskowitz

01/03/2013 by Andrea · 2 Comments

Title: Teeth
Author: Hannah Moskowitz
Publisher: January 1st 2013 by Simon Pulse
Format: Hardcover, 288 pages
Source: Edelweiss
2 owls

Summary

Be careful what you believe in.

Rudy’s life is flipped upside-down when his family moves to a remote island in a last attempt to save his sick younger brother. With nothing to do but worry, Rudy sinks deeper and deeper into loneliness and lies awake at night listening to the screams of the ocean beneath his family’s rickety house.

Then he meets Diana, who makes him wonder what he even knows about love, and Teeth, who makes him question what he knows about anything. Rudy can’t remember the last time he felt so connected to someone, but being friends with Teeth is more than a little bit complicated. He soon learns that Teeth has terrible secrets. Violent secrets. Secrets that will force Rudy to choose between his own happiness and his brother’s life.

My thoughts

Rudy’s little brother has cystic fibrosis and is steadily going downhill. His parents find out about this remote island with fish that heal the sick so they up and move the family there. The island is full of mostly elderly people who must stay on the island in order to remain healthy. With only his little brother to keep him company, Rudy quickly grows bored. Things start to look up when he meets Diana, a reclusive girl about his age. Then he meets Teeth and suddenly, he has all the excitement he can take.

Umm… I just… Where do I…? Okay, here goes: this book was weird. Not good weird, or even bad weird. Just weird. The characters were … unusual. Rudy was a typical older brother; he cared about his little brother and wanted to help him, but he was also angry over everything he’d lost in order for his brother to get better. The boy’s parents were singularly focused on making Dylan healthy, to the exclusion of their other son. Diana was reclusive because both she and her mother were hiding something from the island. She was very naiive and coy, but also very trusting. I think she was just lonely. Teeth, well, he was Teeth. Teeth was a half-fish/half-man who was targeted by the island’s fishermen because he tried to protect the fish that the islanders needed to eat. He was angry and shy and curious and protective.

The plot was interesting enough. I liked the idea of the magical fish that could heal anyone. The fact that anyone who was sick must stay on the island as long as they wanted to stay healthy, effectively trapping them there for life, was creepy and interesting. The story of Teeth’s early life was sad and interesting. There were some definite high points in the book, like the friendship between Teeth and Rudy. It bordered on a romantic relationship, but it was never defined as one or the other. I felt that was realistic and honest, just like Rudy’s pseudo-relationship with Diana. Was it or wasn’t it? Did it really have to be named? The writing was easy enough to follow. The sentences followed more of a train-of-thought approach, as opposed to standard sentences. It worked in this story, though; it matched Rudy’s attitude perfectly.

I was able to go along with the idea of magic fish and even a fish boy, until one point in the novel, about 2/3 of the way in. Something happened then that was so far out of left field, it pulled me right out of the story. It was the very definition of jumping the shark. From that point on, I had a hard time staying in the story. It just ruined the whole thing for me. If you’re curious about the particular scene, it is mentioned in several Goodreads reviews, feel free to seek those out.

There is a lot of cussing and you see the aftermath of rape. Descripitvely.

So many people praise this book on their blogs and on Goodreads, so I was surprised with my feelings for it. Perhaps I’m not cerebral or abstract enough to appreciate the writing? Either way, though I felt it was okay, I will not actively seek out any of Hannah Moskowitz’s other works.

The sum up

While I appreciate the story telling and dialogue, I don’t think this author and I clicked.

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Filed Under: 2 owls, Abuse, Bullying, Fantasy, Magic, Paranormal, Science fiction, Young adult ·

Audio Review: Fade by Lisa McMann

12/22/2012 by Andrea · Leave a Comment

fade Title: Fade
Author: Lisa McMann
Narrator: Ellen Grafton
Publisher: February 10th 2009 by Simon Pulse
Format: Paperback, 248 pages
Source: Library
Series: Wake | Fade | Gone
5 owl rating

Summary

For Janie and Cabel, real life is getting tougher than the dreams. They’re just trying to carve out a little (secret) time together, but no such luck.

