Trey Stone's Blog, page 43

Book Review: Becoming Hero by Jen Finelli

!! I might have to spoil parts of this book to review it, because it’s difficult to talk about at all if I have to leave out certain parts, so read on at your own risk !!

Plot in short: Boy meets favourite superhero in the real world (by this I mean actual, human world), chaos ensues as they try to figure out why he’s there, and how to get him back.

Longer version: Jace is saved by the stranger Caleb as he’s being beaten up, and Caleb ends up becoming Jace’s roommate, living with him and his dad. They quickly become friends, and share a love for maths – life goes on.

But Caleb clearly has a few secrets, and some innner demons that he’s battling, and Jace desperately wants to help. Eventually, we learn that Caleb is Skye, Jace’s favourite superhero, and he’s been transferred to the real world somehow, from his own comic book world, and together they have to figure out how to get him back.

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Review: I really, really liked this book. The concept was very unique (at least to me), because as the plot moves on, we get these interluding chapters set in Skye’s comic book world, complete with drawn panels and everything. Eventually we learn who Caleb really is, (though it was quite obvious for a while), he’s Skye, the superhero – and I was thinking the next issue would be how to get it home. But there’s so much more mystery in how Skye really got to the real world, who’s responsible, and what they have to do bring him back. On top of this, Jace’s dad, who’s a police officer, is trying to solve a strange string of murders.

The comic book chapters are a mix of panels and pages of text, and I was very impressed with how deep and dark the comic book. However, I felt that maybe the artistic style didn’t quite match the content of the story – not saying it’s bad or anything – but it’s drawn quite soft and… I want to say “childish” but that sounds demeaning, but it’s very… pretty and cute. The story however, reads like something that could be taken out of Batman’s darkest and most depressing ‘I-hate-the-world-and-my-parents-are-dead-and-I’m-doomed-to-fight-crime-forever’-plotline.

Also –  the comic book chapters were confusing as hell. It took me a while to realize that they weren’t linked together, it wasn’t a continuing story following on from every comic-chapter (or if it was I was really confused). But yeah, they were really fragmented, and by the end of the book I kind of felt like not all of them were relevant to how the book played out. Or maybe they were, and I don’t see how. It’s not that I mind being confused, like I’ve said before, I often like it in books, because I like the idea of piecing it all together and then finally catching on. But… still a bit weird.

And another thing that annoyed me was that Caleb and Jace has this weird back and forth, on several occasions, where Caleb wants to tell Jace everything, and Jace wants to know what’s up with Caleb. But they never manage to settle down with it, so whenever Caleb says ‘we need to talk about all my issues man’, Jace always goes ‘I don’t want to hear it!’, but when Jace says ‘talk to me man, tell me what’s wrong’, Caleb goes ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ Found that a bit strange. And annoying.

I also felt like there were some people I really didn’t understand where came from. Maybe I just missed when they were introduced, but there was a villian, another side-protagonist, and a few old people, that were suddenly very very relevant, yet it seemed like they appeared out of thin air. But that could just be me, being crazy.

Anyways – I felt like I’ve written a lot of negative stuff about this book now, and that was not my intention. I really liked it – and if you’re a person who enjoys comic books, I’m sure you will too. I can only hope that the sequel is better, and if I have any say, I’d like it to be darker and drearier too.

Check out Jen Finelli and her book here!

Book Review: Secrets of the Egoles’ Nest by Daniel B. Royer

Finally a new post and a new book review! Sorry about the long wait (if there are anyone out there who’s waiting for this?), but Christmas and New Year’s and all that mush just takes you away from everything. I always think I’m going to get time off, time to relax, sit down and read a book, then suddenly I wake up screaming in a daze and it’s the middle of January. Anyways, on with it.

Plot: Aben, a young boy is taken to space by magical aliens. Fight for peace in the universe ensues.

