Admittedly the title and the cover drew me to the book. A crimson sea shell surrounded by a grey marble background was striking enough for me to pick it up. And anyone who knows me knows that red will always catch my attention; with it being my favorite color. Reading the summary, my curiosity got piqued further as I thought I was being introduced to another supernatural being. I mean there are only so much vampires and werewolves can a reader take, right?
For this debut book by Carrie Ryan, the beings are referred to as The Unconsecrated, and they have been around for a century or so. People have barred themselves behind iron fences hoping to live out their lives as normal as they can and keeping these flesh craving beings at bay.
This is the part that I find out that this is the Walking Dead.
In spite of all the bleak and cordoned off existence as depicted in the book and smack dead center of it all is the books heroine, Mary, who yearns for a life outside the Forest before her. She takes hope from her mother’s story of life before the dawning of the Unconsecrated and dreams of one day seeing it. Not bad, right?
Enter the twists. After tragic events involving family, she is faced with the prospect of being a spinster and entering the Service of the Sisterhood. But with a keen mind and a curious will all to herself, we find Mary becoming the victim of her own choices. For a character who says she doesn’t believe in pre-destination and divine intervention, Mary, as the novel progresses after her isolated community is breached, becomes too selfish for her own good. From desiring another man when she has been promised to another to wilfully digging for clues that would support her growing suspicion of the Sisterhoods secrets, Mary is like a child with a loaded gun and still knowing that it is fires in direct consequence and result of her whim apologizes after and expects clemency for her actions, was just really pushing it for me.
Clearly, not a good quality for a lead character to embody but it is the writing that propels me to read further and hope for some redemptive maturity for Mary as the novel progresses.
At one point in the novel when Mary refers to her life as a series of complications, I wonder if it’s an excuse she makes to justify the choices she made; that her torn responsibility for love and duty drove her to be who she was. That the driving force behind each and every action stemming from each and every decision she made was because she was doing the best she can, regardless of the cost, even if these resulted in lives being compromised.
There was also a line in the book, page 207, to be exact that says, “Who we are if not the stories we pass down.” And if that statement were to be applied to her, what would people say about the decisions that she made. Would she be considered naïve and foolish to think that one should pursue a vision of a dream regardless of the effect it has on others, especially when their lives are in jeopardy. And at the same time deferring the same dire consequence as a direct result of other people’s choices and not her own? Or is she vindicated at the end?
With that statement, it was clearly also a choice for me whether to finish the book or not, considering that the third instalment will be released sometime this year. And my choice in spite of the mixed feelings I had about Mary and her life choices, was still to go further on into the book because Carrie Ryan’s writing simply draws you in with her simplicity and honesty. It wouldn’t be too much for a reader as well to admit acquiescing to Mary’s choices and her sentiments because Ryan writes it a matter of factly and doesn’t require Mary to apologize for her actions, but merely to acknowledge that her actions were not not-thought of, but were true to who she is and what she wanted out of the remaining years of her life.
So venture into the forest for your own reason of checking out a new writer and what is it about her style that drew praises from critics or pans from readers alike. Either that or for the reason of discovering for yourself if Mary really was selfish or if her blind pursuit of her dream and being true to it came at too high a price. And once you have ventured into it, let’s see what you find at the edge of the forest. Let’s compare findings, once you’re done, ok?
With my Green Lantern fix and rededicated fascination for Graphic novels, I got introduced to the writing brilliance of Geoff Johns.
His writing consists of going for the emotional jugular of the character & thus affect us, his readers in turn. What he did in bringing back Hal Jordan was a real coup and instantly I became a fan. After reading his take on Superman, Geoff was finally able to give readers that component of relatability. He humanized Superman and literally & emotionally brought Kal-El down to our level; stripping him off the qualities that made him Kryptonian & gave Superman the qualities that made him like us, human. From his Existential quest to know why he is here, why is he different than others, to being resigned that he is both human & more than that.
Johns also did a great work on Superman's encounter with Braniac which continues on in New Krypton.
Having aced Green Lantern & now Superman & other DC titles, I can only imagine for Johns that the sky's the limit. Pretty much like Kal-EL or Superman
Cataclysmic stories like these will always have some casualties. I get that. Stories that involved larger-than-Life conflicts depend on action for plot. I get that too. How the characters respond to the situation at hand frames characterization, development & perhaps even some surge of uncharacteristic behavior. Fine, the character goes thru an adrenaline rush to meet the demands of the situation. But radical changes in the plot that are justified (or is it) by wanton acts of violence and aggression and even feral behavior just to move the story forward is something I don't get.
Reading some of the earlier reviews, I learned that this compilation is suppossed to be in line with the discontinuation of the Marvel Ultimate Line. Ok so you want to go out with a Bang! Great. But somehow along the way, the Bang became a Dud!
Somewhere along the way, they felt it was ok to kill off some excess characters because the roster was too many & they didn't know what to do with some of them, if not all. Some if these "excess" characters were clearly of no use. Like Spider Man, Wasp, Ant Man, Doctor Doom, Dazzler, Emma Frost, Cyclops, Wolverine, Magneto, Professor X, Thor, Valkyrie and my favorite, Dr. Strange! (just to name a few)
And since one was already in the process of trimming, no need for them to go out in a blaze of glory, because they're just too many & to highlight the tragic fall of each chosen "excess" hero would be emotionally taxing on the reader. After all it is a comic book right? And not classic literature that invokes introspection, relatability, and moral insights.
Perhaps seeing the Wasp die at the hands of The Blob turned cannibal & Professor X's head being snapped like a twig should have clued me in on the "unpredictability" element of the Ultimate Universe. (not to mention graphic depictions of arrow-in-the-eye-shot, incinerations & limb tearing) But seeing my favorite character Dr. Strange so easilly defeated by Dormammu, and so easilly and blodilly dispatched as if he was a novice and Not Sorcerer Supreme was the last straw for me.
I should have heeded my instincts to check reviews first before giving into impulse and buying this on the spot. But at least I have another compilation to cheer me up after this. Let's hope the Justice
League fares better.
In short, if you don't mind seeing some favorites die & you just wanna go for the ride then be my guest. But don't say I didn't warn you.
This second writing of Anne's, Songs of the Seraphim, series for me is much better than Angel Time.
It is more simply written, which per Anne in one of her video blogs and interviews, is a harder thing to do and is a quality that she continually strives for in her writing.
And if you think that because the element of simplicity is present in a work, quality and substance are sacrificed then think again, for only a master of the craft, like Anne, can give us all these and leave us wanting more.
And perhaps it is in this light, that we find this book a thinner one to read but one that is not bereft of plot, conflict and more questions for us the reader and for Toby who continues to struggle in his personal journey of redemption.
The whole novel is tighter and takes us further on the path that Toby O Dare, assassin for hire, has begun in Angel Time.
For this second outing, we find him on a mission for the Angel Malciah, in Renaissance Italy. Here Toby is assigned to a Jewish physician named Vitale who is tasked to find a cure for the ailing son of his sponsor, Signore Antonio.
In this journey, Toby is forced to reconcile both people from his past, as hinted at the end of Angel Time while making room to accommodate new people and rectify what he has been led to believe at the start of the series.
Written in true lavish Anne fashion and the proverbial cliffhanger, I can't wait what Toby O Dare undergoes in the next installment. :)
Oh and did I mention that there was a "Dybbuk" (Jewish term for Ghost) in the tale? So what are you waiting for?
Go get it and Enjoy. :)
