The Light

Morpheus Road #1

by D.J. MacHale

Marshall Seaver is being haunted. It begins with mysterious sounds, a fleeting face outside a window, a rogue breeze - all things that can be explained away. That is, until he comes face-to-face with a character who only exists on the pages of a sketchbook - a character Marshall himself created.

Marshall has no idea why he is being tormented by this forbidding creature, but he is quickly convinced it has something to do with his best friend, Cooper, who has gone missing. Together with Cooper's beautiful but aloof sister, Sydney, Marshall searches for the truth about his friend while ultimately uncovering a nightmare that is bigger and more frightening than he could ever have imagined.

Number one New York Times best-selling author D.J. MacHale launches his eerie new trilogy with a story so packed with chilling suspense, readers will want to sleep with the light on.

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Fiction, Teen, Supernatural

352 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2010

About the author

D.J. MacHale is a writer, director, executive producer and creator of several popular television series and movies.

He was raised in Greenwich, CT and graduated from Greenwich High School. While in school, he had several jobs including collecting eggs at a poultry farm, engraving sports trophies and washing dishes in a steakhouse...in between playing football and running track. D.J. then attended New York University where he received a BFA in film production.

His filmmaking career began in New York where he worked as a freelance writer/director, making corporate videos and television commercials. He also taught photography and film production.

D.J. broke into the entertainment business by writing several ABC Afterschool Specials. After moving to Los Angeles, he made the fulltime switch from informational films, to entertainment. As co-creator of the popular Nickelodeon series: Are You Afraid of the Dark?, he produced all 91 episodes over 8 years. He wrote and directed many of the episodes including the CableAce nominated The Tale of Cutter's Treasure starring Charles S. Dutton. He was nominated for a Gemini award for directing The Tale of the Dangerous Soup starring Neve Campbell.

D.J. also wrote and directed the movie Tower of Terror for ABC's Wonderful World of Disney which starred Kirsten Dunst and Steve Guttenberg. The Showtime series Chris Cross was co-created, written and produced by D.J. It received the CableAce award for Best Youth Series.

D.J. co-created and produced the Discovery Kids series Flight 29 Down for which he writes all the episodes and directs several. His work on Flight 29 Down has earned him both Writers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America award nominations.

Other notable writing credits include the classic ABC Afterschool Special titled Seasonal Differences; the pilot for the long-running PBS/CBS series Ghostwriter; and the HBO series Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective for which he received a CableAce nomination for writing.

In print, D.J. has co-written the book The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors, based on his own teleplay and penned the poetic adaptation of the classic Norwegian folk tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon.

The book series: Pendragon - Journal of an Adventure through Time and Space marks D.J.'s first turn as a novelist. He plans for this series of Young Adult adventures to span a total of 10 books.

D.J. lives in Southern California with his wife Evangeline and daughter Keaton. They are avid backpackers, scuba divers and skiers. Rounding out the household are a Golden Retriever, Maggie; and a Kitten, Kaboodle.

Reviews

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marshall Seaver is going through a difficult time in his life. Not only has he lost his mom to a terrible accident, but his best friend (only friend, really), Cooper, is acting strange. He has gotten in trouble with police for scalping counterfeit concert tickets.

Cooper's parents, in order to separate him from the newly perceived bad influences that are reshaping their son, have decided to sequester Cooper at their lake house for the summer, hoping that some family-time will redirect their son toward a better path. Forced to weather the summer without his friend, Marshall begins his summer job at a trophy shop. When Marsh's father is forced to fly to Las Vegas for some work-related networking event, Marsh is left home alone.

Soon, his evenings become inhospitable, and the situation at his house has him longing for his best friend's help. Add to the confusion when he realizes that a character that he has drawn called "Gravedigger" may have come to life.

Although the story, thematically, has a young adult vibe with a double helping of teen angst and romantic undertones, there are some real horror situations that I considered a little more adult horrific. The Gravedigger character is used quite effectively to rival Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Freddy Krueger. The Light is the first book of The Morpheus Road trilogy written by D. J. MacHale.