Longer version: Aben lives with his nanny and his father, a military general, in a huge house. He goes to school, comes home, does homework, and not much happens. Until a new neighbor moves in. She’s an alien, sent to recruit Aben, due to his special lineage. He decides to join her in leaving for another planet, meets lots of alien races, and is given special powers. Aben together with Nastera (the neighbor alien), team up with, lots of other young people (children at least, being aliens they could be super old), and eventually also recruits his own father to take up the fight against the evil General Warnod. Along the way, Aben also learns what happened to his mother (who was pressumed dead/had disappeared years ago), and the truth about his grandfather.

 

Review:  I really liked the book. It was funny, adventurous, and exciting. It’s very much a coming-of-age story for Aben, who never had any friends back on Earth, and it fun to read about how he was building relationships with the people he met, and how he was coping with learning about his life, his mother and grandfather and all his new abilities. His powers are inherent in his DNA, a link between his mother and grandfather, and it’s very much a side-quest of the book to figure out why his mother was taken or why she left when Aben was young, and who his grandfather really is.

There’s a mix of magical and sci-fi elements which I always love in books, combining them, or twisting them up against each other, making them linked. It’s usually always the case and a stereotype that magic/fantasy is set in a past-type world, whereas sci-fi is in the future, so I appreciate any story that can tear that idea down (in a logically way of course).

The book was easy to read, and I felt like it could easily be targeted at younger audiences, both because most of the protagonists are young, and because there are few if any adult themes.

Issues: I had two issues with this book, the first being the pace. When Aben meets Nastera, they talk for about two minutes before she asks him if he believes in magic, to which he replies, “meh, probably” (not a direct quote

The Little Purple Book

Seeing as it’s nearly Christmas, I want to tell a little Christmas story. (Don’t worry, it’s not one I’ve written.)

It’s about the time I got a little purple book for Christmas, from my aunt – and I’m hoping I can encourage the lot of you to buy books for people for Christmas. (If celebrating Christmas and purchasing material obligations disguised as gifts is a thing you’re into).

Now, I was young when this happened, but not very young. I’d been reading for quite a while, so this isn’t about the first book I ever got or anything like that. I grew up reading quite a lot of books – yet I never thought that I was a particularly bookish child. I assumed everyone read books, just like everyone went outside to play, or how everyone watched TV.

I’d read pretty much everything, comic books, books I picked out from the library, or my parents books (until they found out and took them away from me). I remember at one point I even wrote my own comic books.

So this little purple book wasn’t my first, it wasn’t the one that taught me to read, or the one I loved the most – but it’s an important book nonetheless.

To begin with I absolutely hated it. I remember my aunt saying she was hoping I would absolutely love it – she’d heard so many great things about, yet I couldn’t stand it.

I started it countless times. Over and over again, I read it from the beginning, but could just never get more than a few chapters in before I put it away and forgot about it for months. So whenever I picked it up again – I had to start anew.

It was furiating I remember, because I wanted to read it. I wanted it to be done with (I’m like that with quite a few things, stuff have to be finished to be put away), and this book was just lying there on my nightstand, mocking me every single night.

Why was it so awful? I don’t know, I just couldn’t get into it, it was boring, dull, didn’t lead anywhere.

But I needed to read it. My aunt kept asking if I’d liked it. I kept saying I hadn’t finished it.

 

I can’t remember how long it had been after that one Christmas before I actually read it. It could have been years for all I rememberred, but regardless, it was quite a while.

Then I finally read it. I finished it all, and quickly as well (if I recall). It was amazing. Once I got past those parts I’d hated before, I loved it. And I remember feeling like that was a different kind of book. It taught me something about how good a good book can be. And what it can do to you – especially at a young age. For I’d been going around hating this book for so long, and then finally reading it, I loved books even more. I bought more books, borrowed more books, and read more books – all thanks to this one little purple book that I’d hated. And I’m very thankful to have that Christmas memory of this book with me today.

That book was Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. (And that’s an alright book, isn’t it?)

And because of that memory, I’ll keep buying books for my nephews and nieces whenever I can – maybe one of my gifts will be a little purple book in their life.

Book Review: Demon Riders by Jack Holder

Plot: Demon hunter Harsk and his riders adopt half-human half-demon Kait, adventures follow.

