Showing posts with label Absent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Absent. Show all posts

Sunday, September 8, 2013

In My Mailbox (57)


Bought from Amazon.ca:
The Assassin's Curse
by Cassandra Rose Clarke

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to another pirate clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after her. When Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic she doesn't really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse binding them together.

To break the spell, Ananna and the assassin must complete three impossible tasks--all while grappling with evil wizards, floating islands, haughty manticores, runaway nobility, strange magic... and the growing romantic tension between them.

The Raven Boys
by Maggie Stiefvater

"There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love... or you killed him."

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

Borrowed from the library:
Absent
by Katie Williams

When seventeen-year-old Paige dies in a freak fall from the roof during Physics class, her spirit is bound to the grounds of her high school. At least she has company: her fellow ghosts Evan and Brooke, who also died there. But when Paige hears the rumor that her death wasn't an accident--that she supposedly jumped on purpose--she can't bear it. Then Paige discovers something amazing. She can possess living people when they think of her, and she can make them do almost anything. Maybe, just maybe, she can get to the most popular girl in school and stop the rumors once and for all.


What was in your "mailbox" this week?


In My Mailbox was started by Kristi of The Story Siren.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Review - Absent

Absent
by Katie Williams
Date: 2013
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Reading level: YA
Book type: prose novel
Pages: 184
Format: e-book
Source: library

When seventeen-year-old Paige dies in a freak fall from the roof during Physics class, her spirit is bound to the grounds of her high school. At least she has company: her fellow ghosts Evan and Brooke, who also died there. But when Paige hears the rumor that her death wasn't an accident--that she supposedly jumped on purpose--she can't bear it. Then Paige discovers something amazing. She can possess living people when they think of her, and she can make them do almost anything. Maybe, just maybe, she can get to the most popular girl in school and stop the rumors once and for all.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

When I came across this book at the library, I chose to read it because it was short.  I'd never heard of it before, or even seen its cover.  But the old adage about good things coming in small packages is true.  This was a surprisingly enjoyable novel that packed a lot into fewer than 200 pages.

This book had some similarities with Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall and David Levithan's Every Day, but it was unique in its own right.  I thought the characters were developed quite well.  The ghosts (Paige, Brooke, and Evan) were distinct personalities with their own lives and backstories.  The living (Usha, Lucas, Kelsey, Wes, Harriet, Heath, Jenny, and Mr. Fisk) were surprisingly well developed for a book so short.

There were a few things that struck me as odd or not quite right as I was reading, but most of them were addressed as the climax took the plot in a direction I hadn't seen coming... and that made everything make perfect sense.

Strong writing, strong characters, and an interesting story with a good ending make this book a pleasant surprise.  I'd recommend this one to fans of ghost stories, paranormal fantasies... and even contemporaries (if you don't mind that the main character is, technically, dead).

Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Pace: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Editing: 4/5
Originality: 4/5
Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 4 out of 5