SJB Gilmour

An interesting quick read. Seems to be more of an idea for a story than an actual short story, though. Don't get me wrong, the characterization was good, and there was an actual plot and all that. It just seemed a little too abrupt.

Great detail about an angel arriving at a department. Looking around. Talking to a few people. Then the story jumped from first day to last. Abruptly. Then closes with a party that was indirectly very disturbing. A young woman belongs in hell because of the way she smiles? And the old fella groping her belongs in heaven because . . . um . . because he is a man?… (mere)

Read the full review at Witchmag's Boekenplank

I hesitated a bit if I would review this book. Cause it feels more like a middle grade story at times. And this is a blog where I review YA titles. What settled the matter was how this book reminded me of Harry Potter. Not the story itself, but I can easily see young adults or grown ups enjoying this story. It has a grown-up feeling behind the story, cause not everything in this book is happily ever after. Just like how it’s written in the Harry Potter books. There are real lessons to be learned and Sarah and her friends grow tremendously in the book.

And now onto the book. I totally loved all the references to gods and other mythical creatures, a chocolate curse (that one was amazing ^^) and the beautiful worlds. There is a very clear red threat throughout this book and slowly but surely all the puzzle pieces fall in to place. You’ll find out just how important Sarah is and what her duty will be, which of course is saving the world. After she finds her parents. You know, some things just have priority ;)

As I said there are some pretty amazing worlds in this book. And Sarah thoroughly explores them. Since she’s still a student who has to learn everything about the paranormal world, you slowly but surely receive all the information you need, explained in an easy understandable way. It’s a real “Time of Discovery,” as the book said. And the information that I got was pretty awesome! From bookworms to a giant thinking forest! What more could a girl want?

So why didn’t I give this book 3+ hearts? First of all it’s because Sarah is an eleven your old girl, who’s treated like she’s the adult. In some situations I have no problems with it, but since she’s very impulsive, there is no one who shows her the after effects of her actions. Especially a child has to learn that she can’t do anything she wants, when she wants. And sometimes you’ll have to face consequences. Besides the grown-ups didn’t really feel like grown-ups at all. More like friends of the same age. Even her guardians behaved like that…

Furthermore the secondary characters did not appear very clearly. There are some different traits for each character, but they are not used to its fullest and the characters also seem very flat. And this while they have an important role to play. They just lacked something important: a kind of presence, so we can feel they are important. And therefore were easy forgotten. I often had to think twice who Sarah was talking with.

And then there was the last “epic” battle. Where way too much happened. My brains just couldn’t process it anymore. And most was predictable, unfortunately . It also was too easy and ended too fast. (Argh, pretty hard talking about it without telling too much ;) ). To sum it up: it was an anti-climax and very confusing.

Conclusion

2 HEARTS. Although it was an entertaining story, with beautiful worlds and interesting species, the flatness of the secondary characters was too much of a letdown for me, to enjoy it as much as I could have. Furthermore, it just didn’t feel real the way Sarah was treated. She’s a child, not an adult. She should not be the one making life and death decisions for other people!… (mere)