Day 2 of the Apocalypse! Jay Kristoff, Author of Stormdancer

Hello, my darlings! Are you quite ready for the end of the world? Today, The Noctural Library is proud to welcome Jay Kristoff, a gentleman brought up exclusively on Australian water, known for its magical properties. He grew up to become the brilliant and hilarious author of the Japanese steampunk fantasy novel STORMDANCER and its upcoming sequel KINSLAYER. Have you read them yet? If not, now is the time.

But first, here are the links to other Apocalypse! stops today:
Rainy Day Ramblings: PODs by Michelle Pickett
Love of Books: In the After by Demitria Lunetta
Buried in Books: Viral Nation by Shaunta Grimes

If you have your own Apocalypse! post to share, please leave us a link using the linky at the end of this post.

  

Top 5 Alternative-Apocalypses 

So the zombie thing has been done, dare I say, to death. When the tropes of your horror apocalypse have been so thoroughly absorbed by the mainstream as to provoke the release of a RomCom and a blockbuster starring Brad “Damn, I really need a haircut” Pitt in the same six months, can school lunchboxes and Zombie: The Musical be far behind?

…Actually, there's already a Zombie; The Musical. Sonofabitch. Ruin my joke, will you...

We don’t even need to step into the realms of fantasy to find our end of the world – we have a planet full of terrifying beasties who will happily murder us and wear our skins as cheeky winter coats. So, in the interests of shuffling this apocalypse thing onto the next phase, I’ve put together a list of five critters I think would make banging antagonists in the next breakout apocalypse hit. Feel free to steal my ideas, just credit me in the acknowledgements. And maybe buy me an island in the Pacific. A little one. I’m not greedy.

5. Sharks. You should be aware the only thing preventing you being ripped into ribbons by row upon row of serrated teeth whilst staring into the dead black eyes of the enormous carnage engine about to devour you is that you’re lucky enough to live out of the water. But the moment sharks figure out how to get around on land, you can be goddamn certain these hell-spawned teeth factories WILL savage all your favourite body parts and omnom them down like a drunken clubgoer scrums felafel at 3am.

Sharks will eat literally anything – tin cans, rubber tyres and McDonalds Chicken McNuggets have all been found in the bellies of captured specimens. Sharks are such terrifying murder machines, they even kill other wounded sharks. A tiny drop of blood is all that’s required to send them into frenzy. Imagine rolling up to the office on a Monday morning with a small shaving cut expecting to discuss last night’s television only to be savagely devoured by your co-workers.

“So that Theon Greyjoy, huh? What an OHMYFUCKINGGOOOOOD”

4. Asian Predatory Wasps. A single one of these sadistic bastards can destroy an entire colony of honey bees. Essentially, the APW will roll up to a hive, hang around the front door smoking ice and listening to Skrillex until a guard pokes its head out to see what all the wubbing is about. Then the APW brutally murders it.

When Jane doesn’t come back from her rounds (all guard bees are ladies) and the next guard gets sent out to see where she is with the goddamn coffees, the APW murders her too. And dismembers her. Going so far as to decorate the front of the hive with her remainder. And when all the stupid, stupid guards are dead, the wasp strolls into the hive, murders anything else who gives it lip and then EATS ALL THE BABY BEES.

THESE WASPS EAT BABIES, YO.

3. Wolverines. <insert gag about XMEN ORIGINS:WOLVERINE being so bad it could bring about the end of the world here>

Wolverines have the dubious honor of being the largest member of the weasel family, and have zero fucking sense of humor about it. They can resist sub-zero temperatures and eat just about anything, up to and including full grown Cariboo Moose. They think very little of smacking the shit out of wolves, cougars and POLAR BEARS, and if caught in a snare, will GNAW THEIR OWN LEGS OFF RATHER THAN BE CAPTURED. One particularly furious Wolverine in Glacier National Park was renowned for breaking INTO traps set by scientists for the sole purpose of doing bloody murder upon his male rivals trapped therein.

That’s correct, these dudes will break INTO jail just to get shiv-happy on your wannabe ass.

WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?

2. Tarantula Hawks. Yes, I realise this is my second wasp on the list. They freak me out, okay?

So, in the matchup of spider versus wasp, most sensible people would be backing the spider. But one particular wasp known as a Tarantula Hawk COULD NOT GIVE TWO SHITS ABOUT WHAT IS SENSIBLE. These things hunt down tarantulas (you know, those huge terrifying spiders that eat birds), paralyse them with their stingers, and then LAY EGGS INSIDE THEM.

You read that right. These things are literally right out of ALIENS. I can picture a squad of tarantulas moving through an abandoned tarantula colony wondering where all the colonists are and then they find one stuck in the walls and he’s all “K-k-kill muh-meeee” and the taratulas are like “Hang on buddy, we’re gonna get you out” and he’s all “Guhh-gg-gg-guuuhhAARRGGUUGG” and this fucking baby tarantula hawk bursts out his abdomen and she’s all “sup, bitches” and Ripley is like “noooooooooooooo”.

GAME OVER, MAN.

1. Honey Badgers. The Honey Badger is listed in the Guinness book of World Records as the most fearless animal on the planet. I dunno what they’re so pissed off about, but they entire species is pissed off ALL THE TIME. They eat snakes, crocodiles, eagles, republicans . . . pretty much anything that can't say “SWEET MERCIFUL JESUS, IT'S A HONEY BADGER” and run away screaming. Literally, the only thing stopping these dirty little bastards breaking into all our houses and eating us while we sleep is the fucks they don't give.

Don't believe me? Observe this video of a couple of Honey badgers ruining the grills of SIX LIONS. You will notice around the 2:15 mark, when the Honey Badger has walloped the shit out of everything that looked at it cock-eyed and has ample opportunity to get away, it sticks around for a couple more rounds just to make sure the lions knew WHO THEY WERE FUCKING WITH.

HONEY BADGER APOCALYPSE: Coming to a theatre near you in 2014.

Jay Kristoff is a Perth-born, Melbourne-based author. His first trilogy, THE LOTUS WAR, was purchased in the three-way auction by US publishing houses in 2011. He is as surprised about it as you are. The first installment, STORMDANCER, was published in September 2012 in the US, UK and Australia. 

Jay is 6'7, has approximately 13870 days to live and does not believe in happy endings.

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Review: Night Beach by Kirsty Eagar

Publication date: April 26th 2012
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars


There aren’t that many real Maja books out there, books that hit the very center of my soul, that make me dizzy with admiration and excitement. And as it turns out, I love heavily atmospheric books. If you’d asked me yesterday, I would have vehemently denied it. Sure, some of my favorite books fit the description (The Scorpio Races, The Space Between), but I always thought of them as exceptions rather than a rule. What I realized with Night Beach is that the way these books make me feel is what I’m chasing the entire time, what I’m hoping for every time I open a new book. Night Beach made me want to cry and throw up and hug the book and laugh and rock back and forth and hide somewhere warm and safe, but most of all, it made me Feel! And nevermind that the strongest feeling it evoked was dread, it made everything sharper and more beautiful.

Slipping into Abbie’s skin was almost effortless, she is conscious of her every feeling, every color she sees, every breath she takes. Even when she dislikes herself, she understands what she’s doing and why she’s doing it. I kept wondering whether anyone can truly be that self-aware and aware of their surroundings. Most people just stumble through life with one eye closed, squinting through the other, but good authors, really good authors like Kirsty Eagar, stop to notice things and then make you notice them too. They provide insight you wouldn’t normally have.

Peeking through my fingers, what I see is light. I take my hands away from my face, and stand up, and I can’t understand how it is that I’m aware of the rest of the world, but I’m not really in it. It’s like I’ve been tucked into a crease. Because although the southerly is still howling, and the ocean is snarled and messy, and further up the beach are my friends and the break and the wall, where I am is completely still, except for a circling cloud of luminous sand.


