Review of 'The Black Parade'

Review of The Black Parade by Kyoko M.
 
Sure, there have been plenty of movies and books about people who see ghosts, but the twist in this story kept it fresh for me. The writer draws from relatively recent Christian religious mythology, the Bible, and paranormal folklore to create a strange mixture of demons, angels (nothing like the angels in the Bible), ghosts, and paranormal abilities. The mix could be hard to swallow for those with Biblical education, but if you can just let go and let the story be its own thing, you could enjoy it.
I liked the main character with her issues and determination, and enjoyed reading about her. The other characters could have been more fleshed out, especially the best friend who gets almost no time at all. Maybe in future books she'll show up?
I'd say my biggest beef really was that the story was kind of cyclical, like watching episodes of many TV shows with a villain of the week. That said, the main character did learn and develop some, and of course there was development of the relationship with the love interest. I felt that the romance element took away from the other plot of the book at times, as love interest often does, but it could have been far, far worse. Or, for you who are all about the romance, it could have been far, far better. I, for one, appreciate that there was no more focus on it.
The writing itself was great. I noticed very few typos and I can't remember being confused about wording or what was happening. Good job.
 
Language: Various profanity throughout the book, but never to the point where I wished the writer had gotten a thesaurus or anything like that. In fact, it was relatively clean. But still it had a few 'F' bombs so I'd have to call it R.
 
Violence: Yes, there are demons and people fighting each other, people getting stabbed and beat up. To me it wasn't especially graphic, though.
 
Sexual Content: Not exactly, just passionate kissing, occasionally at bizarre times.
 
Diversity: Woohoo! The cast is diverse, and probably would have been more so if there had been more characters involved.
 
Overall Message/Plot: I have no rants about this book, which is almost strange, now days, and I even stayed up late reading it sometimes. It was more of a slow-to-mature love story than plot or message driven, which isn't really my thing, but I enjoyed it well enough. If you really like romance paired with angels, demons, ghosts, and supernatural abilities, this may be the book for you.
Find it here.
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