Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Review: The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick

I'm not sure how to feel about this book. Firstly, that cover is stunning. And my print is all kinds of gorgeous. But the writing. There are four stories in this book. They are all told in different ways. And I'm not sure I liked all those ways. The first one I thought was a poem. But no. Still. I grew to mostly enjoy it.

Was just a little bit confused with all the different writings. But I did love reading them all. Though the fourth story took so long for me to read, and it was mostly just boring. Which is why this is a three star read, and not a four star. Wishing the fourth story had been better. But the other stories were pretty good.

Whispers in the Dark. The first story is from the cave-man time. I won't say too much about it all, just some of my thoughts about the stories.. This first one was a bit confusing. As I said, I didn't connect with the writing at first. But then I understood it better. And I enjoyed reading about the girl. Though this story was also kind of heartbreaking. Lots of death. Evil ending. And it is so short. I wish it had been longer, and written in a different way. But I also understood the reason for why it was that way. Still. I really liked this story and would have loved for it to be longer. Some things bothered me, but it was pretty good.

The Witch in the Water. This story was the most heartbreaking one. And also the story I liked the most. But yeah. I do wish it had been so much longer. Sniffs. And that ending. Damn. I do not approve of that ending. Anyway. I loved reading about Anna. Whom is all kinds of sweet. And her brother, Tom. I wish to know why he was sick. What he did next. Their town was interesting. And the characters Robert and Grace were all kinds of awful. And ack. I cannot. This story was pretty amazing. And so very sad.

The Easiest Room in Hell. I'm unsure about this story. I very much enjoyed it, but I do wish it had been more. I adored reading about little Verity, whom is eight, just wishing there was more of her too. Her dad Doctor James, just started working at an asylum. And oh. We learn a bunch of things about that. Such awful people working there. And I was so curious about it all. And the patient, Charles Dexter. I wanted to know more about him too. This book has a sad ending, but still the best ending of them all.

The Song of the Destiny. Well. The story that made this a three star read for me. It is set in space. So I really wanted to love it. But my god. It is so damn boring. It's about Sentinel Bowman, whom I kind of liked reading about. But just boring things happen. The twist of the story is weird. The ending is weird. It is more about the spirals, but I didn't really understand the point of any of it. So yeah. I had issues with this story. It is only about this one man. Which is probably why I disliked it a little. Still, no hate.

I'm not sure of the point of these stories. They were all interesting to read about, and different. But they all have something to do with spirals. And I didn't truly understand it. Probably because I couldn't find it in me to care that much for spirals, lol. Just not my thing. It was interesting, sort of, but not good enough for me. I didn't feel like it ended with me knowing enough about it. It didn't leave me satisfied. Probably because I felt like all the stories were too short. Hmph. But I did like reading them.

There honestly isn't much more I could say about this book. The writing is weird at times, but I also enjoyed it, because the writing isn't bad. Just different. And the stories are all interesting in their own way to read about. Though I do wish there had been more about them, and that they had all ended differently. Hmph. Even though I didn't fully love this book, as I'm rating it with three stars, I still enjoyed it. Isn't it just all kinds of gorgeous looking? Now I need to decide what I shall read next.

Huge thank you to Fierce Reads on twitter for picking me as one of their winners for their very amazing review copy giveaway. <3 I won so many amazing books a few weeks ago. Macmillan is just all kinds of awesome. I'm glad I read this book. I just wish it had been a little bit better for me. But I did enjoy it. And I do think you should all read it as well. It's different than other books out right now. It is pretty dark too. Though the stories were a little bit too short for me, I think. Still. I think you should try it :)


5 comments:

  1. The spiral staircase to Heaven, I suppose... Very informative review. I may not check this book out, but I will definitely have my eye on a short story collection sometime soon. Great to see you are exploring that particular area of literature.

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  2. Whoops. Yeah, I don't know if this is my type of read either, so I might give it a skip.

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  3. I have this book in my review pile to be read soon, hopefully! Thank you for the warning and the info about the different stories!
    Great review Carina!

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  4. Hmm. I didn't realize it was separated into the stories like that! I'm sorry you didn't love this, though. It sounds so fascinating, but I guess they all can't be the best. :)

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  5. Ah this sounds interesting!! I didn't know it was short stories either and generally I don't read books like that, but I'm still excited for this one. I hoping they all somehow intersect in the end? I have heard this author's writing can be a bit bizarre, but interesting. I'll beware of that fourth story! :P Sorry it was a boring one! Great honest review, Carina.

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