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Grey Land #2
The Invasion
YOU’RE UNDER ARREST FOR HIGH TREASON!
Imagine that your country is full of people ready to betray their family and friends to the cruel and pitiless ENEMY. Then, think that everyone has branded YOU as the traitor . . .
Nessa is locked in a maximum- security prison where death awaits her and with only murderers and the mad for company. And now the ENEMY is about to invade . . .
CAN NESSA ESCAPE TO STOP THE INVASION AND PREVENT THE BLOODSHED?
341 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 27, 2018
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4926 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 486 reviews
April 19, 2018
“I hear the Sídhe have found a way in...I hear that’s what it’s about. An invasion.”
The Call is a fantastic book - brutal, inventive, and exciting! I expected more of the same with the sequel The Invasion, as well as plenty of new surprises.
Well...I got surprises all right.
I am just SUPER disappointed.
Mild spoilers throughout, but anything heavy duty will be marked. And spoilers for The Call. Obvs.
Let's start with what I did like:
Aoife! I didn't think about her much in the first book. She was Emma's rather despondent girlfriend. I mean she literally laid in bed for a good portion of the book. Which was totally understandable given the circumstances, but boring. You never expect the secondary character who did next to nothing in book 1 to shine so hard in book 2!
I actually wish we would have gotten more Aoife chapters. She's easily the best character here. Second best would be Alanna Breen, who might not biologically be a mother, but damn if she isn't mom of the year.
More things I liked! There's more excellent creativity on display here. We get to see more creatures in the Grey Land. The Sídhe are in control of the land, but there are so many animals great and small that fill the land, all of them hideously twisted. So the Grey Land gets to expand in creativity a little more, beyond the brief glimpses we see during the call.
Also, Melanie! I honestly never expected her story to continue, but I'm glad it did. I loved her survivor's perspective. What would you do if the Sídhe had just punched a hole through your chest, if you were facing hours of torture? What bargains would you make?
Now we move onto the section of stuff I liked significantly less.
Alllll that shit with Anto and the army. WHAT? The infestation squad makes no sense. And neither does Anto's unquestioning acceptance of everything happening. He keeps thinking, "Gee, I wonder what's happening to Nessa?" But does nothing.
Also, what happened to the government wanting post-call survivors to start procreating right away? Not that I wanted to have a book full of nothing but Anto and Nessa boning because NO, but that would make more sense at least. Their population is being decimated. The people the army should be recruiting are those over 18 who either unable or unwilling to have kids. When your kids are being murdered, don't put the future of your civilization in the line of fire unless / until you have no other choice.
And while we're talking about Anto, let's discuss a GIANT FUCKING SPOILER!
Okay, what else didn't I like? Nessa, and the plot around her. I know, I know, I liked her so much before! She was a survivor against the odds, and that flies back in her face this time. How could she possibly have survived her call when she can barely even run? There's only one explaination - she must be a traitor.
So, great plot idea! Unfortunately everything at the prison was boring. I still don't know what was up with the professor and the caged Sídhe. Melanie was criminally underused and I thought there was going to be an interesting mystery developing with Angela. But apparently not?
God and Lucifer each see each other as the devil, do they not? Between humans and Sídhe, it is the same.
Let's talk about the ending.
If I had to estimate, and I don't have to but let's imagine a weird scenario where someone is FORCING ME TO, I'd say I was roughly 74% dissatisfied with the ending.
And my final section (and I pinky promise this one is short!): side notes, inconsistencies, and questions!
1) can I side eye the fuck out of the way Karim is described?
2) Wasn't Frankenstein a man? (the character from The Call, not the classic lit character). Because in this one, they're remembered as "poor woman," but I'm like 95% sure he was referred to as an old man on several occasions in the first book. Which could just be a typo, I'm not like enraged about this.
3) Why is Liz Sweeney always referred to by her full name?
Okay I know this is a long ass review, so THANK YOU for sticking with me. And if you just skipped to the bottom, well then you missed out on all the nudity and free tequila shots. So it's your loss really.
Really, I wanted so much more from The Invasion. I liked The Call a lot, I even reread it before I read this one. I hardly ever reread! And it just fell flat for me in many ways. I liked several individual things, but the characters and plot overall were lackluster. And when it didn't work, ohhhhh boy did it not.
Long story short:
----------------------------
Pre-review ramblings, from when I was younger and full of optimism:
It's here, it's on my Kindle. reading now. 10000 years of anticipation had better not let me down.
That feeling when you finish a kick ass book and the sequel doesn't even have a release date yet.
Update : There is now a release date, AND a title, AND a pretty cover!
All I need now is for someone to give me the actual book!
The Call is a fantastic book - brutal, inventive, and exciting! I expected more of the same with the sequel The Invasion, as well as plenty of new surprises.
Well...I got surprises all right.
I am just SUPER disappointed.
Mild spoilers throughout, but anything heavy duty will be marked. And spoilers for The Call. Obvs.
Let's start with what I did like:
Aoife! I didn't think about her much in the first book. She was Emma's rather despondent girlfriend. I mean she literally laid in bed for a good portion of the book. Which was totally understandable given the circumstances, but boring. You never expect the secondary character who did next to nothing in book 1 to shine so hard in book 2!
I actually wish we would have gotten more Aoife chapters. She's easily the best character here. Second best would be Alanna Breen, who might not biologically be a mother, but damn if she isn't mom of the year.
More things I liked! There's more excellent creativity on display here. We get to see more creatures in the Grey Land. The Sídhe are in control of the land, but there are so many animals great and small that fill the land, all of them hideously twisted. So the Grey Land gets to expand in creativity a little more, beyond the brief glimpses we see during the call.
Also, Melanie! I honestly never expected her story to continue, but I'm glad it did. I loved her survivor's perspective. What would you do if the Sídhe had just punched a hole through your chest, if you were facing hours of torture? What bargains would you make?
Now we move onto the section of stuff I liked significantly less.
Alllll that shit with Anto and the army. WHAT? The infestation squad makes no sense. And neither does Anto's unquestioning acceptance of everything happening. He keeps thinking, "Gee, I wonder what's happening to Nessa?" But does nothing.
Also, what happened to the government wanting post-call survivors to start procreating right away? Not that I wanted to have a book full of nothing but Anto and Nessa boning because NO, but that would make more sense at least. Their population is being decimated. The people the army should be recruiting are those over 18 who either unable or unwilling to have kids. When your kids are being murdered, don't put the future of your civilization in the line of fire unless / until you have no other choice.
And while we're talking about Anto, let's discuss a GIANT FUCKING SPOILER!
Okay, what else didn't I like? Nessa, and the plot around her. I know, I know, I liked her so much before! She was a survivor against the odds, and that flies back in her face this time. How could she possibly have survived her call when she can barely even run? There's only one explaination - she must be a traitor.