[Alialiarya · Rating 3 out of 5]

مک هیل که در جهان با مجموعه‌ی بابی پندراگن شناخته می‌شود در ساخت فضای مرموز و وهم‌آور مناسب برای نوجوانان استاد است. این کتاب هم مثل مجموعه‌ی دیگرش در پرورش شخصیت‌های نوجوان و پیچ‌وخم‌های داستانی مناسب آن سن عالی‌ست. کاش وقتی نوجوان بودم این کتاب را می‌خواندم. بنظرم کتاب مناسب
.برای سن ۱۳ تا ۱۶ سال است

داستان کتاب درباره‌ی پسری به نام مارشال است که روزی با موجود ترسناکی مواجه می‌شود که شبیه یکی از نقاشی‌های خودش است. مارشال مادرش را از دست داده و تنها یک رفیق دارد. حال بعد از دیدن جسم نقاشی‌اش تنها رفیقش ناپدید می‌شود و او به همراه خواهر رفیقش در یک سفر ماجراجویانه برای حل معماها و یافتن دوستش قرار می‌گیرند

[~Tina~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meet 16 year old Marshall Seaver. Marsh is a semi-geek who likes his graphic novels, comic books, art and has a hard time letting go and growing up, unlike his best friend Cooper, who likes to live life large and push it to the limits, frequently.
So what happens when Cooper gets himself into a sticky mess more then usual and gets sent away to his family lake house, destroying there summer plans in the process? Or a better question is, what's happening to Marsh as he seems to be haunted or/and hunted by a demonic paranormal being that crazy enough Marsh created with his very own imagination come to life?
Strange and unusually things doesn't seem to cover what's going on and the mystery seems to be thickening up when Marsh finds out that his best friend, Cooper, is missing...

Okay! This one freaked me the hell out!
The Light is one of those books that puts a good spin on creepy and doesn't let up. It's not stalker-physio-killer creepy, or well not human anyways, this ones a twisted up unique paranorm that would rival any stalker killer, but it's not about that kind of creepy that did me in, it was more the mind game of sounds or lack there of; that made my imagination whack out before I hit the next line creepy, this had quite the effective edge to get me going and I got to tell ya, I had an absolute blast with this book!!!

I've never read anything from this author before, but I like the way he writes, it's very strong writing, really putting you smack in the middle of the picture getting you worked up enough to get a great feel for the story. I loved the way he blended tension with humor to keep readers relaxed enough to at least continue on.
It's smooth and perfectly paced.

Marsh is an awesome character, I wasn't sure if I wanted to hug him or send him to a mental ward, where I'm sure he'd accept enough meds to knock him out for years...willingly!
I loved the way he tried to grasp out rationalized logical explanations to the strange unknown phenomenons that very much is his reality and not his overactive imagination gone over the deep end one too many times, it was both spooky and amusing at the same time.
Sydney was a hard character to like at first, she's rude and obnoxious and I wanted to kick that pedestal down a few notches, but like most characters, Sydney is complicated and she grew on me later on.
Gravedigger is Wicked and Cool, but that's all I'm going to say about that;)

The plot is absolutely crazy fun, fast paced freaky and a highly entertaining world of one twisted fantasy. I could definitely see this as a movie but I'm content enough knowing that we're getting two more books from this world.
Bottom line, I loved it! I had a lot of fun getting freaked out and the mystery really kept me guessing! Awesome, Awesome book!!
For anyone looking for a book that will make your imagination go wild, this one goes out to you!

A Must Read!

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is probably a great read for younger boys. As for myself, I found the writing to be clunky, repetitive and tiresome. This passage, for instance,

"Before I knew it I started to go over. I was falling off my own roof. I reached out, desperate to grab onto anything that would slow me down. What I got was the rain gutter. I grabbed it with my right hand, but it was too late to stop me from falling. The gutter bent under my weight and pulled away from the house. I lunged out with my left hand to grab one of the vertical wooden pillars that held up the roof. That’s when the gutter gave way. I let go and grabbed the pillar with my other hand pulling myself to it. I hung there for a second then slid down to the porch railing. I had made it."