Disturbing things are happening at Fieldridge High, yet nobody’s talking. When Janie taps into a classmate’s violent nightmares, the case finally breaks open — but nothing goes as planned. Not even close. Janie’s in way over her head, and Cabe’s shocking behavior has grave consequences for them both.

Worse yet, Janie learns the truth about herself and her ability — and it’s bleak. Seriously, brutally bleak. Not only is her fate as a dream catcher sealed, but what’s to come is way darker than she’d feared….

My thoughts

One of my favorite fictional couples is back. Cabel (swoon) and Janie are still in school, still (secretly) together and still dealing with Janie’s unusual ability. This time, the Captain offers Janie a position with the undercover team. There’s a sexual predator on the loose in their school, and the Captain thinks Janie can use her special talent to help suss out the guilty party. Though Cabel protests (he wants to keep her out of harm’s way), Janie convinces him that this is something she has to do. She wants to use her power for good. He relents and they join forces to take down the bad guy. Only Janie ends up in some dangerous situations they weren’t prepared for.

Once again, Janie was a strong, confident woman stuck in an unenviable position. She was learning to control the basics of her dream jumping with Mrs. Stuben’s help and Caleb’s support. Though Janie was unhappy with her dream-jumping (and her mother’s continued mental absence), she never complained. She just kept on doing her thing while staying focused on her future college plans. Cabel is still one of my top literary crushes. He had his flaws, of course: he was overprotective (in Janie’s opinion, not mine) and he had a hard time letting her make her own decisions. But he truly cared about her and only wanted her to stay safe. Nothing wrong with that as far as I’m concerned. It turned out Mrs. Stuben had quite a few secrets she was hiding from Janie in Wake. I enjoyed learning about her past and how she handled the same ability that Janie was now dealing with. Some of the things Janie learned were sad and heartbreaking, and I really felt for her.

The plot was a bit farfetched (I really doubt a police force would leave so much of the actual police work up to a pair of teenagers), but I enjoyed it anyway. If you can suspend your belief and just go with it, you’ll like the ride much more. I liked that Cabel and Janie didn’t have an easy relationship, where everything worked out perfect right from the get-go. They both had their issues, and both had to learn to give as well as take. It was nice to see such a realistic relationship in a YA book.

There was cussing and drug and alcohol use. There were also sexual situations, including the topic of rape, though they were handled realistically and honestly. The plot moved along at a quick pace, as did the writing. No extraneous subplots or prose. Simple and to-the-point writing really worked with this story, with Janie’s frame of mind. Again, as with Wake, I think this type of writing worked better in the audio version than it would in print.

The sum up

Another intense story in the series, Fade sets the scene for the final book and I can’t wait to read how everything turns out. And also, more Cabel, please.

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Filed Under: 5 owls, Abuse, Audio, Drugs, Mystery, Paranormal, Quick read, Rape, Sweet, Swoon-worthy, YA saves, Young adult ·

Review: Illuminate by Aimee Agresti

11/06/2012 by Andrea · Leave a Comment

Title: Illuminate
Author: Aimee Agresti
Format: Hardcover, 514 pages
Publisher: March 6th 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Source: Library
Series: Illuminate | Infatuate

Summary

Haven Terra is a brainy, shy high school outcast. But everything begins to change when she turns sixteen. Along with her best friend Dante and their quiet and brilliant classmate Lance, she is awarded a prestigious internship in the big city— Chicago—and is sent to live and work at a swanky and stylish hotel under the watchful eyes of a group of gorgeous and shockingly young-looking strangers: powerful and alluring hotel owner Aurelia Brown; her second-in-command, the dashing Lucian Grove; and their stunning but aloof staff of glamazons called The Outfit.

As Haven begins falling for Lucian, she discovers that these beautiful people are not quite what they seem. With the help of a mysterious book, she uncovers a network of secret passageways from the hotel’s jazz-age past that leads her to the heart of the evil agenda of Aurelia and company: they’re in the business of buying souls. Will they succeed in wooing Haven to join them in their recruitment efforts, or will she be able to thwart this devilish set’s plans to take the souls of her classmates on prom night at the hotel?