The longer version: The world’s gone under (I think). Texas managed to stay out of the conflict, the war, or whatver it was that was going on. Magic became a thing somehow, after the war, and other races emerged – elves, dwarves, ogres, trolls. Though these races and humans seem to fight between themselves sometimes – it’s the demons who are the real enemy. The demons from the Pit.

Harsk and his Ride are renowned demon hunters. They stroll from town to town, taking on whatever missions/contracts people have for them – killing demons whereever they find them. Until they happen upon a woman who’s pregnant – with a demon.

Kait is the name of the child, Kait Demonborn – and fast forward a few years and she’s also a part of the Ride. Trying her very best to prove herself, prove that she’s worthy, prove that she isn’t evil, and prove that she belong in this world as much as anyone else. Much of this book is about Kait trying to find herself as much as any other adventure she and the Ride seeks out. And Harsk is trying to help her in whatever way he can.

 

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Review: The first third of the book is an introduction to what happened, to the world, to Texas – explaining where magic came from, and how the world came to be what it is. As you might gauge from the paragraph above, I was a bit confused about parts of it. It might just be me, but I didn’t quite get what the war was, and though the history of the state of Texas – and how all texans are awesome is very detailed and elaborately put forth, I didn’t quite grasp how magic came into existance, or where the other races came from. But don’t take this to mean that I thought it was a bad thing! I really liked the way it was told, half of it explained, half of it told as if I was supposed to know what was going on – it was like someone trying to retell their favourite story to me, one they’d heard over and over ago since they were young.

The other two thirds of the book tell the stories of Kait and Harsk, and the Ride, and the adventures they go on. These stories jump from time to time a lot, there are pretty large chunks missing in between how they got from A to B, and in one sense it felt like it was 5-6 shorter stories I was reading, except for one larger one. A kind of “the best of Kait and Harsk”. But it was amazingly written, and beautifully told. There wasn’t an overcomplicated element of world-building, or long relays of background information. It was just the story then and there that counted.

And most of it is about killing demons. Hunting and killing demons. But in the background, through it all, it’s also about Kait and Harsk. About who Kait is, where she came from, and what role she’s supposed to play in this world. And about Harsk, and why he’d let this one, single, halfblood demon baby live.

It was a magical story, a unique blend of dystopia, fantasy and an element of the Wild West. I really really liked it. And the book was illustrated throughout with beautiful black and grey illustrations of key scenes, which really set the mood and fleshed out the story.

A great book that I’d recommend for any fan of fantasy, albeit a bit short.

Also – I really want a gobhorse.

Check out Jack Holder and his book!

Book Review: The Fall by S.T. Campitelli

Okay – hold on a minute! Why has this excellent piece of literature been unknown to me for however long it’s existed? Why was I not told? Why were there not flyers nailed to a post in the nearby village, reading: “LOOK OUT FOR GREAT BOOK!”

I’m sorry if I spoil more of this than usual. But I have to talk about The Fall.

The plot: Australia, ca. 2050. The world’s gone tits up. People live in a walled bunker (imagine an american football stadium – that’s what I did), and zombie-vampire-people are out to get them.

The longer version: People are trying their best to survive this new existance they find themselves in. Some people are just trying to live. Some cultivate the land, some are engineers. Some are doctors and some are military. Then there’s the R’n’R – the people who are dedicated to go out of their walled bunker in Melbourne, to scavenge for food, metal, bits of cable, dirt bikes, a deck of card – You know! Whatever’s left out there that’s still usable.

But then out there is also the home of the Jacks. The Infected. “Survivors” of the Jackson Virus so to speak. White skin, black eyes. Fangs you could dice a steak with. Patches of hair remind the living of what or even who these things once where. And that reminder is scary as all hell.

Of course there are living humans as well outside the walled ‘Wallcoms’. People who either didn’t qualify to get into these sanctuaries, or for some reasons might have been thrown out of them.

So everyone’s living life, people are planting vegetables, playing rock music, and going out into the wasteland to find goods. Preeeeetty normal – (isn’t that what Australia is like anyway?)