Perhaps I am nitpicking, however... the main character describes falling out his window and it reads, "Before I knew it I started to go over. I was falling off my own roof." Well, duh! Of course you are falling off your own roof... that is what is meant by, "Before I knew it I started to go over..." Right? (Um, trust me.. I didn't want to type out a longer passage, but there is ample description of this kid on his roof.)

And again, at the end of this paragraph in which this kid describes nearly falling, only to end with, "I had made it." Again, I say DUH. This sort of repetitive, reiterating of ideas happens throughout the entire book. In every chapter. There is a lot of stating, then stating again of idea. Just like my annoying example here.

Also, this story is very action heavy. We are exposed to so many nail-biting, on the edge of your seat moments that when the real shit hits the fan... I didn't really care. This kid has made it out of approximately 257 scrapes and near misses before, why not now?

Finally, even after all of this, the entire story... we still don't know entirely what the Morpheus Road is or what Marshall's exact role in this mystery is. Who is Marshall? Eh, some kid, nerdy, heroic, follows his impulses and does the right thing... you've heard it all before. Nothing new here.

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This past Saturday, my daughter and I went to the LA Times Festival of Books at UCLA. Our first stop was the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore booth to get the lay of the land. Last year, we stumbled upon Connie Willis at their booth and had a nice chat with her, so we were hoping for some equal luck this year. We started talking to this really nice, intelligent author named D.J. MacHale. There wasn't anyone waiting to get books signed, so we kind of monopolized his time for a bit. I noticed that he had written the Pendragon series. I had heard of it and told him that I'd only heard good things about it, but I wasn't going to get sucked in to reaading a series of ten YA novels. He and I talked a bit about books and series and popularity vs. quality. His latest book, The Light is the first installment of what he promises is only a trilogy. I loved the cover and the synopsis sounded interesting. I bought a copy and he signed it with a reference to our conversation about The Da Vinci Code. Needless to say, I felt obligated to move this book up to the top of my reading pile.

When I was a kid, I loved ghost stories and tales of the supernatural. I read all those Strange but True paperbacks and my friends and I would tell ghost stories in the dark. (Remember Mary White? You'd say her name three times and she'd appear in your mirror?) Once, my best friend and I were playing with a Ouija board under a card table with a quilt over it and it scared the crap out of us by spelling out "I...W...I...L...L...K...I...." We didn't even let it finish spelling and ran out from under that table screaming. My friend, who owned the Ouija board, wrapped practically a whole roll of masking tape around it and shoved it in the back corner of her closet shelf. I think I was eleven and she was twelve at the time. I also remember my 6th grade teacher reading Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart to us and setting me on a path to read everything Poe. I'm dredging up all those childhood memories because The Light brought all of that back to me.

I will admit that The Light is one darned scary book. It starts off slow and builds in creepiness. The ending was completely shocking and unexpected. I would have adored this book when I was a kid. It has a huge appeal to my inner 9-13 year old. I know a lot of people may think that it's too scary for kids that young, but it's exactly the kind of thing I was reading at those ages. I enjoyed the trip down memory lane and I hope Mr. MacHale and his publisher get the next two installments out really soon.

[Rae · Rating 1 out of 5]

Several years ago I read the Pendragon series by D.J. McHale and rather enjoyed them, so when I saw that he had a new series out I certainly wanted to read it. Honestly, getting this book was just a waste of a good Audible.com credit. Spoilers coming up…if you still want to read this book, that is…

I really, really wanted to like this book, and kept on figuring that it was going to get better in a couple of chapters…it never did. Let’s start off with the main character shall we? Marshall Ciever is an art geek. He draws all the time. He practically lives in the art room….oh wait, no, that’s me. I can’t say how excited I was when I read that bit, thinking for once, a protagonist that’s an artist!!! At least that’s what his character says in the first few chapters. However, this part of his character is mentioned early on to establish that he created a character of his own named Gravedigger (who’s basically the grim reaper…really creative, right?) and then that part of his personality is never really shown again. I mean, there could have been so many opportunities for him to utilize his talents in his adventure, but instead Marshall turns into a stupid, poorly characterized stump of writing.