Night Beach is filled with symbolism. In one of the most powerful scenes, Abbie eats little pieces of paper she’s been collecting since she was a kid. They contain every hope she ever wrote down, and she opens the little box and swallows them one by one. There is so much emotion in that little scene. I choked up thinking about this girl burying all her hopes and dreams deep into herself, literally eating everything she’s ever wanted. Things like that make this book really unforgettable. Most of the time though, trying to understand it is like trying to interpret a dream you can barely remember. There are dozens of possible answers, but the right one is just beyond your reach.

Raw Blue was one of the first books that showed me how YA can have true literary value. Unbelievably enough, Night Beach took this a step further and made me forget I was reading YA, made me forget I was reading at all at times. Abbie’s shadows engulfed me, surrounded me completely, and made me want to run to the brightest, sunniest place I could find.

If you’re very attached to clean endings and logical solutions, this is most definitely not a book for you. I’m still not quite sure what it’s about, I have no idea what to make of it, but I know it shook me to the core, and that’s all that matters to me right now.
This book was a birthday gift from Lisa and I was so happy when it came in the mail, but now that I’ve actually read it, I can honestly say it’s one of the best presents I’ve ever received.

Pink by Lili Wilkinson

Pink by Lili Wilkinson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later: an Aussie YA novel I didn’t enjoy at all! In fact, if not for my two wonderful readalong partners who made the experience not only bearable, but extremely fun, I would have given up after a hundred pages or so.

Ava’s parents are supposedly very liberal, and her girlfriend Chloe has an owerpowering personality. Together they’re pushing Ava into an alternative lifestyle she secretly hates. Oddly enough, all Ava wants is to wear pink and sing in a musical. She decides to move to a new school, where she plans to find a way of joining the in crowd, or Pastels, as she calls them. However, that doesn’t turn out so well for Ava. Instead of getting the role she wanted in the school musical, she ends up working with the stage crew, a group of misfits led by a boy named Sam. She ends up balancing three different lives and three different personalities, none of which are compatible with the others.

Characterization is where Wilkinson failed spectacularly. Having read A Pocketful of Eyes first, I knew that she was more than capable of creating more interesting and complex characters, which is why I have to conclude that she did this on purpose. But why? Every character in Pink is a walking stereotype: we have Ava’s intellectually snobbish girlfriend Chloe, playing the role of a lesbian feminist; Ava’s parents, so obsessed with being tolerant that they end up not tolerating anything mainstream; Alexis, the shallow blonde, perfect in everything she does; a gay friend, a secretly gay friend, a friend embarrassed by his rich parents, and in the end, Ava herself, completely devoid of personality.

Ava is one of the most self-centered, infuriating characters I’ve ever stumbled upon. The series of disastrous decisions she made in such a short period of time nearly drove me insane. Stories about personal growth by definition introduce a character that makes poor choices at the beginning, but finds a way to redeem himself/herself by the end. After one particularly bad decision, I’m afraid Ava reached the point of no redemption in my eyes.

Unfortunately, I doubt that I’ll be reading any more of Wilkinson’s novels. After reading two of them, I can honestly say that she’s not an author whose work I enjoy.

A Guest Post by Shirley Marr and an Awesome Preloved Giveaway

Hello everybody,


the Nocturnal Library is honored and happy to be able to host Shirley Marr's Preloved Blog Tour LAST stop today! The book has being going 'round and 'round for the past ten days now and if you want to check out the other stops (each and every one amazing in their own, original way), just take a look HERE.


Her debut book, Fury, was one of my favorite reads of 2011 (I bitched and fussed so much to get my hands on that one... Fishpond, I'm looking at you and I am getting my sushi knives ready, remember *insert evil laugh here*), so I was thrilled when our little blog got a chance to be part of the Preloved Blog Tour. I am actually starting to read my own copy tonight so stick around for my review during the course of the next week!


Without further ado, let's leave the spotlight to the author herself and let's hear what she has to say about...