Then someone has the bright idea that there’s a supermall – off in the distance, that probably has some nice stash. Let’s round up the R’n’R and a military convoy, get out there, and go shopping. But do you think this plan goes unnoticed by the wasteland-humans? Of course not.

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I’m a big fan of Justin Cronin – and if you aren’t you should go check him out instantly. I don’t know why I love post-apocalyptic settings, because I hate zombie flicks, and could never get into liking The Walking Dead, but when it comes to people living off a broken world in the future, I just can’t get enough. The Fallout games have been played a lot around my house.

Anyways – The Fall is very much like Cronin’s the passage, and I was soooo happy when I came across a book (The Fall) that looked like it could take me back to a similiar experience.

And it was an absolutely amazing experience. The characters, the plot, the world – it nothing was wrong with this. Every person was distinct, everyone had their voice, every little smidge of plot was there for a reason, and the world it was set in was gripping, powerful and brutal. I’d love to go there (Australia that is).

And the writing was beautifully done. It’s starts you off pretty much right away, and throws you into this new exciting world with lots of tech, lots of things, places and people you know nothing about. But it’s written so well, so assertively, that you just understand it right away, you know what’s going on, you feel what people are feeling, and emphatize with their… life. I don’t even know. See – this book makes you crazy-poetic-rambly.

For the life of me I can’t think of nothing wrong with this. It’s so great. If there’s anything, it’s that it’s a bloody series, and I have to wait for the next book.

For the love of everything that’s pure and holy, go check out Campitelli and go buy his book!

Book Review: A Dangerous Discovery by Zachary Brock

Plot in short: Multimillionaire Ace goes to Peru to oversee the business side of a mining facility he’s just bought. Simultaneously, a conspiracy tracing back to the Vatican and the 16th century is about to be revealed.

The longer version: Marion (Ace) Acevedo is only a millionaire because he was taken under the wing of Ezekiel (Zeke) Cabbitt when they met in prison, and Zeke trained Ace to be the public figure of his incredibly successful company. Zeke pulls the strings from the shadows and prefers to be anonymous, whilst he sends Ace out into the world to eat fancy dinners, talk to important people, and sleep with beautiful women.

On their latest adventure to Peru, where Zeke’s and Ace’s company has bought a mining company, everything is not as it seems, and whilst a parallel plot set in 16th century South America, following the Spanish colonization of the continent, we learn that the Vatican have reasons to follow Ace through his travels in Peru.

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I really liked this book. The modern day versus the 16th century plotlines played of each other nicely, there was a good back and forth and I never felt like I missed out on either or wanted more of the other. Obviously, as you might have guessed from my little plot review above, there’s some stuff that goes down in the 16th century, amongst priests of the church as they settle and try to convert the new land of South America. There was a great mysterious tension as I was trying to figure out what was going on, it wasn’t too secretive so that I didn’t get what was happening, but at the same time I was always reaching for more.

There’s obviously also some stuff going on with Ace and the Vatican in Peru. He’s being follow, but it seems it’s not just by the Vatican? (Cue dramatic Oooooooh). Also Zeke’s in trouble, someone’s after him. I was very intrigued by all the mystery, sitting on the edge of my seat to figure out what went down in old time Peru, and how that affected Ace in the present.

There’s also a darkness to this book, one which I think maybe stems from some of the authors personal experiences. Ace was very much brought up by Zeke, taught the ways of the world after they meet in prison, and Ace had a pretty rough time before that. There’s also a lot of crazy dark stuff going in 16th century Peru, and some of the scenes surprised me.

Suddenly (or at least kind of suddenly), there’s a very raunchy sex scene in this book. It kind of threw me off, because I hadn’t gotten a feel that this was that kind of book. Not that I minded, but it was just a bit… out of place in my eyes. I also felt like there was a bit too much showing and little telling at certain times. For example, two ‘main’ characters are murdered at different points in the book, but one of the scenes… well it wasn’t really a scene at all, it was more like “then they killed him and walked away”. I felt like there might have been a climax in the plot there that wasn’t reached.