Now onto the horribly trope-tastic best friend. Cooper Foaly is the cool, popular, athletic buddy of Marsh’s who goes missing early on in the story. Everyone in the book is always commenting on how strange it is that the two of them work as best friends, because after all, the art geek can’t possibly have a hip best friend! Ugh, stereotypes like this absolutely drive me up the wall!!!

I can’t mention Cooper Foaly without going into his bratty older sister Sydney. She’s the foil to Cooper – where he’s relaxed, she’s tense; where he’s a slacker, she’s ivy league potential; on and on and on. From the first mention of her, I knew that she was going to end up being the romantic interest by halfway through the book. So called it. The whole “omg how do you two work out since she’s awesome and you’re a art geek?!” thing is repeated with Sydney…but worse.

Earlier, I mentioned that I’d liked the Pendragon books (also penned by D.J. McHale. In those books two of the main characters are unlikely friends. Mark is the smart dork, and Courtney is the athletic popular girl in that series, but unlike in “Morpheus Road: The Light,” Mark and Courtney actually work as characters. They are dynamic, fun, and actually seem like more then poorly cut out pieces of cardboard. In “The Light,” it seemed like McHale was trying to clone Mark and Courtney and instead a horrible disfigured creature crawled out of the dark.

Oh, and did I mention that it takes place in the exact same city as the Pendragon books? Marshall apparently also works at the same place that Mark does…so did ANY of the adventures from the other book series happen? Continuity dude, continuity.

With it’s poor story, lazy character-building, and overall feeling of awkward writing, I would not recommend this book to pretty much anyone.

[Halley Hopson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished my second book of Booktube-a-thon 2016! This one fit the challenge of read a book by one of your favorite authors.

I enjoyed this so much more than I expected to. It was much creepier than I had anticipated; very disturbing at times, with a good amount of suspense and action. I loved the use of illusions and the struggle Marshall had trying to constantly decide what was real and not real.

Marshall is honestly a great character; sarcastic, a little snarky, but genuinely a good guy with a hilarious inner monologue. I actually enjoyed every single one of the characters in this book, which doesn't happen often.

I would also just like to make a note that I ADORED that this story takes place in the town of Stony Brooke; the same place that the Pendragon series takes place. Great nod to his other series. There were several references in this to not only to that series but also to a horde of other nerdy things as well and I loved every second of it.

Looks like I'm buying the sequels off of Thriftbooks.

[Tannaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was spool frightened

[McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My husband read The Light before me which doesn’t happen all that often (except for childhood books) and even more rare it passed his inspection and he recommended it to me.

There were some really great scares written in that had me avoiding it when I was alone in the house. The final scene is spectacularly haunting and intense.

I can’t say that this is the best YA horror novel I’ve ever read (I’ve read Zafon’s Marina after all) but it’s definitely not the worst I’ve ever read (I’ve read Goosebumps lol).

If I were to grade it based on beginning, middle, and end I would say 4.5 for the beginning and the end with a 3.5 for the middle. It only lost points during the middle because it shifted how the scares were performed. For example, early on the terror was entirely through the specter, this Morpheus, whereas in the middle it is still the specter but he uses humans much more. So depending on the reader’s specific fears the middle may be scarier or less so. Because I signed up for a demon or spirit horror novel the human side of things didn’t scare me in the same way.

But boy did that ending make up for any of the slower points. All I can say is the cemetery scene was horrifying and gripping. I couldn’t put my book down during that scene and it sealed the deal on my reading the next book.

Don’t get me wrong the writing isn’t flawless but it also isn’t an untested author (you may have heard of his Pendragon series). Some sections were a bit wordy when showing something that is meant to be nearly instantaneous, but overall the writing drew me into the fear rather than away from it. Some of the most important things I look for in a horror novel (just like a movie) is really exquisite writing and uniqueness. Have you seen this scare done a hundred times, was it better in most of those renditions? Or is this a completely new scare, is it drawn out just the right amount or over too quickly. The scene in which Marshall is listening to music is perfectly...

for the full review please visit https://www.literarydragonreviews.web...