Illuminate is an exciting saga of a teen’s first taste of independence, her experience in the lap of luxury, and her discovery she may possess strength greater than she ever knew.

My thoughts

Haven and her two friends are chosen (out of the blue) to work in a prestigious up-and-coming new hotel. I’m not sure what kind of public school system they’re a part of, but they get to leave school and live at the hotel for an entire semester. It’s almost too good to be true. All of the hotel staff are young and impossibly gorgeous and Haven feels pretty special just being a part of it.

Soon enough, odd things start happening (a plant spontaneously catches fire, photographs do weird things, people disappear) and Haven becomes suspicious. Throw in a diary in which passages suddenly appear and seem to give Haven directions, and she really gets freaked out. I have to admit, I would have become a little nervous much sooner than Haven and her friends did.

Haven was an okay protagonist, though I had some issues with the way she handled some things. She had some scars on her body and didn’t know where they came from (she was an orphan, found on the side of the road), and when in danger, her scars started to hurt. Um, hello? Big fat warning sign. Does Haven pay that any mind? No. When the aforementioned plant catches on fire, she just tosses the thing and forgets about it. Besides the previous nitpicks, I did like how real she was. She was shy and nerdy, but also kind and friendly. I love the way she and her best friend Dante talked to each other, like they’d been friends forever. Lance was a nice addition to their duo and I especially liked how he and Haven grew as friends.

Haven’s love interest Lucian and her boss Aurelia (anyone else think of areola when they see that name? No? Just me then?) were supposed to be just regular people, but I never fell for it. They were too perfect and beautiful and cunning and powerful. I never believed they were just normal, so it made it hard for me to be shocked and upset when Haven found out the truth and felt that way.

The dialogue was standard stuff, nothing too artsy fartsy or simple. The mystery part of the story was interesting, although I think anybody else would have come to the obvious conclusion sooner than Haven did. But I’m probably just nitpicking. The length of the novel was way too long. The entire middle part dragged on and on. The beginning was interesting, as we learned about the characters and their environment and the ending was fast and held my interest, but the middle was unnecessarily long, without a lot of action or new information to move the story along.

The cover is beautiful and appropriate. The wings are subtle (I didn’t even notice them at first) and she actually wears a similar dress in an important scene in the story, so props for that.

The sum up

I wasn’t as excited about this book overall as I was in the beginning. It had a lot of promise and started off well, but didn’t finish as strongly as it could have.

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Filed Under: 3 owls, Angels, Bad boy, Besties, Boarding school, Cover love, Magic, Mystery, Paranormal, Sweet, Young adult · Tagged With: looooong, Older man

Review: Zom-B by Darren Shan

10/23/2012 by Andrea · 5 Comments

zom-b by darren shan Title: Zom-B
Author: Darren Shan
Format: Hardcover, 192 pages
Publisher: September 27th 2012 by Simon & Schuster
Source: Publisher, via BEA
Series: Book 1 in the Zom-B series

Summary

Zom-B is a radical new series about a zombie apocalypse, told in the first person by one of its victims. The series combines classic Shan action with a fiendishly twisting plot and hard-hitting and thought-provoking moral questions dealing with racism, abuse of power and more. This is challenging material, which will captivate existing Shan fans and bring in many new ones. As Darren says, “It’s a big, sprawling, vicious tale…a grisly piece of escapism, and a barbed look at the world in which we live. Each book in the series is short, fast-paced and bloody. A high body-count is guaranteed!

My thoughts

Holy unexpected plot twists, Batman! I read an ARC of Zom-B, and the first page of the book is a note from Darren Shan, encouraging reviewers to be very careful not to spoil any surprises when reviewing the book. So, this review probably won’t be as “complete” as others I would write, for that reason. I won’t spoil anything, because that would ruin the entire reading experience.

The main character, B, is tough-as-nails and not afraid to pick a fight to save face. B has to be tough, growing up with an abusive racist for a dad and a mom who takes the abuse without complaint. B tries hard to shield her from the violence, but that usually ends up with them both being beaten. The whole town think it’s a huge joke when the news starts reporting zombie outbreaks in nearby towns, and nobody takes it seriously. All of the students are shocked when the threat turns out not only to be real, but actually shows up at their school.