So, great plot idea! Unfortunately everything at the prison was boring. I still don't know what was up with the professor and the caged Sídhe. Melanie was criminally underused and I thought there was going to be an interesting mystery developing with Angela. But apparently not?
God and Lucifer each see each other as the devil, do they not? Between humans and Sídhe, it is the same.
Let's talk about the ending.
If I had to estimate, and I don't have to but let's imagine a weird scenario where someone is FORCING ME TO, I'd say I was roughly 74% dissatisfied with the ending.
And my final section (and I pinky promise this one is short!): side notes, inconsistencies, and questions!
1) can I side eye the fuck out of the way Karim is described?
her dark-skinned face is hard too, totally at odds with the way she speaks, for her voice, her accent, surely belong to a white woman in petticoats, playing cards and sipping tea while her husband administers an empire.
2) Wasn't Frankenstein a man? (the character from The Call, not the classic lit character). Because in this one, they're remembered as "poor woman," but I'm like 95% sure he was referred to as an old man on several occasions in the first book. Which could just be a typo, I'm not like enraged about this.
3) Why is Liz Sweeney always referred to by her full name?
Okay I know this is a long ass review, so THANK YOU for sticking with me. And if you just skipped to the bottom, well then you missed out on all the nudity and free tequila shots. So it's your loss really.
Really, I wanted so much more from The Invasion. I liked The Call a lot, I even reread it before I read this one. I hardly ever reread! And it just fell flat for me in many ways. I liked several individual things, but the characters and plot overall were lackluster. And when it didn't work, ohhhhh boy did it not.
Long story short:
----------------------------
Pre-review ramblings, from when I was younger and full of optimism:
It's here, it's on my Kindle. reading now. 10000 years of anticipation had better not let me down.
That feeling when you finish a kick ass book and the sequel doesn't even have a release date yet.
Update : There is now a release date, AND a title, AND a pretty cover!
All I need now is for someone to give me the actual book!
March 13, 2021
This wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. I really enjoyed the first book in this series, so I went into this expectating to really like it but it just wasn't a good book.
Since I don't want to give any spoilers for the first book I'll try to give a vague synopsis. In this series there's this thing named the 'Call' and during your 'Call' you are transported to this world, which is basically hell, where these faeries named Sidhe live. In the human world you are gone for only 3 minutes while in the Sidhe world you spend a whole day. Most people don't survive their call so to increase the chances of this kid survive there also are this schools where they are trained from the age of 10 till they get called which is around the age of 14.
As I said before I really liked the first book The Call, but this book was simply bad. I didn't really like anythung in here. Nothing. The plot was everywhere, I'm not even sure what happened in here. I was so confused. What was the point of this book? Nothing interesting really happens and there are only some little things in here that actually make sense plotwise, the rest just feel like it was added for this to actually be called a book. More than half of the stuff that happened in this book are irrelevant, I couldn't care less about them. In a couple of months I'll probably forget everything that happened in this story. I just don't care, it was so bad that I like to think that The Call is a standalone. I wish this just didn't exist.
The ending of this book just felt flat for me. The plot was so slow and uneventful for more than the first half of this book, then everything was rushed in the last bit. I'm not even kidding, the big climax of the story happens and that's kind of it. The end. There's this really short epilogue, which was nice in a way, that I did like that a bit, but it didn't make the story better. Not by a long shot. As much as I think the epilogue was the best part of this book - probably because it ended - it actually made the book even worse. It did nto fit the story at all, yet somehow it's still there.
As much as I liked the characters in the first book, in The Invasion any love that I had for them disappeared. I don't know what happened to Nessa in this book, but her personality was simply gone. The only trait - that is not really a trait - that I can point out is Nessa's "love" for this one character (I'll get into this too later). Everytime we had scenes wuth her this was the only thing she could think about. It was getting so repetitive that I wanted to strangle her and maybe knock some sense into her.
Another character that pissed me off was Anto. All the sense and intelligence that he had in the first book was just gone here. puff it's not there. As much as I wanted to slap Nessa, Ithink Anto was even worse. What the hell happened to his character? I'm not even joking by the end of the book I was screaming at my tablet while reading because his decisions and his stupidity was just aggravating me. *screams*
Aoife is the only character I could somewhat tolerate. She at least had some 💫personality 💫 unlike those two idiots. And also she had some good senses and she didn't let stupidity come and destroy everything.
The romance in this book - yup, there's a romance. The characters are actually in love. Those 14 year olds are actually in love. Do you see what I mean? I get that they had to mature fast because of the things they were dealing with, but this big love story between these teenagers - although they can barely be called that - is just too much.
The writing was simply bad. In the first book I didn't really have any problems with it, as I foudn the plot to be enjoyable, here since there wasn't any plot to make up for it, it just showed how bad it is. That's the only thing I could see while reading. I hated the writing style and I'm not a person that usually complains about this. I can be very easy to please when it comes to writing styles, so knowing that, it shows how bad it actually is.
I don't recommend reading this book, maybe the first one and consider it a standalone, but please take my advice and don't pick this up. It was just too bad. I'm pretty sure I lost some neurons along the way.
1/5
Since I don't want to give any spoilers for the first book I'll try to give a vague synopsis. In this series there's this thing named the 'Call' and during your 'Call' you are transported to this world, which is basically hell, where these faeries named Sidhe live. In the human world you are gone for only 3 minutes while in the Sidhe world you spend a whole day. Most people don't survive their call so to increase the chances of this kid survive there also are this schools where they are trained from the age of 10 till they get called which is around the age of 14.
As I said before I really liked the first book The Call, but this book was simply bad. I didn't really like anythung in here. Nothing. The plot was everywhere, I'm not even sure what happened in here. I was so confused. What was the point of this book? Nothing interesting really happens and there are only some little things in here that actually make sense plotwise, the rest just feel like it was added for this to actually be called a book. More than half of the stuff that happened in this book are irrelevant, I couldn't care less about them. In a couple of months I'll probably forget everything that happened in this story. I just don't care, it was so bad that I like to think that The Call is a standalone. I wish this just didn't exist.
The ending of this book just felt flat for me. The plot was so slow and uneventful for more than the first half of this book, then everything was rushed in the last bit. I'm not even kidding, the big climax of the story happens and that's kind of it. The end. There's this really short epilogue, which was nice in a way, that I did like that a bit, but it didn't make the story better. Not by a long shot. As much as I think the epilogue was the best part of this book - probably because it ended - it actually made the book even worse. It did nto fit the story at all, yet somehow it's still there.
As much as I liked the characters in the first book, in The Invasion any love that I had for them disappeared. I don't know what happened to Nessa in this book, but her personality was simply gone. The only trait - that is not really a trait - that I can point out is Nessa's "love" for this one character (I'll get into this too later). Everytime we had scenes wuth her this was the only thing she could think about. It was getting so repetitive that I wanted to strangle her and maybe knock some sense into her.
