Kirsten Taber introduced me to a world that seemed both real and pure fantasy all at the same time. There was something so emotional about the first few chapters and Meaghan seemed like a normal girl. She worried about her studies, her love life and then she had to face her parents' chilling murders by creatures not from her world. That is where the adventures begin.This book held everything to keep me riveted to the story - great characters, fabulous story-line and the prose was beautiful and well-written. I love books that I can escape into and this book held all of that. I could feel the pain of Nick's rejection of her at the start and almost all the way through the book. I felt Nick's pain at having to reject her. I felt the evilness of the villians. I felt the despair and hope of a people who held Meaghan as the hope of restoring peace to her, until then, unknown country. I could almost see the surroundings of the places Meaghan and Nick traveled through.Added to all that was the sense of adventure. You can guarantee action when you're on the run from the enemy from just about the start of the book.And, I love Kristen's imagination. The creatures she created as the bad guys could have been creatures from your darkest nightmare. And the elements of the world intrigued me as much as the characters did. The plants, animals and people of Aerenden were fascinating to read about about.Yes, I guess I am gushing, but when you find a fantastic book, one that you wouldn't have read because you wouldn't have come across it, and you get a chance to, you thank your lucky stars you did. But you need to read it to be the judge.Now, there is something I would like to mention, and it's probably the only thing that really bothered me a little. There was quite a bit of info-dumping disguised as dialogue in the middle of the book. It was cleverly done, but it was the one thing made my mind drift from the story.Anyway, I don't really have anything else to add that wouldn't just expand on what I've already said, so now for my rating:-Five out of five stars.This review can be found here at http://magicalmanuscriptsandwritingthings.blogspot.co.nz/
A Reader's Heart
Focuses on reviews of Young Adult novels with honesty and integrity. My ratings and reviews vary on how I feel about the book.
Kirsten Taber introduced me to a world that seemed both real and pure fantasy all at the same time. There was something so emotional about the first few chapters and Meaghan seemed like a normal girl. She worried about her studies, her love life and then she had to face her parents' chilling murders by creatures not from her world. That is where the adventures begin.This book held everything to keep me riveted to the story - great characters, fabulous story-line and the prose was beautiful and well-written. I love books that I can escape into and this book held all of that. I could feel the pain of Nick's rejection of her at the start and almost all the way through the book. I felt Nick's pain at having to reject her. I felt the evilness of the villians. I felt the despair and hope of a people who held Meaghan as the hope of restoring peace to her, until then, unknown country. I could almost see the surroundings of the places Meaghan and Nick traveled through.Added to all that was the sense of adventure. You can guarantee action when you're on the run from the enemy from just about the start of the book.And, I love Kristen's imagination. The creatures she created as the bad guys could have been creatures from your darkest nightmare. And the elements of the world intrigued me as much as the characters did. The plants, animals and people of Aerenden were fascinating to read about about.Yes, I guess I am gushing, but when you find a fantastic book, one that you wouldn't have read because you wouldn't have come across it, and you get a chance to, you thank your lucky stars you did. But you need to read it to be the judge.Now, there is something I would like to mention, and it's probably the only thing that really bothered me a little. There was quite a bit of info-dumping disguised as dialogue in the middle of the book. It was cleverly done, but it was the one thing made my mind drift from the story.Anyway, I don't really have anything else to add that wouldn't just expand on what I've already said, so now for my rating:-Five out of five stars.This review can be found here at http://magicalmanuscriptsandwritingthings.blogspot.co.nz/