Shirley's Top and Bottom 5 of the Awesome 80s 

(Warning, May Contain Traces of Blue Eyeshadow)

Guest Post by Shirley Marr

Hey Cool Dudes! Welcome to Maja and Lisa's Rad Blog. This is my very last stop on the Preloved tour (sad), but we will go out with a fun bang (and a fun giveaway!). As 80s David Bowie would say, put on your red shoes (and maybe your purple taffeta dress) and join me on an irrelevant stroll through the 80s. Mind the shoulder pads (it might take your eye out).

Fashion

Worst: shoulder pads. I've never understood them. I can understand why women would want more shapely curves or a larger bust - but bigger shoulders? Why? Is it an intimidation tactic like when cats do the whole puffed-up tail thing? I've seen the "mini" shoulder pad make a resurgence of late and maybe that is filling a need for people that have Shoulder Envy, but let's leave the major shoulder pads back in the 80s. Do I have least one shoulder pad joke in Preloved. I better!

Best: I know most would disagree, but I think that the evening and prom dresses of the 80s are beautiful! Amongst those tafetta fashion disasters, there were genuinely really wonderful dresses, like this dress modelled by Princess Di. Velvet and fishtail are two things to emerge from the 80s which I think resonate positively today. As an experiment I went looking at genuine 80s dresses and I found this aquamarine lace number which I think is quite lovely** (what do you think?). Despite it all, the 80s was a wonderful time of experimentation, frivolousness and fun! I wish fashion would take itself less seriously these days and just let its hair down so I put this idea in Preloved.

    

Music

Best: I know everyone instantly thinks of awful 80s synths and lyrics (like "when will I/ will I be famous/I can't answer/ I can't answer that" C'mon Bros, seriously?), but there was some great experimental music coming out that was doing electronica pop right. My top 3 albums of the decade would be Hounds of Love by Kate Bush (1985); Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) by David Bowie (1980) and Icehouse by Flowers (1980). Plus who doesn't love 80s power ballads such as Eternal Flame by The Bangles, True by Spandau Ballet and Eyes Without a Face by Billy Idol? Well, I'm pretty sure my hairbrush and Karaoke machine love them anyway! If Preloved had a mixed tape I am sure these songs would make it in there.

Worst: I think there must be hundreds of terrible 80s songs with terrible video clips. My nomination for worst 80s song would be We Built This City by Starship. There's so much hair in that clip I think it suffocated me. I hope this song is on nobody's mixed tape.

Movies

Best: The Princess Bride. Based on the book by William Goldman. I think this movie has everything - a wonderful fairytale story, script and beautiful cinematography. It's funny, romantic, dark and probably has some of the most quotable lines ever! Plus it's got Many Patinkin. I have to admit this movie has a deep childhood connection with me. I wish that they made kid's movies like they did back in the 80s like Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, E.T and cheesy teen movies like The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink… but maybe today's audience are too savvy for that sort of thing. I'll stop reminiscing like an old person now. I think one or two of these movies ended up in the novel.

Worst: Grease 2, Xanadu and BMX Bandits. Sorry Livvy and Nic!

Book Characters

Worst: Logan Bruno from The Babysitter's Club. Yes, I named one of my characters after what I consider the worst character from an 80s book. I guess I just roll like that? Logan is like Peter from The Secret Seven, but with hormones, football and a Southern accent. Logan is an asshat. I think Ann M. Martin wrote him in as wish fulfilment cos why would a jock also be a sensitive boy sitter and also date Mary Anne Spiers who has a personality equivalent to Bella Swann's? I guess I chose the name because Logan Bruno is too good to be true as a real boy:)

Best: Penny Pollard by Robin Klein. Oh gosh I loved her so much! Does anyone remember Penny or is it just me reminiscing over my childhood glory years? She appeared in a series of books that were set out like a real diary, scrapbook etc and included photos, clippings and doodlings. This is me speaking fondly in hindsight. I might read the books again and cringe… but I remember her being a feisty, loveable and hilarious character with very frank observations and questions about life, school and boys. Like a young Kylie Mole! Okay, I feel so nostalgic. I'm going to have to find the books now. This one is going to turn into a Goodreads challenger for sure.