Another character that pissed me off was Anto. All the sense and intelligence that he had in the first book was just gone here. puff it's not there. As much as I wanted to slap Nessa, I
Aoife is the only character I could somewhat tolerate. She at least had some 💫personality 💫 unlike those two idiots. And also she had some good senses and she didn't let stupidity come and destroy everything.
The romance in this book - yup, there's a romance. The characters are actually in love. Those 14 year olds are actually in love. Do you see what I mean? I get that they had to mature fast because of the things they were dealing with, but this big love story between these teenagers - although they can barely be called that - is just too much.
The writing was simply bad. In the first book I didn't really have any problems with it, as I foudn the plot to be enjoyable, here since there wasn't any plot to make up for it, it just showed how bad it is. That's the only thing I could see while reading. I hated the writing style and I'm not a person that usually complains about this. I can be very easy to please when it comes to writing styles, so knowing that, it shows how bad it actually is.
I don't recommend reading this book, maybe the first one and consider it a standalone, but please take my advice and don't pick this up. It was just too bad. I'm pretty sure I lost some neurons along the way.
1/5
April 12, 2018
I really enjoyed this duology. The Invasion wasn’t as strong as the first book (The Call) but it was still an enjoyable read. For whatever reason, I really love creepy, twisted, and dark books and this duology has it all. There are several different narratives in this book but the strongest involves my favorite character Nessa. Nessa is still front and center in The Invasion and despite her severely deformed legs, she is a force to be reckoned with. With the Grey Land revisited and humans finally standing up against the Sidhe, this is one interesting book. I would recommend this to fans that enjoy both horror and fantasy books.
March 15, 2018
I thought this was an excellent follow up to The Call. Having read the first book I was prepared for grim and dark, and The Invasion pretty much delivers.
The experiences of horror come this time not just from the Sidhe, but also from other humans. Of course they think Nessa is a traitor, otherwise how else could she have survived her Call? I found the whole nightmare Nessa has to endure as an accused traitor almost as stressful and horrifying as any trips to the Grey Land.
If you liked The Call, you will find this conclusion to the duology equally satisfying.
The experiences of horror come this time not just from the Sidhe, but also from other humans. Of course they think Nessa is a traitor, otherwise how else could she have survived her Call? I found the whole nightmare Nessa has to endure as an accused traitor almost as stressful and horrifying as any trips to the Grey Land.
If you liked The Call, you will find this conclusion to the duology equally satisfying.
June 24, 2019
The Invasion is a 2019 Hugo Awards finalist in the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book category.
In The Call we were introduced to Nessa and Anto. Despite incredible odds they both survived their Calls, so this should be the story of their happily ever after, right? Yeah, maybe not. Your first clue is the book’s title, The Invasion. Any happiness is fleeting and we’re at war here, people! There may not even be an ever after!
The professor intrigued me and I wished for more time to get to know them. They did not get anywhere near the page time that I had hoped they would. I wanted more time with Melanie as well (although the resolution of her story satisfied me) and I wanted to find out what happened after we saw Angela last. I had high hopes for Liz Sweeney but her contribution to the story fell flat for me.
When characters refer to themselves in the third person I find it infuriating so Annie quickly became the character I most wanted the Sídhe to play with - “But Annie has seen it all, so she has.”, “Annie feels”, “Annie doesn’t like”. Ugh! She’s right here, Sídhe! Come and get her!
Most of the people who died in this book were simply names to me. I didn’t know much, if anything, about them so their deaths didn’t even make me pause. The one death that I thought should have had an emotional impact didn’t.
Although I didn’t come away with any substantial emotional connections I loved being able to revisit the Grey Land and enjoyed the introduction of some of its landscape and creatures I wasn’t previously aware of. Like piranha bats! And sniffers!
I had no idea what was going to happen next during The Call, other than the certainty that most of the characters I met would not survive, of course. Unfortunately I found The Invasion quite predictable. This may be because I already knew some of the rules at play in the Many-Coloured and Grey Lands but I found myself highlighting key sentences, knowing they were important before the characters did and more often than not I knew what those sentences foretold. I even figured out who the Big Bad was as soon as I met them and found them underwhelming.
Despite this I was satisfied by the ending, with key characters behaving how I hoped they would when faced with horrors. I’m caught between wishing The Call had been a standalone and glad I read the sequel.
Although this book does provide enough answers for the story to be “Called” complete, other potential worlds were mentioned briefly but not explored. I love the Sídhe so much and would joyfully read on if their world ever collided with another.
Once Upon a Nitpick or Two: The first time something was likened to a cartoon or a cartoon character I enjoyed the visual. I was over it by the fourth time it happened. There were also more typos remaining in the Kindle version I purchased than I would have liked.
Content warnings include ableism, death by suicide, suicidal ideation, physical assaults and torture, and mental health, specifically the impacts of trauma.
In The Call we were introduced to Nessa and Anto. Despite incredible odds they both survived their Calls, so this should be the story of their happily ever after, right? Yeah, maybe not. Your first clue is the book’s title, The Invasion. Any happiness is fleeting and we’re at war here, people! There may not even be an ever after!
Three minutes and four seconds. That’s how long the Called are missing. Then they come back, living or dead; twisted into hideous shapes or bewildered and whole. But return they always do.This sequel introduces plenty of new characters but also continues the story of some we’ve already spent time with. I was looking forward to the continuation of Nessa and Anto’s story. I was surprised that Aoife’s role increased as she didn’t make a huge impression on me in the first book. I was eager to see what the consequences of Melanie’s actions in the first book would be.
Or at least they used to.
We made the Sídhe into monsters, now they make monsters of us.I found I either loved or hated the women in this book. I loved Karim and Taaft, who commanded respect with their strength, leadership, determination and bravery. Although they were badasses in battle, they weren’t one dimensional; they cared about the people they fought alongside and had stories that extended beyond their job descriptions.
The professor intrigued me and I wished for more time to get to know them. They did not get anywhere near the page time that I had hoped they would. I wanted more time with Melanie as well (although the resolution of her story satisfied me) and I wanted to find out what happened after we saw Angela last. I had high hopes for Liz Sweeney but her contribution to the story fell flat for me.
When characters refer to themselves in the third person I find it infuriating so Annie quickly became the character I most wanted the Sídhe to play with - “But Annie has seen it all, so she has.”, “Annie feels”, “Annie doesn’t like”. Ugh! She’s right here, Sídhe! Come and get her!
Most of the people who died in this book were simply names to me. I didn’t know much, if anything, about them so their deaths didn’t even make me pause. The one death that I thought should have had an emotional impact didn’t.
Although I didn’t come away with any substantial emotional connections I loved being able to revisit the Grey Land and enjoyed the introduction of some of its landscape and creatures I wasn’t previously aware of. Like piranha bats! And sniffers!