[All Things Urban Fantasy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review courtesy of AllThingsUrbanFantasy.blogspot.com

MORPHEUS ROAD: THE LIGHT is the first book in a planned trilogy from D. J. McHale. As soon as I saw the super creepy cover (which is unbelievably detailed in person) I had to read it. I’m sorry it looks like mud above, but there don’t appear to be good hi-res images anywhere.

For fans of D. J. McHale's Pendragon series, Mark Diamond gets a couple brief mentions of here. Speaking of the Pendragon series, my big complaint with them and now MORPHEUS ROAD: THE LIGHT is how the main character comes across as much younger than his actual age. Marshall is sixteen in this book, but based on his actions, I would have guessed he was closer to twelve.

But that aside, MORPHEUS ROAD: THE LIGHT was a spooky fun read. Several scenes were delightfully creepy and more than once I was glad I read this book during the day…with all the lights on…clutching my dog.

MORPHEUS ROAD: THE LIGHT is really part one of a bigger story. The main plot of THE LIGHT is resolved, but the metanarrative of the trilogy still leaves lots of unanswered questions. I ended up liking this story more and more in the days after I finished it. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

If you are looking for a fun ghost story full of appropriately tame, but no less chilling, scares, pick up MORPHEOUS ROAD: THE LIGHT. I’m already anxiously awaiting the next installment of the Morpheus Road Trilogy.

Sexual Content: (YA titles receive a more thorough breakdown) Kissing.

[Zane H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book because this is a scary book. I also love it because I could visualize everything that happened in the book. The book was so amazing that I wanted to buy the book. I want the book really bad and I hope others want this book. The book is also as scary as Freddy Kruger. This book was like a quick read, like I mean fast

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

First 100 pages or so in the house were good. Rest was a bit more ridiculous or bad. Kind of like It meets Final Destination.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really creeped out by this book. Some of the graphics made my imagination run wild which resulted in me freaking out. I do give credits for the explicit details and I'm sure horror fans would love this book.

The plot itself was all over the place. At first, it was about the character that Marshall made up and then the "kidnapping" of his best friend, Cooper. They were separate but the author managed to pull things together so both subplots were able to coordinate well with each other. However, towards the end of the book, the last 50 pages of so, that was when the plot really went wild. So many things happened and I was so confused. What was the "main" plot of the book or what I thought was the "main" plot of the book turned out completely false and completely opposite of what was really going on. I remember rereading some parts and going "what's going on, what the heck is happening?!" It was confusing, to say the least. This is probably the one thing I really have to say.

The characters weren't that well-developed. They were adequate. I didn't really relate much to any of the characters including Marshall and the other sub-characters.

Overall, Morpheus Road would most likely appeal to teen horror fans.

[Rozhin · Rating 3 out of 5]

سه و نیم!...میخواستم چهار بدم ولی نتونستم خودمو راضی کنم:-"
من زیاد تو کتابا و ژانر ترسناک تجربه ندارم و ترسناک ترین سریالی/فیلم هم که دیدم سوپرنترال بوده..برای کتاب هم فقط چند جلد از کتابای ار.ال.استاین رو خوندم!
ولی میتونم بگم داستان زیاد ترسناک نبود؟!؟..من انتظار ترسناک تر داشتم!...اما خوب بود...خوشم اومد!خصوصا اون چندتا چپتر اخر خیلی باحال شد...یعنی خوشم میاد دی.جی مک هیل همیشششهههههه اصل کاری ها رو میزاره اخر بعد کتاب تموم میشه ادم نمیدونه چیکار کنه://///بره تو شوک؟..دوباره اون تیکه رو بخونه؟...هیجان زده شه؟..کتابو بزاره کنار؟:/
بعد همه چی توی اخرین جلد رو میشه بازم ادم میره تو شوک:/
تجربه خوبی بود شاید بعدا جلدای بعدیشو بخونم...شایدم همین فردا:-"...منم دیگه://
+داستان بعضی جاها خیلی کند پیشرفت میرفت طوری که حوصله م نمیموند ادامه بدم!...شاید یکی از دلایلی که نتونستم چهار بدم همین بود:-"
+اسم شخصیت اصلیه-مارشال- به شدت رو اعصابم بود هی فکر میکردم دختره:/...بعد اونم فهمیدم که به طرز ازاردهنده ای یاد تبلیغ تبلت مارشال میوفتم://
+خیلی شخصیت سیدنی من رو یاد کورتنی تو پندراگن مینداخت!

