About the Book
-
Author:
- Marcus Sedgwick
- Genre:
- Mystery
- Voices:
- Cis Girl
- White (Non-Specified)
Cover Story: HELL NAH
BFF Charm: Yes And HELL NAH
Swoonworthy Scale: HELL NAH
Talky Talk: 3’s Company
Bonus Factor: Murder Most Foul
Relationship Status: If We’re Going To Hang Out, You Have GOT To Drop That Creepy Girl You’re Friends With
Cover Story: HELL NAH
This is one most embarrassing covers I have ever had the misfortune of reading in hard copy. A covered-eye giant face is bad enough…but throw in the mall-goth-tastic eye makeup and eye-brow piercing? You have basically ensured I would never leave the house with this one. (And this is coming from the girl who read Not That Kind of Girl on a freaking TRAIN.) Never MIND that no eyebrow piercing is mentioned in the description of either of the two female characters.
The Deal:
Rebecca is unwillingly spending her summer in Winterfold — a tiny, middle of nowhere town that is steadily falling away into the sea. Unhappy to be away from London, her friends and boyfriend, Rebecca begins a reluctant friendship with a local girl named Ferelith. With Ferelith’s help, Rebecca accidentally uncovers the disturbing, secret history of Winterfold, involving the dark experiments of a fanatical Rector and mad doctor.
BFF Charm: Yes And HELL NAH
Rebecca seems pretty cool. She’s fun, adventurous and seems to be a good person. Plus, she occasionally would say out loud, the exact things I was thinking as a reader, which certainly endeared her to me. The only thing questionable about Rebecca was that she was willing to spend time with Ferelith, our other main character.
And Ferelith? That girl is a WHOLE ‘nother story. She is one of the most bat shit crazy, obnoxious characters I’ve had the misfortune of being subjected to their first person narrative. So let’s talk about what we know about Ferelith. Well, first off, she’s just so much damn smarter than you. And she’ll tell you that. Cause she’s smarter than everyone. So smart, in fact, that she left school at 14, walked right out, because she was just so super smart, she could hardly stand it. She’s also, suuuuper weird. Like, so super weird, you can barely handle it. Have I told you how suuuuper weird she is, cause if I don’t, she sure will. Except that she’s not weird. She just does obnoxious and creepy things for the sake of doing them/causing a reaction. Like, skinny dipping on the beach. Even though it’s broad daylight and there are tourists and children around. That’s not “edgy”, that makes you a pervert and no different than dude’s who try and flash you their wang on the subway. She actually breaks into Rebecca’s house in order to plant a DVD for her to find (after she’d known her all of 5 minutes). She is constantly barging in uninvited and not leaving when asked. She’s also constantly trying to touch Rebecca in ways that remind me of that creepy guy who is always giving people unsolicited backrubs. She wears all black and has a SKULL in her room (I mean, of course). She even steals an old women’s honesty cashbox. For me, this character was a book killer. A biller, if you will. I’m not sure what I was supposed to feel for this character, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to be white rage that (unfortunately) blinded me to the cooler parts of the book. (Hey MEGAN NO H, TELL US HOW YOU REALLY FEEL?)
Swoonworthy Scale: HELL NAH
I mean, did you see my tiny novel up there? There’s nothing swoony about creepers creepin’.
Talky Talk: 3’s Company
This book had three distinct narratives. We had a third person narrative that followed Rebecca’s story. We also had the first person narrative from Ferelith’s POV (obviously the hardest for me to get through). And the third is made up of late eighteenth-century diaries entries from our unnamed Rector (who I will refer to as Father Flagellant). This set up was a bit confusing at first, especially since it wasn’t immediately clear on how Father Flagellant’s entries connected to the story. But once we were further into the story, I liked jumping between the diary entries and the current day. And I actually really liked both the two narratives that weren’t Ferelith’s.
Bonus Factor: Murder Most Foul
I don’t want to spoil too much here, but there’s some seriously cool dark, ritualistic MMF going on in the back story.
Relationship Status: If We’re Going To Hang Out, You Have GOT To Drop That Creepy Girl You’re Friends With
Besides the character of Ferelith, I actually liked All The Other Things in this book. But unfortunately, this book insists on hanging out with that girl, and she is so not invited to sit at my lunch table. So, if this book drops its creepy tag-along friend, maybe I can reevaluate and reconsider.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received neither money nor cocktails for writing this review (dammit!). White Crow is available now.