I had no idea what was going to happen next during The Call, other than the certainty that most of the characters I met would not survive, of course. Unfortunately I found The Invasion quite predictable. This may be because I already knew some of the rules at play in the Many-Coloured and Grey Lands but I found myself highlighting key sentences, knowing they were important before the characters did and more often than not I knew what those sentences foretold. I even figured out who the Big Bad was as soon as I met them and found them underwhelming.
Despite this I was satisfied by the ending, with key characters behaving how I hoped they would when faced with horrors. I’m caught between wishing The Call had been a standalone and glad I read the sequel.
Although this book does provide enough answers for the story to be “Called” complete, other potential worlds were mentioned briefly but not explored. I love the Sídhe so much and would joyfully read on if their world ever collided with another.
Once Upon a Nitpick or Two: The first time something was likened to a cartoon or a cartoon character I enjoyed the visual. I was over it by the fourth time it happened. There were also more typos remaining in the Kindle version I purchased than I would have liked.
Content warnings include ableism, death by suicide, suicidal ideation, physical assaults and torture, and mental health, specifically the impacts of trauma.
April 7, 2018
When I read The Call about a year and a half ago now, I did so under the assumption that it was a good Halloween one-off, a haunting story about horrific, evil fairies known as the sídhe, who terrorized Ireland by spiriting all their children away to the grey land due to a sick, twisted take on the story of St. Patrick wherein he banished the sídhe from the mounds, not snakes. The wicked imagery and haunting descriptors alone were enough to make the first book memorable, but I remember, upon finishing it, sighing rather contentedly, shuddering at remembering the horrific things that had just been read to me, then accepting the story of Nessa and Anto was done and over with before continuing on working on my Halloween costume.
Strangely, I was wrong in assuming that, for once, well enough could have possibly been left alone for a young adult fantasy with a romantic subplot. But, silly me, I forgot I had read a young adult fantasy with a romantic subplot. Of course there was going to be a fucking sequel, of course!
Regardless, I still stuck this on the good ol' "Anticipated Reads" list, mostly because I was just curious what they were going to unravel from The Call's perfectly wrapped up ending to have enough plot threads to string this sequel onto.
The base plot for this duology (and dear god, please leave it as a duology; this ended great, do not fucking ruin it again) is already weird enough, being about evil fairies that magically transport kids to another world for a day, wherein the most upsetting and haunting things imaginable could happen to said kids to prevent them from returning to their world alive or whole. It's weird, but I dig it. But the events of this book are less surreal and strange weird and more confusing and incomprehensible weird. It still has a bit of that original surreal quality, but a lot of things happen in the book that I genuinely could not combat with any of the knowledge or logic it or its predecessor had equipped me with.
With all that said, I still enjoyed the way things wrapped up. If there had to be a sequel, I would have rather it be implemented without tearing a huge gash in the first book's ending, but I am happy with how things ended. I especially liked the epilogue. It was a really cool way to show what this horrific event had done to Ireland (and the world, for that matter) as a whole.
Definitely not a necessary addition, but certainly not an entirely unwelcome one. Took me a bit to warm up to the idea and, despite my almost constant confusion, I still enjoyed myself, especially the parts where Amy Shiels's dreamy voice was reading descriptions of some of the most sickening body horror I've ever heard of; I'm here for that shit any day, man...but that still doesn't mean there should be a third book.
Don't write a third book, Peadar Ó Guilín. Don't do it.
Strangely, I was wrong in assuming that, for once, well enough could have possibly been left alone for a young adult fantasy with a romantic subplot. But, silly me, I forgot I had read a young adult fantasy with a romantic subplot. Of course there was going to be a fucking sequel, of course!
Regardless, I still stuck this on the good ol' "Anticipated Reads" list, mostly because I was just curious what they were going to unravel from The Call's perfectly wrapped up ending to have enough plot threads to string this sequel onto.
The base plot for this duology (and dear god, please leave it as a duology; this ended great, do not fucking ruin it again) is already weird enough, being about evil fairies that magically transport kids to another world for a day, wherein the most upsetting and haunting things imaginable could happen to said kids to prevent them from returning to their world alive or whole. It's weird, but I dig it. But the events of this book are less surreal and strange weird and more confusing and incomprehensible weird. It still has a bit of that original surreal quality, but a lot of things happen in the book that I genuinely could not combat with any of the knowledge or logic it or its predecessor had equipped me with.
With all that said, I still enjoyed the way things wrapped up. If there had to be a sequel, I would have rather it be implemented without tearing a huge gash in the first book's ending, but I am happy with how things ended. I especially liked the epilogue. It was a really cool way to show what this horrific event had done to Ireland (and the world, for that matter) as a whole.
Definitely not a necessary addition, but certainly not an entirely unwelcome one. Took me a bit to warm up to the idea and, despite my almost constant confusion, I still enjoyed myself, especially the parts where Amy Shiels's dreamy voice was reading descriptions of some of the most sickening body horror I've ever heard of; I'm here for that shit any day, man...but that still doesn't mean there should be a third book.
Don't write a third book, Peadar Ó Guilín. Don't do it.
July 17, 2018
PATRONAT P42 (oczywiście jak będzie już premiera w Polsce XD)
OBEJRZYJ NA YOUTUBE http://bit.ly/ppppp0
Nikt nie spodziewał się takiego obrotu zdarzeń! Dalsze losy Nessy mrożą krew w żyłach i stanowią świetne zwieńczenie historii The Call. Wezwanie oraz Inwazja pokazują jak w dwóch książkach można zawrzeć więcej akcji niż w niejednej trylogii.
+ wydarzenie, od którego rozpoczyna się ta książka… nigdy nie przyszłoby mi to do głowy, a jednocześnie to tak bardzo pasuje do fabuły!
+ ta książką to bardzo mocne i brutalne młodzieżowe gore/horror
+ wielokrotnie przerywałem lekturę żeby otrząsnąć się z przerażających obrazów które przedstawia tutaj autor
+ dojrzałość powieści, tak po prostu
+ szalona wizja z pierwszej części jeszcze lepiej rozwijana w sequelu
- ajjaaj czasami jest taki chaos że szkoda mówić, ale książka nadrabia powyższymi plusami
Dylogie/duologie to jednak coś super! Czekam niecierpliwie na kolejne książki Peadar Ó Guilín :)
March 31, 2018
Actual rating 2.5 out of 5
This book was extremely disappointing. I was looking forward to finally seeing Anto and Nessa together, but instead they were apart the entire book. We never once got to see them together. I can’t even begin to explain how upset I was about that. Anto who was my favorite character in the Call became frustrating most of the time. I pretty much just liked the parts with Nessa. She’s the best part of this novel in my opinion. Anto’s story line was not what I wanted. The plot was all over the place and confusing most of the time. I so wanted to love this. I expected to love it. I just didn’t. The ending was also extremely frustrating. Oh my gosh. I’m so mad. I think the only way this book can redeem itself is if I get a short story on what happened to Anto and Nessa. The story was good and the writing was good. But all I felt was sadness and frustration while I read this. Honestly I wish I didn’t read it.