[Merry · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I were to write a letter to the author:

You've gotta be kidding. D.J., what were you thinking? Has your brain been addled by the TV shows you used to write? I read the first book in your "Pendragon" series and it was amazing! I couldn't put it down. You wrote killer cliff-hanger endings. But this book? It is just a hodge podge of scary, sensational scenes, tied together by a weak plot. Clearly, you were going for the gore factor, a tactic that causes authors to lose major points in my book. This series will be in my library, and I may even have to buy a second copy of this first book, but it will only be in response to readership demand. A student who read this before me said that it was going to be HUGE.....bigger than the "Percy Jackson" series or "Maze Runner." No way.

[X · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was definitely good for Halloween. Very creepy, lots of action and supernatural happenings, and also more blood than I had expected. I didn't much like the rather colloquial writing style, but that is just personal preference, and it fit the book fine.

[Mary Walker · Rating 1 out of 5]

maybe the real morpheus road was the friends we made along the way

[Katelyn]

Morpheus Road by D.J. Machale, released in 2010, is a horror novel with a young boy named Marsh as the main character. The point of view is shown as if Marsh himself is telling the story to the readers. While the book has many settings, the main setting is at the lake town, where most evidence is revealed to Marsh. Firstly, Marsh breaks an artifact that belonged to his mother, and that’s when the paranormal starts. But just before that, he and his best friend, Cooper Foley have a fight just before Cooper is sent to a lake house for the summer. Along the way, Marsh has to convince Sydney (Cooper’s older sister) to help him. When they figure out Cooper has gone missing, Marsh and Sydney then have to face the paranormal together, trying to find out what happened to Cooper. Many deaths occur, but the most important death, is revealed to be Cooper Foley himself, and he’s been trying to guide Marsh and Sydney from beyond the grave. But in the end, it's revealed to only be the beginning of a long journey, a journey that could lead them to death or as they say in the book, “the black” which is the beginning of the second book, from Cooper’s perspective.
In the end of it all, I would recommend this book to anyone trying to get into the horror genre. The story is easy to follow, the main characters are easy to remember because there aren’t too many of them. The story is very descriptive so you could easily read and have a scene be built in your mind. The ending is great and leaves an opening for the next book in the series.

[Permanently_Booked · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was younger I loved Nickelodeon (Hell, I still do)! Kenan & Kel, Rocko's Modern Life, Rugrats, Ren & Stimpy... and my ultimate favorite was Are You Afraid of the Dark. Little did I know that the creator of that show also wrote books. Literally had no clue until the author's note was read.

The Light takes a taste of MacHale's talent for ghost story telling and weaves a mixture of haunting and mystery together for the reader. Marshall and his best friend Cooper are free for the summer. Until Cooper goes missing and strange, disturbing occurrences begin happening to Marshall.

This made me feel like a kid again reading Goosebumps and Fear Street. The haunting and mystery has more depth and character growth than those books but I still felt this was more geared towards a younger audience. Maybe the younger side of young adult. I still enjoyed this one though. The writing is well done, the characters are stereotypical but fun and the plot was easy to follow. I found this book in a thrift store and saw the rest of the books on Scribd. Now I can finish my nostalgic vibes through audio next year. 🎉

[Jerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son really enjoyed this series in middle school. He suggested many times that I read the books and I just never fit them into my schedule. When I saw the series offered on an audible sale, I grabbed them for an upcoming road trip.

The narrator did a pretty good job but I truly disliked the Grave Digger voice. I got annoyed every time something happened in the story for the main character to turn around and repeat it to another character. The repetition was too much for my tastes. Still the story was entertaining. And for me – the time listening together with my son was great.

The ending of the story was ok, a decent set up for the second book. Although I love YA, this was only a 3.5 star book for me. But I believe it quite good for the target audience and that's my reason for rounding up.