It took a while for the actual zombie action to start (aside from a little bit in the beginning). There was a lot of backstory about B’s family and friends. We learned how B met them all, how they got their nicknames, how they all get along… It got to be a bit too much for me. I kept thinking, “Let’s get on with the action already!” But once it did, it was fast paced and exciting. The book is short and really zipped along; I read it in only a few hours. There was a lot of chasing and hiding, gore and ickiness and bravery and cowardice.

And now, on to the plot twists: there were 3 that I consider major. The first surprise showed up in the beginning, right when I’d gotten into the groove of the book and thought I knew what to expect. The second zom-b by darren shan was a shocker and made me stop to consider everything I’d read so far in a new light. And the ending-I did not see that coming! Every time I got comfortable, Darren Shan surprised me. That’s a great thing to be able to say, especially in a genre that sometimes feels like it’s run its course.

The cover is okay and sufficiently creepy; there’s no mistaking it for anything other than a zombie story. I actually prefer the old monotone cover, though. It’s simplicity is a perfect cover for all of the chaos inside the novel itself.

The sum up

Campy, gory and unexpected, this is a fun new take on the zombie genre.

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Filed Under: 4 owls, Fast pace, Paranormal, Science fiction, Young adult, Zombies ·

Review: Taking On the Dead by Annie Walls

10/16/2012 by Andrea · 7 Comments

Title: Taking On the Dead
Author: Annie Walls
Format: Paperback, 312 pages
Publisher: September 27th 2012 by Simon & Schuster
Source: Bookish Brunette Book Tours
Series: Famished Trilogy: Taking On the Dead | Controlling the Dead | Living With the Dead

Summary

Life for Kansas was perfect until the day the world changed.

She has been hiding out for four years in solitude. It’s the only way to survive. The only way not to draw the living dead. Helping a small group of people, she learns the new world might not be what she assumes. Venturing out of her refuge and comfort zone, she meets Rudy, who helps her find a greater purpose. She realizes that the world has moved on without her. Only it’s not what she expects. Her knowledge of the living dead grows and only makes her more curious as humanity continues to hang on by a thread. While on her search for answers she finds comfort in new friendships and love, but her past seems as if it will haunt her forever.

Kansas takes it upon herself to help other survivors, which would be easy if the famished were the only obstacles.

In a trilogy plot thick with twists and turns, this adult dark fantasy is emotional as much as it is horrifyingly gripping.

*Not intended for a young audience. Mature content.*

My thoughts

Wow wow wow. Freaky scary wow.

Kansas was with her boyfriend at a fair when the zombies struck. She survived the initial attack and went home to barricade herself in the bunker her dad had built, in case of the end of times. She has been alone for the past four years, only venturing out to hunt or for the bare necessities. Every once in a while, she practices her bow and arrow skills on the random zombie that comes through her neighborhood. When a trio of survivors shows up needing help, that becomes the start of a new chapter in her life.

Kansas was just about the strongest MC you could hope to have. Not only did she survive the initial zombie attack, but she’d survived ever since then, all on her own. She didn’t need a man to protect her or take care of her. She figured out how to find and cook her own food, how to keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer, how to take care of injuries, and how to keep her home safe. The other characters she met throughout her journey were pretty interesting. Some were a real blessing to her and some I would have punched in the face the first chance I got. I think my favorite was the friendly hooker, who had sass and a heart of gold.

When the other characters entered the story, unlike Kansas, I was happy to see them. She was scared to let someone in after being alone for so long, but I didn’t want her to be alone anymore. Throughout the book, I understood when she struggled to know whether she could trust someone or not. I felt the same way, unsure if each person was a good guy or a bad guy. Sometimes it was so hard to tell. And sometimes I guessed wrong. Very wrong.