This book was extremely disappointing. I was looking forward to finally seeing Anto and Nessa together, but instead they were apart the entire book. We never once got to see them together. I can’t even begin to explain how upset I was about that. Anto who was my favorite character in the Call became frustrating most of the time. I pretty much just liked the parts with Nessa. She’s the best part of this novel in my opinion. Anto’s story line was not what I wanted. The plot was all over the place and confusing most of the time. I so wanted to love this. I expected to love it. I just didn’t. The ending was also extremely frustrating. Oh my gosh. I’m so mad. I think the only way this book can redeem itself is if I get a short story on what happened to Anto and Nessa. The story was good and the writing was good. But all I felt was sadness and frustration while I read this. Honestly I wish I didn’t read it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 27, 2018
The Call is one of my favourite books about the Faery/Fairy folk - it came out of nowhere and slapped one hell of a story right into my hands. This follow up lacks some of the punch of the original (not entirely it's fault; a lot of that punch was that I'd never read anything like that before), but pulls none as it follows after it's sibling.
We pick up right where we left off, and I highly recommend reading the first book again if it's been a while. There's a lot of people to keep up with, and if you're a little fuzzy on the details, there's not a lot of catch up - I did reread the first book before diving into this one, and it really paid off. The uplifting mood to the end of the last book is pretty quickly brought back to reality, and we see a resolution for everyone. As with the last book, not everyone is getting a happy ending; good, because it wouldn't fit with this series at all.
This is definitely a duology I'll come back to, and one I would absolutely recommend to anyone who knows better than to disturb a fairy ring in the wild!
(Also - very intrigued by the author's note on appreciating the populations of Australia and New Zealand at the end! I would love to know that story - I'll have to settle for getting myself that coffee tomorrow instead :))
We pick up right where we left off, and I highly recommend reading the first book again if it's been a while. There's a lot of people to keep up with, and if you're a little fuzzy on the details, there's not a lot of catch up - I did reread the first book before diving into this one, and it really paid off. The uplifting mood to the end of the last book is pretty quickly brought back to reality, and we see a resolution for everyone. As with the last book, not everyone is getting a happy ending; good, because it wouldn't fit with this series at all.
This is definitely a duology I'll come back to, and one I would absolutely recommend to anyone who knows better than to disturb a fairy ring in the wild!
(Also - very intrigued by the author's note on appreciating the populations of Australia and New Zealand at the end! I would love to know that story - I'll have to settle for getting myself that coffee tomorrow instead :))
September 6, 2024
Action packed, but I could have done with some more world building.
Lots of fight scenes and drama, so it was a quick read. But we still didn’t get a whole lot of background on the Sidhe.
If you are happy to take things as they come then this will be a fast and exciting read for you.
Lots of fight scenes and drama, so it was a quick read. But we still didn’t get a whole lot of background on the Sidhe.
If you are happy to take things as they come then this will be a fast and exciting read for you.
September 18, 2023
This was another fun one with LOTS of graphic violence and gore. There were a few issues with this one with the plot points but I still really liked and haven't seen anything like it in the YA category before.
RTC
RTC
December 8, 2021
Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with the sequel to The Call!! Lots of the same great action, disturbing imagery, and body horror that made the first book so great. I will say, this one was a bit more angsty and trope-y than I would have liked, but I do have to remember that this is a YA book. Also, it was pretty anti-climactic, but that just makes me hope that one day The Grey Land duology will become a trilogy.
April 8, 2020
Following on from The Call, The Invasion follows characters Nessa, Anto and Aoife as they attempt to eradicate the threat of the fae from Ireland and allow the children of the island to grow up in safety once more, without the fear and threat of the dreaded 'call.'
The Invasion starts pretty much within a few weeks from the ending of The Call and as readers, we're mostly following Nessa and Anto now they have left survival college and survived their call, with some chapters from Aoife's point of view who is still in college and anxiously waiting her own call. I really liked that we got to see some of the rest of Ireland in this book as The Call was more or less only based in the college or in the Grey Lands. In The Invasion, readers see what adults are doing to keep the country more or less running, and how those who survived their call and didn't become completely messed up have lived their lives since then. And how citizens of Ireland are not really free to do anything they want anymore as the existence of Irish people is constantly threatened by the fae.
One of the problems I had with The Call, and continued slightly in The Invasion, is that the age of the characters feels very unbelievable. They are only 14 years old and they talk and act like adults most of the time. I did appreciate that Anto had some moments in this book were he was a scared and emotionally frustrated and confused teenage boy which reminded me that he was indeed only 14.
Seeing more of the Grey Lands in this book was also so intriguing while also at the same time horrifying. There is nothing about the landscape that is comforting or nice in any way, and I just love how the fairy folk are written in this and how they responded to Nessa in this one.
The ending felt a little abrupt and I don't think I was completely satisfied with Aoife's epilogue and how everything was neatly tied in a bow. It felt a bit too cheerful considering everything that had happened. I was left with some more questions -
Overall, I liked this book but I definitely liked The Call more!
The Invasion starts pretty much within a few weeks from the ending of The Call and as readers, we're mostly following Nessa and Anto now they have left survival college and survived their call, with some chapters from Aoife's point of view who is still in college and anxiously waiting her own call. I really liked that we got to see some of the rest of Ireland in this book as The Call was more or less only based in the college or in the Grey Lands. In The Invasion, readers see what adults are doing to keep the country more or less running, and how those who survived their call and didn't become completely messed up have lived their lives since then. And how citizens of Ireland are not really free to do anything they want anymore as the existence of Irish people is constantly threatened by the fae.
One of the problems I had with The Call, and continued slightly in The Invasion, is that the age of the characters feels very unbelievable. They are only 14 years old and they talk and act like adults most of the time. I did appreciate that Anto had some moments in this book were he was a scared and emotionally frustrated and confused teenage boy which reminded me that he was indeed only 14.
Seeing more of the Grey Lands in this book was also so intriguing while also at the same time horrifying. There is nothing about the landscape that is comforting or nice in any way, and I just love how the fairy folk are written in this and how they responded to Nessa in this one.
The ending felt a little abrupt and I don't think I was completely satisfied with Aoife's epilogue and how everything was neatly tied in a bow. It felt a bit too cheerful considering everything that had happened. I was left with some more questions -
Overall, I liked this book but I definitely liked The Call more!