I enjoyed the epilogue.

[Joey Gotti]

This book is very good. it starts off with a nice/happy feeling, but changes when a teenage boy goes missing. his friend Marshall goes looking for him and encounters some kind of spirit. He finds his friend, but also finds out his friend had died.

I liked this book because of the scary/horror feel to it. Like when Gravedigger is chasing after him, the feeling is tense, and you don't know if he's going to make it

[Jacquelyn Schlicht · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot actually. It was exactly what I was looking for, and it definitely had me creeped out, checking the dark corners in my room just to make sure nothing was standing there. I can’t wait to get the other (2) books to be able to finish the series.

[Kerri Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it. The loss of his mother the feeling of going insane a little darker than most. I still really enjoyed this book. It was great.

[Jessie Mannhaupt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh book club…

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forgot to post full review. Here it is now.

First Look: I don’t know why I haven’t picked this up before now. What was I waiting for? I mean, it’s D. J. MacHale, who wrote the amazing-beyond-amazing Pendragon series. I’m now convinced that MacHale is genius in carbon form.*

Setting: Stony Brook! I loved how the story took place in the same town as the Pendragon series started out in. The town itself isn’t anything special, it’s just a smallish town. But I like how MacHale used the same places (school, restaurant, etc.) from Pendragon.

Characters: I liked Marsh because he reminded me of myself, in that he’s very introverted and doesn’t mind it one bit. He’s not really an outcast, but he’s not popular, either. But he wasn’t the cliché loner-friendless-kid, either, which I liked. He seemed very realistic.

I really felt for him. I felt his emotions when he remembered his mom, when he thought of his missing best friends. He went through quite a bit, and he reacted to this in ways that a real person would react.

Plot: I’ve never been a huge fan of straight-up ghost stories (probably because most fail to creep me out as promised), but I liked this one. The storyline had plenty of mystery and suspense, enough to keep me interested all the way through. I liked how this book blended paranormal and reality. There was the whole creepy supernatural ghost thing going on. At the same time, Marsh also had real-life problems, like his missing best friend. I liked how they remained separate at first, but then became intertwined.

Uniqueness: ***** It’s a paranormal story, but it’s unique. It's what I call "real paranormal". It stands out from the pile of YA novels that deal with ghosts and other similar things.

Writing: D. J. MacHale can write. Yes, that’s all I can say.

Okay, fine. I’ll elaborate. Starting this, I was a bit afraid that the awesome voice from Pendragon wouldn’t carry through to this series. I soon found out that it wouldn’t be a problem. MacHale is the only author I know of that can write his action scenes in fairly large block paragraphs and still have them work. If most other writers tried this, it’d be boring and hard to read. But somehow, MacHale pulls it off.

Likes: MARK DIMOND!!!! A wild Mark Dimond appears! For those of you who don’t know, Mark was a major character in the Pendragon series. Through all ten books, he was one of my absolute favorites. And he was mentioned in this book. This made me extremely happy. Yay.

Also, here's a did-you-know?: Morpheus is the Greek god of dreams. I'm curious to see is this comes into play later in the series, or if it was just used for the cool name.

Not-so-great: "Find the poleaxe, Marshall. Bring me the poleaxe!" It seems to me like Marsh has a cell phone and iPod, but no Google. He keeps being told to get the poleaxe, but he keeps desperately insisting he has no idea what a poleaxe is. Why don't you look it up, genius? Or here, let me Google that for you.

Total Score: 4/5 I really liked this book. It was different from many things I read, which was a good thing. I liked Marsh as a character. The whole book was exciting, mysterious, and creepy. It takes quite a bit in a book to creep me out, but this was definitely getting there. And the ending leaves the story in a place where you just have to know more. Recommended for fans of ghost stories, or other “real paranormal” books (none of these vampires and angels and such). And D. J. MacHale fans, of course.



*It’s entirely possible that no one has ever before been called “genius in carbon form”. It’s like that game where you try to come up with a sentence that’s never been said or written before. Like “Plaid flannel-loving squirrels are not Facebook fans of Darren Criss, nor are they close relatives of Steve Jobs.”