Toys

Worst: Cabbage Patch Dolls. I am so sorry if you had one as a child and loved it, but admit it, they're kinda creepy. Actually, not that long ago I was talking with a friend and they mentioned something about Cabbage Patch Dolls being Satanic and/or possessed and like all good Urban Legends it might have been true. Or fake. Or true and made to appear fake, but actually was fake. And there was also a story about these dolls eating children's hair?? I am too scared to Google this myself. if you know, please let me know. There are no Cabbage Patch Dolls mentioned in Preloved. I didn't want it to be that scary. 

Best: Practically anything that isn't a Cabbage Patch Doll, actually! Does anyone remember Pound Puppies? They were like Cabbage Patch Dolls and you adopted them, but they were actually really cute and had this awesome pro-animal and pro-shelter message. Then there are of course Care Bears, My Little Ponies, Strawberry Shortcake. Anyone who remembers Wuzzles gets a cookie. I had a Rubix cube which I never figured out (I cheated by removing all the stickers and rearranging them) and I am sure I came close to breaking my neck on a pogo ball. Some of these things rate a mention in Preloved!

Thanks for reading my guest post and thanks to Maja and Lisa for having me stop by. As a parting gift I'm giving away a $50 voucher to my favourite vintage-inspired online store - Modcloth - so you too can help build up a preloved-look wardrobe. All you have to do is answer the question:

"What would be your most loved or hated thing from the 80s?"

See below for details and also how you can win a copy of Preloved!

**Credits: 80s aquamarine lace cocktail dress ($25) worn by Shirley is from Retro Vinnies in Northbridge, Perth. Thanks to the cute Emo manager who helped me pick this dress.

What an awesome post! 
Thanks to Shirley Marr for bringing her witty, sassy self to The Nocturnal Library and taking us back in time. Gosh, those shoulder pads... ouch. I used to wear them too. With t-shirts. Stuck under bra straps. *off to burn all pictures from that time*


So here comes the time for the prizes. 


To enter the book giveaway: use the Rafflecopter below! The rules are always the same, it's open internationally (everywhere, since I'll be sending). Once the winner is announced, he/she will receive an email and will have 72 hours to get back to us. Failure to do so will result in us picking another winner.


To enter the voucher giveaway: answer Shirley's question in the comments. The funniest answer will be picked by Shirley herself at the end of the giveaway!


Good luck to all!


Lisa & Maja

This Is Shyness

This is Shyness by Leanne Hall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Can this review be more of a warning? I'm not sure This Is Shyness is for everybody.
To be honest, I don't think I've read anything like This Is Shyness before and it's pretty difficult to give it a label. I'm going to play safe and tell you that, maybe, the only sure label is YA?


But let me give you a brief synopsis to give you an idea.
In an alternate or future - I'm not sure - world similar to ours, a strange dark area has descended on the city (or neighborhood, still not sure) of Panwood. It's called Shyness and, there, the sun never rises. Just in that area.
It's a place that's been abandoned by regular people and is now populated by weird individuals, renegades, people of the night.

Meet Wildgirl during a night out in a bar in Shyness, called "The Diabetic". She's there with some friends from work to have a few drinks, but it's just an excuse. In reality, she's looking for trouble, or a distraction. Something bad has happened to her at school and she's trying to either forget it ever happened or find a way to run away from everything and never come back. That's where she meets Wolfboy, a guy with "thick air on his arms". The guy actually howls. Their meeting is a sort of epiphany - for both of them - and they decide to leave the bar together, to go bar-hopping in Shyness, to explore.
What happens next, I can assure you, is a trip into a grotesque world. There's a lost/stolen credit card involved, a ukulele, some gang kids who get high on sugar (literally) and a suicide mission to rescue a lighter, for crying out loud. All peppered with a budding romance between Wildgirl and Wolfboy.

If you're looking for something completely OUT OF THE NORM this is your book.
Incredibly, I was slightly bored at the beginning. Not only was I baffled by the odd encounters W/W were making but the pacing was kinda slow. I got dumped into this world without a compass and I felt a bit overwhelmed by the lack of information.
What is Shyness, really? What is Wildgirl's big secret, the one she's running from? (and let me tell you, when I found out, if that is the reason, I had a major eye-rolling moment) What is Wolfboy's secret?
The writing is undeniably awesome and I am awed by the author's imagination and ability to pull together a weird, abnormal, incredible story. The characters are alive and real - as well as complete weirdos.
BUT, it was a tad too much for me. I really wanted to read something different but maybe... not THIS different.