March 25, 2018
6/10
It's so sad but I didn't like this book as much as the first one. I really really wanted to like it which is why it bums me out as much as it does to only give it three stars. I liked the first book even though there were still some answers left but it was okay because it was mysterious. For this book I had to stretch my disbelief so much it stretched thin at some points and some phrases like "he was drooling like a cartoon character" or "like a game glitching" or "hashtag OMG" completely took me out of the story. I still really liked Nessa as a character but Anto was a big let down for me. I liked seeing Nessa's struggles and she always seems so nice and endearing. With Anto it seemed like his character was completely different from the first book which makes sense I guess in a way but I didn't like it one bit. I don't know if there is going to be a sequel to this but I did not like the ending of this it was to me very unsatisfying. What I do like about this book is it's setting (Ireland, so cool) and the grey land and the spooky vibes and creepy monsters which is what kept me reading. There were some moments that grabbed and I was hoping that it would pull me in again but alas it never really did the way the first book did.
Music: Celtic instrumental music
Favourite character: Nessa
It's so sad but I didn't like this book as much as the first one. I really really wanted to like it which is why it bums me out as much as it does to only give it three stars. I liked the first book even though there were still some answers left but it was okay because it was mysterious. For this book I had to stretch my disbelief so much it stretched thin at some points and some phrases like "he was drooling like a cartoon character" or "like a game glitching" or "hashtag OMG" completely took me out of the story. I still really liked Nessa as a character but Anto was a big let down for me. I liked seeing Nessa's struggles and she always seems so nice and endearing. With Anto it seemed like his character was completely different from the first book which makes sense I guess in a way but I didn't like it one bit. I don't know if there is going to be a sequel to this but I did not like the ending of this it was to me very unsatisfying. What I do like about this book is it's setting (Ireland, so cool) and the grey land and the spooky vibes and creepy monsters which is what kept me reading. There were some moments that grabbed and I was hoping that it would pull me in again but alas it never really did the way the first book did.
Music: Celtic instrumental music
Favourite character: Nessa
August 2, 2018
I loved the first book but this one drug and drug. It felt like it was never going to end. I didn't enjoy the plot at all. All the violence was tedious and I really didn't care how things ended. I wish I would have just read the first book and been done with it. I still highly recommend that one
I did this on audio and the narrator is excellent.
I did this on audio and the narrator is excellent.
February 26, 2025
Really enjoyed this book 📘
I think we can all agree Nessa is an amazing character who just goes from strength to strength. And let me tell you she has plenty of opportunities to showcase that strength 💪all through this book.
I'm not sure why but this book didn't have the same flow in the beginning as The Call so if you feel the same way going in, I want to encourage you to keep going because the second part of the book is well worth the read.
Happy Reading📚📘📒📓📗📙📔📕📚📕📒📗📓📙📚📔📕📓📗📗 📖
I think we can all agree Nessa is an amazing character who just goes from strength to strength. And let me tell you she has plenty of opportunities to showcase that strength 💪all through this book.
I'm not sure why but this book didn't have the same flow in the beginning as The Call so if you feel the same way going in, I want to encourage you to keep going because the second part of the book is well worth the read.
Happy Reading📚📘📒📓📗📙📔📕📚📕📒📗📓📙📚📔📕📓📗📗 📖
October 7, 2019
This book was just all over the place and I didn’t really understand what was going on most of the time. The biggest issue, however, was the fact that I just didn’t particularly care about any of the characters.
If this book was narrated in the first-person instead of the third, then I think it would have allowed the reader to develop a better sense of sympathy for the characters. I felt like the third-person narration just detached the reader from the characters instead of allowing them to become invested. Also, I didn’t really care for the romance in the book either which, by the way, was just extremely underdeveloped and unnecessary.
If you’re planning on giving this this duology a go, then I’d recommend reading it for the concept and not for the characters (if that makes sense).
If this book was narrated in the first-person instead of the third, then I think it would have allowed the reader to develop a better sense of sympathy for the characters. I felt like the third-person narration just detached the reader from the characters instead of allowing them to become invested. Also, I didn’t really care for the romance in the book either which, by the way, was just extremely underdeveloped and unnecessary.
If you’re planning on giving this this duology a go, then I’d recommend reading it for the concept and not for the characters (if that makes sense).
July 20, 2021
I loved this book!!! I loved seeing Nessa and Anto again and being back in the world. This sequel was really well paced and totally kept me on the edge of my seat, I've not shouted at a book like that in a long time ;) I was really happy with everything, in fact the only bad thing is that there are no more!
January 4, 2021
I kind of wish there had only been a book 1, cos there there was...sort of happiness for now. But here, so not.
Nessa is accused of being a traitor and sent to jail. The Sidhe still want her head. They are preparing to invade and take back their land.
Arto is put into a squad of monster killers. At least he is not sent to prison like Nessa. She saved Ireland and this was her thanks?!
And what happens to prisoners, oh they are put into a boat, but you can not leave Ireland, if you try you end up in the Grey lands. The land of living nightmares where the Sidhe find you, torture you, kill you for fun or change you into a crab or whatever they want
As you can see it is not a pretty story. There is lots of blood spilled, heartache and pain. The Sidhe might be beautiful, but they are cruel, evil and so very creepy.
I enjoyed it, it was a fast read and I wanted to know how things would turn out!
Nessa is accused of being a traitor and sent to jail. The Sidhe still want her head. They are preparing to invade and take back their land.
Arto is put into a squad of monster killers. At least he is not sent to prison like Nessa. She saved Ireland and this was her thanks?!
And what happens to prisoners, oh they are put into a boat, but you can not leave Ireland, if you try you end up in the Grey lands. The land of living nightmares where the Sidhe find you, torture you, kill you for fun or change you into a crab or whatever they want
As you can see it is not a pretty story. There is lots of blood spilled, heartache and pain. The Sidhe might be beautiful, but they are cruel, evil and so very creepy.
I enjoyed it, it was a fast read and I wanted to know how things would turn out!
April 8, 2018
I absolutely adored The Call, it’s so gory and chilling, and The Invasion is no different. It has the same feel, and created the urge to keep reading in order to find out what happened next!
I really liked what happened to Nessa. Even though it’s obviously wrong, I feel it really is what people would think and I loved it for being so dark. I was a little more confused with Anto, to be honest. Him being rounded up but not really then getting used against Nessa didn’t quite sit right with me. However, I liked his progression, except for everything with Liz.
I also want to give a side character shout out to Aoife for being strong and brave. 💙 I liked her development the most.
Seeing more of the Grey Land and some of its laws was really nice - in the first book, it’s more in small bursts, so I liked how much of The Invasion is set there.
However I do have a couple of things that stopped me from giving this five stars. The ending felt and but sudden and rushed, my brain was racing to catch up and figure out what happened. Anto and Liz just felt off and wrong. I get that it’s supposed to show doubt, but it didn’t feel true to his character. And I’d like to have known more about some of the Sidhe who appeared to be helping. Pretty minor things though and still a really enjoyable, fast paced and thoroughly creepy book.