Also – I was kiiiiiind of disappointed in the ending. (But only kind of!) The big mysterious conspiracy is kind of revealed in the 16th century-before-time, and then we pan to Ace in the present as he uncovers the same thing, 500 years later. And it’s just the same as what was said before. I was kind of hoping there was something more, something that hadn’t been explained or revealed yet, but there just wasn’t. Maybe it’s just me.

But who the hell was the guy on the roof?!

But if you’re looking for a great historical mystery novel, look no further. A Dangerous Discovery is waiting for you right here!

And check out Zachary Brock here!

 

Vampires of Gnosson by Taggart Rehnn

So it finally happened. I couldn’t finish this one.

I don’t know what to say. It was just too much. Overwhelming and incomprehensible, layer and layer of text without much information – there was so much going on – and nothing gripping me to the story.

I read the first third, skimmed the second, and skipped the third. I tried, I just couldn’t grasp it.

The Plot: It all revolves around Byron, a man who a few decades into the future is a vampire. Of some sort. And the book starts with his annual feeding on a village or camp or something in the Middle East. I think. I’m not sure. Then he decides to tell us a story about, presumably, how he became a vampire. And that story starts with him in a cell. This part in the cell is clearly him looking back at his past. But at the same time, from the cell, he talks about his childhood and entire upbringing, so there’s like a double past-him reference thing going on. And this is basically everything that happens in the first third of a book. As far as I could understand. And mind you, this book is 457 pages. In the second third of the book, the most interesting part is that Byron meets someone named Trann, who’s a non-vampire vampire thing. Because he says he isn’t a vampire, but he has a vampiric form? I don’t know. Also, as he tells you this story, he keeps talking to someone named Zack and Amber? I never understood who they were. They might have been introduced but I never caught it in that case.

Anyhow. This book is written in English, but with parts of it written in French, Swedish, German, and probably other languages. Now most of these were often translated, but hardly ever the French, which I don’t speak, so I kept feeling left out constantly. Also, nearly everything in Byron’s childhood was about someone named Mamie. I never got who this person was either. Maybe a maid? But then again there was another maid.

The reason this book is so dense is that everything is heavily described, referenced and metaphored (not a word, I know). It felt like the book was trying to reference every historical period, place, person and event, and it just became a mishmash. Byron always has a thought or a comment about what he’s talking about, prolonging the constant monologue, and it’s endless. And whenever he has an epiphany about something, he’d end the sentence with Voila! And I just kept feeling like it never went anywhere, the plot never moved, we were always just constantly talking about his past and his thoughts about it. And that would probably have been a great story in and of itself, but there was no way to follow it. There was too much at the same time, all the time.

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m not clever enough to follow this book, but for every time I turned a page, I’d forgotten what was going on, because there was some new metaphor or a new thought about a certain time or place. And it’s said, because I felt like Byron’s story might be a very good story, I just could never get to it.

I’m sure other people might like this book. If you’re looking for an absurd read, or just a challenge, or maybe just prove you’re better than me, or to prove me wrong. By all means, go for it.

 

 

One on One by Michael Kelso

 

Plot: In short: A boy grows up to be a correctional officer. Take it upon himself to rebrand the criminal justice system.

 

The longer version: Emil Sorn grows up admiring his dad and hating his mother. His dad works in Larsan State Prison and Emil can only hope that when his father comes home each night, he’s had a good day at work and wants to spend time with him. Emil does not go along well with his mother, and they often fight or argue.

So when Emil’s father dies in a prison commotion, his world comes crashing down. Him and his mother grow more apart, and as Emil becomes older he starts studying to become a correctional officer himself.

Eventually he’s employed at the same place his father had previously worked and died – Larsan State Prison. And relatively shortly after having started working there, he learns the harsh truth about his father. Emil becomes bitter, and decides to put all his effort into becoming the best correctional officer he can be, and making Larsan the best prison there is. He quickly rise through the ranks, becomes feared and respected amongst officers and inmates alike, and even has the warden in the palm of his hands.