Fortunately, the second part of the book caught my attention much more.
Again, like with Wildgirl's reasons for running away, I found the purpose of the rescue mission in Orphanville, the place where the gang kids lived, really futile. Wildgirl wasn't making much sense in her stubborness, I really couldn't get why she was so adamant about putting herself into trouble.

Nevertheless, now that I finished the book, I am left with a thousand questions that still need to be answered.
I need to see more of Wildgirl and Wolfboy together. Their story was well developed and absolutely believable (maybe the only believable thing?).
Unfortunately, who knows when I will be able to get my hands on a copy of Queen of the Night?
Pick this up if you're bored out of your mind with paranormal YA today.

Shooting Stars

Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby
My rating: 2 of 5 stars



MEEEEEEHHHHH....

Was this bad luck? I think so. My vanillas have gone rancid. I can stop writing this review and copy/paste the one I wrote for The Summer My Life Began.

In this one, we have Josephine, a.k.a. Jo Zo, a 16-year-old paparazz(a). Daughter of a famous paparazzo, student by day, celebrity stalker by night. She's young, tiny and can sneak in where no other photographer can go. When she gets an assignment to stalk the latest teen heartthrob, Ned Hartnett, while he's on retreat/rehab for "mysterious" issues, she just cannot refuse, even if it feels far from ethical. She needs the money to get out of her life as a pap and enroll in a proper photography school.
Unfortunately, the plan to get in, shoot and get out backfires big time. The more she gets to know the sweet Ned, the more she realizes:
- there's something weird about him she just can't put her finger on
- she's loosing her cool and feels definitely attracted to the guy.
When the truth comes up, will Jo Zo be able to renounce her dream and do "the right thing"?

I wish I could tell you this book is terrible, but it's not. I didn't hate it. Worse. I felt very indifferent to it.
It's not boring, it's not awfully written. It's just there's really very little to it. No substance, no depth, no - or very little - character development. I might repeat myself for the 100th time when I say this, but while I like light, fluffy stories, there has to be something in there. Something has to touch me, or amuse me or make me cry or whatever. Nothing is not good at all.

This is the kind of book that if you ask me in 6 months what it was about or the name of the MC, I won't even be able to tell you. So NOT memorable. There are so many more nice vanillas out there you want to read. Skip this one.

Fury

Fury by Shirley Marr

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars.

Meet Eliza Boans.

Let me tell you, she's a piece of work. She lives in East Rivermoor, in this cocooned, upper class neighborhood. She comes from a "good" family, single child, her mom's lawyer, her dad is in America with his new family. She comes from money and it shows: she's a snobbish, elitist, mean bitch. Or is she? Why is she sitting at the police station, confessing to murder?

Fury is a book I won't easily forget, rest assured. It's one of those books that kept me guessing until the very end and, in a way, even after it. I'm not talking only about plot here, even though you'll probably ask yourself what is going on for a good part of the book. I'm also talking about characters, what they appear versus they are. Appearance vs. substance.

I imagine this book as a matrjoshka, one of those Russian dolls. When you start reading, you see only what's outside, the bigger doll, but as you go on, through a series of flashbacks, Eliza takes you further, helps you crack the outer shell, and see what's hidden inside.
I really loved the narrative strategy. The reader knows NOTHING at first. We don't know who, why or how. Eliza is just sitting there, at the police station, unwillingly talking to an anthropologist assigned to her case, whose task is to unveil the truth. But which truth? She stubbornly refuses to tell what happened, or to remember.
Little by little, through revealing flashbacks infused with her snarky personality, Eliza starts recounting a series of significant events that are ridden with clues and that will lead you to the last little doll, the ugly truth.