I really liked what happened to Nessa. Even though it’s obviously wrong, I feel it really is what people would think and I loved it for being so dark. I was a little more confused with Anto, to be honest. Him being rounded up but not really then getting used against Nessa didn’t quite sit right with me. However, I liked his progression, except for everything with Liz.
I also want to give a side character shout out to Aoife for being strong and brave. 💙 I liked her development the most.
Seeing more of the Grey Land and some of its laws was really nice - in the first book, it’s more in small bursts, so I liked how much of The Invasion is set there.
However I do have a couple of things that stopped me from giving this five stars. The ending felt and but sudden and rushed, my brain was racing to catch up and figure out what happened. Anto and Liz just felt off and wrong. I get that it’s supposed to show doubt, but it didn’t feel true to his character. And I’d like to have known more about some of the Sidhe who appeared to be helping. Pretty minor things though and still a really enjoyable, fast paced and thoroughly creepy book.
March 8, 2025
The second book in the duology is slightly better than the first & many of the characters return from the first story. Nessa is sent to prison for being a traitor, the evidence being that the Sidhe gave her the power of fire control & made her fireproof. Everyone seems to believe the accusation & Nessa is banished back to the fairy realm, whilst Anto is caught up in the fighting when the Sidhe invade Ireland.
Again, this was a very dark book with lots of cruel death & grotesque imagery. I read it because I wanted to know how the story ended, if Nessa managed to survive & what happened with her & Anto. Anto, now there's a big disappointment who betrays Nessa in the worst way. I was going to make this a 4 star read until that scene happened. Way to completely trash his character. Overall, I wanted to read this duology but I'm in no rush to ever re-read it.
Again, this was a very dark book with lots of cruel death & grotesque imagery. I read it because I wanted to know how the story ended, if Nessa managed to survive & what happened with her & Anto. Anto, now there's a big disappointment who betrays Nessa in the worst way. I was going to make this a 4 star read until that scene happened. Way to completely trash his character. Overall, I wanted to read this duology but I'm in no rush to ever re-read it.
May 31, 2018
Holy hell what a mind-blowing sequel! Going into this book I was really unsure about what the plot was going to be and how it was going to top the first one, but honestly it only took a few chapters before I was completely and utterly hooked!
I don't want to say too much just yet until the book is officially released, but let's just say that The Invasion is much more horrific, dark and twisted than The Call, and I found myself on the edge of my seat wondering how on earth it was all going to end!
5 out of 5 stars and recommended to any one who wants to read about dark fairies, because I can tell you with complete honesty, this is as dark as they get!
I don't want to say too much just yet until the book is officially released, but let's just say that The Invasion is much more horrific, dark and twisted than The Call, and I found myself on the edge of my seat wondering how on earth it was all going to end!
5 out of 5 stars and recommended to any one who wants to read about dark fairies, because I can tell you with complete honesty, this is as dark as they get!
January 24, 2019
I don't know how to rate this book because I am really confused by the ending. Did Nessa survive or die? Did the war end? I don't think everything was explained and I read a lot so I can usually understand. But the ending confused me because they didn't say that he openly left Nessa in the GreyLand. So is she stuck there forever and is the portals destroyed? I have so many questions that I still have. So I'm not going to rate it until I see someone explain or reread it again? I don't know I'm conflicted about this entire book.
May 2, 2018
(2.5)
This was a weird mix of an interesting concept, a character that I couldn't help but feel for, and utter boredom and contempt for the rest of it. I enjoyed Nessa's chapters and they kept me intrigued and wanting to know what happened, but I honestly did not give a shit about anything else. For me at least, this would have been a much more enjoyable book without the extra point of views.
Also, I can't help but laugh at the romance a little because they're 14. Oh, also, Anto so doesn't deserve Nessa. There, I said it.
This was a weird mix of an interesting concept, a character that I couldn't help but feel for, and utter boredom and contempt for the rest of it. I enjoyed Nessa's chapters and they kept me intrigued and wanting to know what happened, but I honestly did not give a shit about anything else. For me at least, this would have been a much more enjoyable book without the extra point of views.
Also, I can't help but laugh at the romance a little because they're 14. Oh, also, Anto so doesn't deserve Nessa. There, I said it.
April 13, 2018
Excellent follow up to The Call and after reading this I'm sure to read everything that Peadar Ó Guilín ever writes!
July 14, 2020
Друга частина очікувано гірша за першу, бо злі ельфи пробралися в ірландію і йде війна. Загальна катастрофа тут блідне в порівнянні з індивідуальними стражданнями кожного прикликаного в першій книзі. Масову атаку зомбачних монстрів ми вже бачили мільйон разів і нас таким не здивуєш. Хоча франкенштейни і досі такі, що Данте вжахнувся б, а Босх би одобрив, видно що нічого моторошнішого за плащ з живих губів автор не придумає, бо блін далі вже ізвращаться нема куди.
Лінія виживання Несси в Сірих землях продовжує бути цікавою, а пернатий друг-покруч з обличчям священника, який весь час пророкує всім страшну смерть і мріє поласувати очними яблуками ГГ, розвіює тугу постійних перестрілок в реальному світі.
Я думала що нам нарешті пояснять чого ті ельфи такі злючі стали, але очевидно живучи в пеклі кілька століть, доволі сильно псується характер. Я щось сподівалася що буде більш романтична причина.
Досить небанальна кінцівка – плюс, але мінус що банальніша кінцівка пояснила б що все-таки відбулося з головними героями. Книжка виправдала свої шість баксів і вивела мене з нечитуна.
Лінія виживання Несси в Сірих землях продовжує бути цікавою, а пернатий друг-покруч з обличчям священника, який весь час пророкує всім страшну смерть і мріє поласувати очними яблуками ГГ, розвіює тугу постійних перестрілок в реальному світі.
Я думала що нам нарешті пояснять чого ті ельфи такі злючі стали, але очевидно живучи в пеклі кілька століть, доволі сильно псується характер. Я щось сподівалася що буде більш романтична причина.
Досить небанальна кінцівка – плюс, але мінус що банальніша кінцівка пояснила б що все-таки відбулося з головними героями. Книжка виправдала свої шість баксів і вивела мене з нечитуна.
February 20, 2019
A great wrap up to this duology even if it wasn't quite a fantastic as book one. I loved listening to the audiobook - I love listening to the narrator speak.