But then he takes it too far. Emil is about to cross a line about the way he runs his prison, and treats his inmates, a line from which he can’t turn back. Suddenly Emil Sorn is quickly on his way to becoming the worst person in Larsan State Prison.

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This book was amazing, and if I had time I would probably have read it all in a day or two (unfortunately I’ve been so busy lately, this has been one of the books I’ve spent the longest on finishing recently). It gripped me instantly. There’s a great pace to this book, that just constantly keeps you going. It’s all about Emil, from when he’s little and following him constantly through his life, and it’s something I realized I haven’t seen in a while. I feel like everyone nowadays (myself included), write books with a myriad of POVs, where the story jumps from place to place, and then suddenly there’s a hidden villains hidden agenda at a hidden place, and you don’t understand anything.

But not this book. It’s pretty linear, with few POVs (or at least, whatever different POVs there are, they are all centered at around the same thing and place). And I loved it. It was brilliantly executed, made it easy to follow, but also made it incredibly interesting to read. I always knew that I’d be getting more and more of what I wanted if I just kept reading, instead of fearing that I’d be thrown off into some other part of a side plot if I turned the page. Because that’s kind of the worst thing, when there’s a book you love, but it has a side plot that you absolutely hate (looking at you Bran Stark, crawling through snow doing nothing constantly).

Anyways – as Emil works his way through becoming a great correctional officer, he does some questionable things. But (at least in my case), your rooting for him. At least in the beginning. Keep in mind that the people he work with are hardened criminals, murderers and rapists. There’s no way Emil can be the bad guy?

Or is there? Like I mentioned above, Emil takes it too far, and eventually you realize that the story is being turned around and Emil is sitting on the wrong side of the table. And it’s magnificent.

 

 I always love a bad guy story. Whenever I can I cheer for the evil guy to win, if I was given the One Ring, I wouldn’t be humble like Gandalf and refuse it because I couldn’t be trusted with it, I wouldn’t even act like Boromir and pretend that I could do good with it, I would straight up do the Dark Lord’s bidding – no questions asked. So I was kind of always rooting for Emil, even when his morals shifted. I was hoping maybe the ending would be slightly different, but without spoiling anything – I can’t really say why. But I always felt like Emil justified what he was doing, and more importantly that his justification was good. Even though he’s terrible. (I feel like maybe I need small disclaimer here – I am not evil.)

 

It’s weird how interesting a prison story can be. A prison is a sort of stage, that can make any story – no matter how unrelatable – feel exactly the same. So if you like Prison Break, Orange is the New Black, Shawshank Redemption, Escape from Alcatraz, anything that’s even remotely set or linked to a prison – I think you’ll enjoy this.

If not – maybe you like it for the simple fact that it’s a bloody great book!

Highly recommended, make sure you check it out on Amazon, and give Michael Kelso some attention as well!

 

Stuck in a rut

So I’ve been seeing a lot of blog posts, facebook updates and tweets lately – about how great everyone’s doing. It seems everybody’s WIP is the best thing that ever happened to them, they’re writing it so easily, everything is falling in to place, and their lives are just perfect.

It seems no one is having any problems at all this week.

And here I am – thinking I might just go live in a cardboard box on the street, because nothing I ever do will matter.

Okay, that might have been a bit much – but you know what I mean! I’ve completely lost the feel for the book I’m currently writing, book 2 in the Columbus Archives series, and it’s the most awful feeling in the world.

It feels like it doesn’t make sense anymore. Like it’s complete and utter crap. As if my long and detailed layout was written by a five-year-old.

Of course I know it isn’t true. I’ve written over half of the book, and even though I know I need to rewrite parts of it, I know a lot of it makes sense. It just doesn’t feel that way.

It feels alien, as if I lost the train of thought I had when I planned it. As if I don’t remember what ideas I started out with, and as if I don’t know how to piece it all together.

Last time I sat down to write (a few days ago), I wrote 92 words.

What’s going on? I know I had good ideas, (and they’re still there), and I know I want to finish the book.

