Solace and Grief (The Rare, #1) in Aussie Readers

Jul 27, 2010 Jenny rated it really liked it

Shelves: kids-ya

Twilight meets Supernatural meets Heroes meets... This one really does have it all. Inspired by Buffy the Vampire Killer reruns, Meadows came up with a prologue that will knock readers’ socks off. It’s possibly the most intriguing prologue I’ve ever read. Thankfully I was blessed with a rainy day and had nothing better to do than read. Even so, I’m not sure I could have put this book down.

Solace Morgan is a vampire. She has suspected this for some time; growing up, she knew she was different giv Twilight meets Supernatural meets Heroes meets... This one really does have it all. Inspired by Buffy the Vampire Killer reruns, Meadows came up with a prologue that will knock readers’ socks off. It’s possibly the most intriguing prologue I’ve ever read. Thankfully I was blessed with a rainy day and had nothing better to do than read. Even so, I’m not sure I could have put this book down.

Solace Morgan is a vampire. She has suspected this for some time; growing up, she knew she was different given the array of food she’s allergic to and her body’s odd reaction to sunlight. She knows nothing of her parents, or lineage having been raised in a group home for kids no one wants. But on her seventeenth birthday all that will change.

Compelled by a voice in her dreams, Solace leaves the only home she’s known to trek through the suburbs of Sydney headed for the city’s heart. Once there she is drawn to an underground club where she meets a group of young people, others like herself who don’t quite fit into society. As Solace learns they are all members of a select group called the Rare, individuals with extraordinary talents: those who see the future, read minds, summon fire and manipulate the very fabric of reality. With these newfound friends—the first she’s ever had—Solace embarks on a dangerous path to discover her origins. But as she soon learns, there are others who have been watching and waiting for her, others who have absolutely no regard for her well-being.

Solace & Grief isn’t just a vampire story. Like so many of Ford Street’s titles, this is a story about difference, about how a group of young people bond through and come to terms with their differences. It is also a story about our own true nature: can Solace reject the thousands of years of vampirism encoded in her genes and choose not to feed on human blood? Or is she, and we, little more than pre-programmed flesh and blood machines set to follow a pre-determined path no matter how destructive?

Meadows’ language is descriptive and evocative and her imagination seemingly limitless. Through her well-crafted narrative she creates a sense of menace and mystery that is threaded through even the more light-hearted scenes. Her characterisation, too, is excellent. Foz Meadows is a name to watch.
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May 22, 2010 Kalliste rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, australian

I'm finding this book quite hard going at the moment. It is interesting but I can't seem to care about Solace. I think I'll enjoy her friends more.
If I hadn't read other peoples reviews about this book I'd probably put it down right now...

... now that I've finished I still think I like Solace the least. But that is ok, I rarely ever like a main character but prefer the supporting characters because they are usually more likeable and less whiny. Probably because you don't have to read all of thei ...more

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Feb 10, 2010 Kat at Book Thingo rated it liked it

Shelves: australian-authors, young-and-new-adult-fiction, romantic-elements

This book is a good debut novel and I’d recommend it solely on the fact that it’s set in Sydney—except that there’s enough meat in the story to make it interesting beyond the setting.

The beginning of the novel is a little drawn out and seems to go nowhere for a while. I mean, interesting stuff happens to Solace, but I just didn’t feel like I cared too much until it turns out that Solace’s friends have their own peculiarities. Solace and her friends’ gifts are revealed slowly but deliciously, an ...more

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