July 23, 2018
(originally reviewed at
thelibraryladies.com
)
I was so very pleasantly surprised by Peadar Ó Guilín’s novel “The Call” that when I found out that it was getting a sequel I was on pins and needles for it to be released. His take on a malevolent and violent faerie world was something that I hadn’t seen before in such brutal and disturbing fashions, and it definitely took the concept of faerie worlds and put it in a dark reality, all while making their rage somewhat understandable. I also loved our protagonists Nessa and Anto, friends and would be boyfriend and girlfriend who beat the odds when they were ‘called’, Anto being a pacifist and Nessa having a disability because of childhood polio. Plus, the concept of humans being the actual monsters at the heart of that book (in the form of violent misogynist Conor) is a theme that I always enjoy. It combined into one of my favorite reads of that year. So when “The Invasion” showed up in my holds, I waited a little bit to savor the anticipation of revisiting Nessa, Anto, and the Sídhe of the Grey World.
Perhaps I put too much anticipation into it, because ultimately, I was kinda disappointed with “The Invasion”.
I do want to give “The Invasion” credit where credit is due. Ó Guilín is relentless in his portrayal of war and violence, and the price of war for those who are part of it. While Nessa and Anto think that perhaps they can live their lives out together and have a happy ending, the Irish Government has other ideas for both of them. Anto is recruited to fight against the invading Sídhe (against his will), even though he has survived the Call with a disfigured, giant arm and is a pacifist at his heart. And Nessa is assumed to be a traitor, because they don’t believe that a girl whose legs were weakened because of childhood polio could have POSSIBLY survived The Call without making a deal with the enemy, and so she is carted off to a life in prison, and then to be sent to the Grey Land as punishment. While it was a super bummer to see that these two are probably not going to get their happy ending together, I appreciated that Ó Guilín doesn’t try to sugarcoat how a reality these two are living in would actually be. He still keeps the violence and disturbing imagery and themes up to a solid eleven, and there were many times that I pretty much squirmed in my seat while reading this book. I also liked seeing Aoife have more of a role in this book. In “The Call” she is merely the mourning girlfriend to Nessa’s best friend Emma. In “The Invasion”, she is with Anto and other classmates of their old school, and she is becoming a warrior out of necessity, even though she is questioning so much. Her character arc was very satisfying to see. We also get to see more of the flora and fauna of The Grey Land itself, beyond the evil faeries. I liked Ó Guilín’s world building here and found it to be as creative as it was messed up.
But there were so many things about this book that didn’t make it feel as satisfying as I wanted it to be. As much as I appreciate that realistically Nessa and Anto are going to have obstacles, I wanted to see them together. I wanted to see them adjusting to life after The Call, but they really didn’t have much interaction outside of the two of them pining for each other. And I found myself frustrated with Anto’s storyline, Aoife aside. Yes, I appreciate Ó Guilín portraying war the way that it should be portrayed, I just didn’t care about Anto and his compatriots fighting on the front lines. ESPECIALLY since some things happen with Liz Sweeney, the mean girl from the first book who is still pretty much awful. And Nessa herself didn’t get as much credit this time around. She got some cool accolades and I did like her new adventure in The Grey Land, but I felt like she didn’t really get much to do. And she deserved so much more than she got.
Overall, “The Invasion” probably ended Nessa’s and Anto’s story realistically, wrapping it up and pretty much tying all the loose ends up as well. But it felt abrupt, and I wanted more, and not in a good way. I appreciate choosing the end that he did, but wish it had felt more like a worthy successor to “The Call”. I’ll definitely give another book by Peadar Ó Guilín a try, but I had wanted more from this.
I was so very pleasantly surprised by Peadar Ó Guilín’s novel “The Call” that when I found out that it was getting a sequel I was on pins and needles for it to be released. His take on a malevolent and violent faerie world was something that I hadn’t seen before in such brutal and disturbing fashions, and it definitely took the concept of faerie worlds and put it in a dark reality, all while making their rage somewhat understandable. I also loved our protagonists Nessa and Anto, friends and would be boyfriend and girlfriend who beat the odds when they were ‘called’, Anto being a pacifist and Nessa having a disability because of childhood polio. Plus, the concept of humans being the actual monsters at the heart of that book (in the form of violent misogynist Conor) is a theme that I always enjoy. It combined into one of my favorite reads of that year. So when “The Invasion” showed up in my holds, I waited a little bit to savor the anticipation of revisiting Nessa, Anto, and the Sídhe of the Grey World.
Perhaps I put too much anticipation into it, because ultimately, I was kinda disappointed with “The Invasion”.
I do want to give “The Invasion” credit where credit is due. Ó Guilín is relentless in his portrayal of war and violence, and the price of war for those who are part of it. While Nessa and Anto think that perhaps they can live their lives out together and have a happy ending, the Irish Government has other ideas for both of them. Anto is recruited to fight against the invading Sídhe (against his will), even though he has survived the Call with a disfigured, giant arm and is a pacifist at his heart. And Nessa is assumed to be a traitor, because they don’t believe that a girl whose legs were weakened because of childhood polio could have POSSIBLY survived The Call without making a deal with the enemy, and so she is carted off to a life in prison, and then to be sent to the Grey Land as punishment. While it was a super bummer to see that these two are probably not going to get their happy ending together, I appreciated that Ó Guilín doesn’t try to sugarcoat how a reality these two are living in would actually be. He still keeps the violence and disturbing imagery and themes up to a solid eleven, and there were many times that I pretty much squirmed in my seat while reading this book. I also liked seeing Aoife have more of a role in this book. In “The Call” she is merely the mourning girlfriend to Nessa’s best friend Emma. In “The Invasion”, she is with Anto and other classmates of their old school, and she is becoming a warrior out of necessity, even though she is questioning so much. Her character arc was very satisfying to see. We also get to see more of the flora and fauna of The Grey Land itself, beyond the evil faeries. I liked Ó Guilín’s world building here and found it to be as creative as it was messed up.
But there were so many things about this book that didn’t make it feel as satisfying as I wanted it to be. As much as I appreciate that realistically Nessa and Anto are going to have obstacles, I wanted to see them together. I wanted to see them adjusting to life after The Call, but they really didn’t have much interaction outside of the two of them pining for each other. And I found myself frustrated with Anto’s storyline, Aoife aside. Yes, I appreciate Ó Guilín portraying war the way that it should be portrayed, I just didn’t care about Anto and his compatriots fighting on the front lines. ESPECIALLY since some things happen with Liz Sweeney, the mean girl from the first book who is still pretty much awful. And Nessa herself didn’t get as much credit this time around. She got some cool accolades and I did like her new adventure in The Grey Land, but I felt like she didn’t really get much to do. And she deserved so much more than she got.
Overall, “The Invasion” probably ended Nessa’s and Anto’s story realistically, wrapping it up and pretty much tying all the loose ends up as well. But it felt abrupt, and I wanted more, and not in a good way. I appreciate choosing the end that he did, but wish it had felt more like a worthy successor to “The Call”. I’ll definitely give another book by Peadar Ó Guilín a try, but I had wanted more from this.
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