I think if you were to imagine the world went to shit, and then imagine some of the most horrible things people might do to (and with) each other, you might have some idea of what this book involved. It was like Annie Walls thought of the most depraved things that a human might be capable of, and included them. Poor Kansas kept getting into really unfortunate situations and I felt so badly for her. Most of the time, I just wanted to give her a big hug and assure her that not everybody was like that.

There were a lot of action scenes and tense fights. There was gore galore, some of it pretty descriptive and gross. There were also non-fight scenes that were tense. Annie Walls has a real gift for making nail-biting scenes. I had to stay up late one night just so I could finish the book and find out what the hell was going to happen to Kansas next.

As much as I loved it, there were definitely some things that bugged me about the book. The comma use was crazy: there were commas stuck in all sorts of places they didn’t need to be and left out of the places they really belonged. Seriously, there were so many commas it was distracting. I was left with a lot of questions at the end of the novel, which I hope will be answered in the sequel. I felt some of them should have been answered in this book, though. One of the major setups throughout the book was left unresolved in the end. There was quite a bit of adult content, but nothing overly graphic.

I love the cover, it perfectly evokes the theme of the story inside. And the cover model even has dreads, just like Kansas.

The sum up

Serious and seriously creepy (and not just because of the zombies), this is a must for any zombie fan.

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Filed Under: 4 owls, Adult, Fast pace, Horror, Paranormal, Scary, Science fiction, Zombies ·

Review: Alight by K.C. Neal

10/15/2012 by Andrea · Leave a Comment

pyxis Title: Alight
Author: K.C. Neal
Publisher: September 21st 2012 by StoneHouse Ink
Source: BB Book Tours
Series: Pyxis | Alight | Pyxis 3

Summary

When Corinne learns who the second Guardian is, she must find a way to make peace with the last person in the world she wants to deal with. As she struggles, her nemesis unleashes an otherworldly evil, and a mysterious illness strikes Corinne’s friends. Faltering under the weight of her destiny, Corinne escapes to the dream world. There, she meets Zane, an Australian guy with a hot accent and a revelation that binds them together and alters the path of Corinne’s life. She throws herself into fighting for everything she loves, but just as she’s certain she will prevail, she’s robbed of what she needs most.

My thoughts

Alight drops you right back where we left off at the end of Pyxis. Corrine is back as the center of her pyramidal union. She tries to be strong, but struggles with the weight of her responsibilities as the others look to her for guidance. Her bestie, Angeline, has accepted her fate, and enjoys being a part of something important. Though Mason and Corrine grew close in Pyxis, they are still trying to figure out how they belong to each other outside of magic. Dorothy is back as Corrine’s aunt and helpful tutor. There are a few new faces, like Zane, whom Corrine meets on the dream world. She is attracted to him, but between Aunt Dorothy’s warnings and her feelings for Mason, she isn’t sure what to do about it.

There was even more mystery in this one: between the other pyramidal union, the sick students and Harriet, the big bad from Book 1, who was back with a vengeance. I liked the mystery element more in this book than the previous one. It seemed more important somehow. There was more magic in this one, as well as a lot more action. Between the dream world, Harriet and the upcoming Summer Solstice, the pyramidal union was always running around, doing something or another.

Corrine was a strong female MC, which I loved. She had a ton of responsibility on her shoulders, but she didn’t complain. She knew what she had to do and was willing to do it. Sure, she was sometimes sad or worried about her role, but she never tried to get out of it, or shirk those duties. Mason was back and just as cute as ever. He and Corrine were clearly perfect for each other, but couldn’t see it. Zane was nice, but he struck me as a sort of red herring. He seemed too perfect. Was he a bad guy or a good one? It was really iffy there for a while, and I’m still not sure I’m convinced which one he is yet. Ang, Corrine’s bestie, was another strong female. She also was struggling with her responsibilities, and with who her co-guardian was. But, like Corrine, she knew what had to be done.

The cover is okay, but it’s not a favorite. I don’t like the model’s face, she almost seems to be cocky. She appears much more self-assured than Corrine actually is.

The sum up

Lots of times you hear talk of a middle book in a trilogy being just a placeholder between the first and second books, but this is not one of those. It was solid and moved the plot along well. I enjoyed it just as much as the first and can’t wait to read the final book.

