My ARC of this is unbound.
Peoples, I don’t know why, but this causes me a) great excitement and b) freakish fangirling. I basically cradled this book while I read it because I didn’t want to wreck it! There’s something oh-so-fresh about a book without a cover. Like it went straight from the author’s desk to mine! Okay, okay, humour me…it didn’t, I just like to think that.
This is the 9th book I’ve read by Michael Grant.
Am I a little addicted? HA. Of course not. No, no, I just have a mild interest in all things creepy and strange…which Michael Grant happens to writes with perfection. Seriously, the dude is master of imagination. Creepy and weird and scary imagination.
The things he comes up with? Nightmarish.
Which suits his new book just fine.
How to describe Messenger of Fear? Um…scary?
Okay, I get it… More original? It’s phenomenal. Yes, I’m a little biased because I am a huge fan of the Gone series (I’ve ever reread some of the books and I never ever reread. Goes to show: I like it). Messenger of Fear gets contemporary and supernatural and horror and smushes them together and HUZZAH — you have 300-pages of a mind twisty adventure.
It starts off with mist and confusion and where-the-heck am I.
We get to piece the story together as we go. Our narrator, a bonnie lass named Mara, meets this creepy ageless dude called Messenger. Of, you know, unfortunately he’s a messenger of fear. He’s a bit standoffish. But he’s actually nice! Don’t let the coat with skull buttons put you off! The dude is actually thoughtful and I quite liked his quiet mysteriousness.
Mara is…memoryless. She’s a steady, no-nonsense kind of character, pretty smart, Asian, and relatively calm. Until she realises that she’s apprenticed to the Messenger and a) learns what terrible things he does, as well as b) discovers she’s supernatural now. Walk through walls. Pop around time. All that funky stuff. When she figures out she’s his apprentice? Well…then she busts out sobbing. I liked Mara, but I liked Messenger more.
The writing is typical Grant style.
It’s a little heavier on the description than Gone, but if you want my private opinion? (Pfft, you’re here. Of course you do.) I think the it’s his best-written book yet! I couldn’t put it down! Two sittings! That’s all it took me to eat it up. Crisp and to-the-point and interesting.
And it’s not just supernaturally beings popping around dishing out judgment.
It’s specifically zooms in on bullied girl, Samantha, and a few other people and the Big Mistakes they make which brings Messenger popping into their lives. It’s horrible, but I wouldn’t say gruesome. And I can’t really tell you what the Messenger does because, duh, SPOILERS. I went into this basically with no idea what it would be about. That was perfect.
But, but, but! One thing I absolutely loved was this girl, Samantha, was a writer! She wrote a book at 16 and had a deal with HarperCollins. Even NaNoWriMo is mentioned! Ohhh, that just makes me happy for some reason. Then, sorry, The Terrible Thing Occurs. And you may gnash your teeth.
Then there’s this twist at the end. THERE IS THIS AMAZING TWIST.
I…I’m still blown away. I want to flail. Can I flail?
Thanks. I’m a little calmer now. (HA. As if.) In the last 50 pages I guessed it, and it was so incredibly perfect, I just wanted to hug the book. I didn’t. (Because it has no cover, so I’m being gentle.) But I was freakishly impressed.
I love this book so much, okay?!
It’s small. (Love that.) The writing is crispy. (So much love.) It mixes a dash of horror with paranormal things. It uses a bit of mythology, characters I want to root for, and admits that eggs on toast makes a FANTASTIC meal no matter what time of the day. And I like books that glue your eyes to the page while you say, “Oh…what what what…that’s not FAIR…what is happening? STAHP.” I love those.
It was awesome. You should read it. Why are you still here? I’m confused…you should be going to go read it. As for me? I need to find BZRK because that’s the next series of Michael Grant’s I need to start on ASAP.
Thank you Hardie Grant Egmont for this gorgeous specimen. Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant hits shelves September 1st, 2014.
I remembered my name – Mara. But, standing in that ghostly place, faced with the solemn young man in the black coat with silver skulls for buttons, I could recall nothing else about myself.
And then the games began.
The Messenger sees the darkness in young hearts, and the damage it inflicts upon the world. If they go unpunished, he offers the wicked a game. Win, and they can go free. Lose, and they will live out their greatest fear.
But what does any of this have to do with Mara? She is about to find out . .
Cait warned you and LOOK. Supernatural gifs are back. (It was a brief hiatus.) Just as she enjoys watching it, she also likes all things supernatural and paranormal in books. It’s probably her most read genre. Currently, she’s thinking about marshmallows in hot chocolate and listening to ROSE UNDER FIRE which will probably break her heart.
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