This narrative strategy is, of course, nothing new. I've read at least two other books this year where the same technique was employed. By far, this is the one where I enjoyed it the most. Smooth, convincing, the logical passages from present to past were all perfectly executed through Eliza's internal monologue, her unique voice.
You must have noticed how I'm talking only about one character here. There are of course others: Lexi and Marianne, her sidekicks. Neil, her childhood friend. Eliza's mom, a self-centered, oblivious lawyer. Brian, the anthropologist. But who matters is only Eliza, because what we know and who we know we perceive only filtered through her eyes, what she decides to disclose, which truth she wants to tell us. She is a Russian doll herself: the perception of a spoiled little brat we get at first is gradually tainted with little cracks here and there in her armor, and as we start to glimpse someone else inside, we start doubting. One of the most interesting female characters I've come across in a long time.
Of course, all this could not have been achieved without Marr's flawless writing style: perfect dialogues, peppered with the right amount of sense of humor, pop culture and snark. A pleasure to read. Period.

Now onto the reason for my imperfect rating: the end. I wasn't fully convinced.
First of all, at the end, but throughout all the book to be honest, I was wondering about the legal system in Australia. How can a murder suspect just go out to grab a burger with the person who's interrogating her? Is that normal? Or for the case to end the way it ended?
Second, I wish the final revelation hadn't been so... sudden. I don't want to spoil so I'll just say that I wish there had been more clues as to what would happen to make it really believable for me. I'm still full of questions and conjectures about it.

I'd like to thank Shirley Marr for giving us the chance to read this book here in Europe by sending a - at the time, very unattainable - copy to tour. I was very excited to read it and am very glad that it lived up to my expectations.
For Europeans, you can order this book here or contact us for more details about the current tour.

I Am the Messenger

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My full name’s Ed Kennedy. I’m nineteen. I’m an underage cabdriver. I’m typical of many of the young men you see in this suburban outpost of the city – not a whole lot of prospects or possibility. That aside, I read more books than I should, and I’m decidedly crap at sex and doing my taxes. Nice to meet you.

After accidentally preventing a bank robber from escaping, Ed Kennedy receives his first playing card with three addresses written on it. He understands that he needs to deliver a message to each of these places, but the card offers no further instructions. Relying on his intuition alone, Ed starts touching people’s lives and trying to understand what he has to do. The messages vary from simple to horribly complex and painful, but they all have one thing in common: they need Ed to shake them up and save them from themselves.

I think the most wonderful thing about Zusak is the surprising humanity of his characters. Not only do they come alive for the reader, but they also take so many different roles in the process. Their simple acts of kindness often end up being impressive and life-changing. I’d noticed this about so many characters in The Book Thief and I feared it was a one-time deal, but Ed might be the best of them all. In complete contrast to the ending, Ed is one of the most real and tangible characters I’ve ever stumbled upon. The fact that he’s completely unaware of how extraordinary he is just adds to his charm. My only regret is that the same cannot be said about Audrey. I really needed her to be just as well developed, but she was the only one who didn’t feel real to me, and that’s the sole reason for my 4-star rating.

I Am the Messenger will make you happy in at least three ways: it will give you a truly authentic, approachable story that will go straight through your heart, it will make you examine the way you treat complete strangers and it will catch you completely off guard.
I wish I could hold up that knife and tear open the world. I’d slice it open and climb through to the next one.
In bed, I cling to that thought.

I suppose many people will not be comfortable with the ending. I thought it was unexpected, brilliant (like the man himself), mind-blowing (still picking up the pieces) and audacious. It didn’t take anything from the story, it didn’t diminish the importance of any of the characters, and it added an extra dose of memorability the book wouldn’t necessarily have otherwise.

Choosing a favorite quote this time was just like choosing a favorite child, but there was one I needed to share:
What would you do if you were me? Tell me. Please tell me! But you’re far from this. Your fingers turn the strangeness of these pages that somehow connect my life to yours. Your eyes are safe. The story is just another few hundred pages of your mind. For me, it’s here. It’s now. I have to go through with this, considering the cost at every turn. Nothing will ever be the same.