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Filed Under: 4 owls, Besties, Book tour, Easy read, Magic, Mystery, Paranormal, Young adult ·

Review: Velveteen by Daniel Marks

10/09/2012 by Andrea · 7 Comments

Title: Velveteen
Author: Daniel Marks
Format: Hardcover, 464 pages
Publisher: October 9th 2012 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: Edelweiss
Series: Book 1 in The Velveteen series

Summary

Velveteen Monroe is dead. At 16, she was kidnapped and murdered by a madman named Bonesaw. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is she landed in purgatory. And while it’s not a fiery inferno, it’s certainly no heaven. It’s gray, ashen, and crumbling more and more by the day, and everyone has a job to do. Which doesn’t leave Velveteen much time to do anything about what’s really on her mind.

Bonesaw.

Velveteen aches to deliver the bloody punishment her killer deserves. And she’s figured out just how to do it. She’ll haunt him for the rest of his days.

It’ll be brutal… and awesome.

But crossing the divide between the living and the dead has devastating consequences. Velveteen’s obsessive haunting cracks the foundations of purgatory and jeopardizes her very soul. A risk she’s willing to take—except fate has just given her reason to stick around: an unreasonably hot and completely off-limits coworker.

Velveteen can’t help herself when it comes to breaking rules… or getting revenge. And she just might be angry enough to take everyone down with her.

My thoughts

Holy shit, you guys. I just don’t even know how to describe the awesomeness that is this book. It’s unlike anything I’ve read before. It takes place (mostly) in purgatory, a “state” just like any other. It’s broken into “cities” and everyone has a job. They all help construct and keep up the buildings, they have friends and relationships and they travel to other “cities.” There are a few difference, though; there’s no electricity, nobody eats and people have to cover their skin in ashes because their memories glow so brightly that if left uncovered, everyone would be blinded. They all are just biding their time until they dim, aka, move on. Velvet’s been breaking the rules by visiting the man who murdered her; she haunts him and tries to save the girls he continues to torture and murder.

Velvet was a fantastic main character. She was spunky, honest, tough and a real leader. In fact, she was head of the Salvaging team, whose job it was to go over to the “real” world and save the souls who’d been trapped and used for nefarious purposes. The latest soul she released turned out to be the very handsome Nick, whom Velvet was attracted to, against her better judgment. Her plan to avoid him failed when he was assigned to her team.

Her group members were eclectic and fit well together. Luisa was Velvet’s best friend and another tough chick. She was a 12-year old child physically, but much older mentally. Also on their team was Kipper, who thought he was god’s gift to men and Quinten, who was so terrified of women that he could barely look at them. The dialogue was straightforward, mostly thanks to Velvet and her “If I’m thinking it, I’m going to say it” motto. Though they worked hard, they also had a lot of fun. The group had a great dynamic and they worked well together. They were able to bounce one-liners off of each other like they’d been doing it forever. I thought the action parts were tense and exciting, and though I saw the big reveal coming, that didn’t cause me to enjoy it any less.

The world-building was incredible, I felt like I was right there in Purgatory with Velvet and her team. I was scared of the octopus-shaped shadow monster that terrorized people when bad juju was happening in the real world. I felt so sorry for Velvet and what she went through at Bonesaw’s sadistic hands. I practically cheered when Quentin finally worked up the nerve to talk to a girl. I wanted to smush Velvet and Nick’s heads together like a Ken and Barbie and make them kiss. I loved the little additions, like the Story Hour, when 1 person is chosen to tell the story of their death. It’s the little things like this that add up to 1 amazing story.

I like the cover, but it doesn’t really say a lot about the story. I love the black, white and pop of color. The female looks kind of goth, which could fit, but she’s a bit on the skinny side for me. Her shoulders and arms are waifish. To be honest, the cover kind of made me weary of the story, but I’m so glad I didn’t let that stop me.

The sum up

Blew. My. Mind. Ya’ll, I can’t even say how much I loved this book. Daniel Marks has an amazing gift and I can’t wait to read more of his stuff.

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