But then why did it suddenly become so difficult?

It’s weird because I’m not even in a particular difficult part of the book. It’s one of the most planned out scenes I’ve done, so why is it so difficult to get it down on paper/(screen)?

Often my go to advice when you can’t write, is to read. And luckily I’m not in a rut in that department as well. But whenever I read something, it’s always so amazing. Much better than what I’m currently doing. Yet again, I know that what I’m saying isn’t necessarily true – but the feeling is still there. The feeling of insignificance.

I keep thinking that it would have been better if I was actually stuck in my writing, if I actually didn’t know how to carry on the story, or if I’d gotten to a part that I hadn’t quite planned out yet. But that’s not the case either. I’m super confident in what I need to write, and how to write it. I just can’t… do it.

Writing this blog post has made me conclude I’m probably just lazy. Maybe if I quit this blog post here, and open the document with my book in it, I can continue writing there..

Maybe…

 

The Master of the Name by Tavi Florescu

(Note: I never deliberately spoil anything that I consider a major part of the plot, and I always double check to see how much is revealed in the official blurb to know what major things are already revealed and not. However, there might be minor things that certain people could consider spoilers, so read on at your own risk.

Also – this book draws heavily on many aspects of Judasim, a subject I am not well versed in. So I apologize beforehand if I use any form of wrong terminology in this review.)

Plot in short: Two murders with apparent religious connotations lead detective Gray to research ancient Hebrew manuscripts, whilst making professor Tobias Serebrennikoff run from the police. All the while he’s trying to uncover the truth about his grandfather.

The longer version: A rabbi is found dead at his home, and detective Gray is sent to investigate. A message written in blood on his forehead leads the detective to turn to Jewish experts in Hebrew scriptures for help. Another murder, that of Professor Tobias Serebrennikoff’s former boss, a murder which shares similarities with that of the rabbi, forces professor Serebrennikoff to run from the police in a panicked state. The professor uses his time on the road away from the police, as a pilgrimage and an excuse to investigate his unknown grandfather’s life.

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Review: As with many of my reviews, I don’t know where to start. There’s so much I could write about, yet so little space (and time), to do it in. (So go read the book!)

Let me start of bluntly – this book is very good! As you might have gauged from above, a lot the mystery in this book is entangled in old Hebrew manuscripts, in history, in language, and in the numbers behind it all. This book has a lot of it, and it’s really well done. I feel like Tavi could give Dan Brown a run for his money, and if you’re a fan of Brown’s books you’ll definitely love this one.

Then there’s the crime and suspense parts, the murders, whodunnit and all that. I thought I had it figured out for a while, (and I kinda did), but I hadn’t. The ending was so much larger than I thought. This part is obviously the main bulk of the plot, it’s what drives the story, and the mysteries drip in now and then, giving us leads and providing clues.

Then there’s professor Serebrennikoff’s pilgrimage. As he runs from the police he decides to dig up his familiy’s history (specifically that of his grandfather, who was a monk). It’s a neat little side plot, there’s a little soul searching, some romance, and it really adds a lot to both of the other parts of the book.

In truth, he whole book kind of felt like a 3-in-1 type of deal, and it was magnificently put together.

But my absolute favourite part of Tavi’s book was the storytelling and the language. I found the book to be very poetic, but not in an overly pompous kind of way (which I would have hated, though I respect some people enjoy that). There was just something about the words that were used, how the sentences came together that gripped me. I couldn’t put my finger on an example, it was more of a feeling I had.

Then there’s the storytelling. The book is written as a first-person narrative with a third-person account fitted in the middle. So it starts off first-person, then there’s the whole plot of the book (third-person), and then it ends in first-person. And it was really well executed. The book became so much more than… just a book. There were circumstances around the book itself that made it more interesting, exciting and not at least more mysterious. A great way to tell a story.

 

I highly recommend this for anyone who loves mystery novels about codes, language, numbers, and murders, but also if you’re particularly interested in history and religion. Fantastic book!

Make sure you check out the book on, and be sure to drop by Tavi Florescu.