[Claire Yoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first thought this book had lots of mystery in it, but it was a simple one. I really like this book, it's a horror genre but it also shows us about friendship.

[Dark Faerie Tales · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick & Dirty: A highly entertaining read that is sure to give you nightmares.

Opening Sentence: I believe in ghosts.

The Review:

The story is narrated by Marshall Seaver, an average teenage boy and amateur comic book artist. He's a bit immature and clings to all of the things that define him. He loves comics, video games, building model rockets, and spending time with his one and only friend - his best friend, Cooper. Where Marshall is a total geek and lacks skills with the ladies, Cooper is a ladies man and is always looking for trouble. Marshall is really looking forward to spending the summer with his best friend, but Cooper's parents decides that he needs to get away from his troubles so Cooper goes to his family's cottage.

Marshall creates his own comic book character, the Gravedigger. He begins to have hallucinations and starts to question what's real. He starts to see the character that he created - Gravedigger and believes that Gravedigger is stalking him. To make matters worse, Marshall discovers that Cooper has gone missing, so he teams up with Cooper's sister, Sydney, to help get to the bottom of the mystery.

Morpheus Road: The Light is an interesting story that deals with many themes, such as identity and growing up. This engaging tale certainly has its share of creepy and scary moments. Mr. MacHale is an excellent writer. He does an amazing job building tension. The secondary characters and villains are well crafted, interesting, and unique. The plot is surprisingly complex, with numerous subplots, but this in no way detracts from my enjoyment of the novel. Mr. MacHale disdains cliches and creates multidimensional characters in both Marshall and Sydney, who grow over the course of his book.

Overall, Morpheus Road: The Light is a good read. Mr. MacHale delivers some great twists and lots of suspense. Readers will be chomping at the bit to see what happens in the next installment.

Notable Scene:

I heard more than saw what happened behind me. The heavy stack of glass hit the floor and exploded. Bits of glass flew everywhere, filling the air with a storm of sharp, shiny fragments. I glanced back in time to see a wave of broken glass headed my way. I ducked quickly and covered my face before I got sliced. I felt the sting through my clothes as I was pelted by the glass, but I didn't dare budge. After a couple of seconds I cautiously peeked over my arm to see the carnage. The four climbing ropes were hanging straight down, swinging gently, no longer animated.

FTC Advisory: Big Honcho Media provided me with a copy of Morpheus Road: The Light. No goody bags, sponsorships, "material connections," or bribes were exchanged for my review. In addition, I don't receive affiliate fees for anything purchased via links from my site.

[Lisa (A Life Bound By Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars - When I first started reading this book I soon learned that I wouldn't be reading it in the dark. It had such a high creep factor for me that I almost didn't pick it back up again. What can I say, this book was scary and well… I'm a big chicken. Lol
I did in the end finish it... and was a little bit confused while reading, but I liked the story and the build up for what's to come in the rest of the series.

Our main character Marshall finds himself being haunted by a character he's dreamed up in his head. It's this character that adds the creepy factor to this book. I mean even his name – Gravedigger wouldn’t give anyone the warm and fuzzies. While Marshall thinks he's going crazy and well, running for his life - he finds himself in a much bigger mystery when his best friend Cooper goes missing.

With the help of Coopers icy sister Sydney, who somewhat thaws throughout the story they embark on a journey that really the two of them only know about. Yeah, there are other's who are swept up into the story and have trouble due to Gravedigger and all, but really it's Marshall and Sydney who are deeper into things then they want to be.

It's a thrilling book that had a bunch of twists and turns. It answered some of the many questions I had from the beginning, but left me asking more questions after finishing.

Sometimes I felt the story was a bit long and that maybe there was just a bit too much going on. Sometimes we see that in first books in a series, so it wasn't anything that I wasn't really use to. I mean we all need some back story to our characters and some details and explanations and such, right? I can see how this might put some people off, especially because it’s a long read and for those who are about to start reading this one or have picked it up and put it back down again…. Give it another try. I mean I thought it was worth it. Not to mention MacHale does well in describing things. Often I felt like I was watching a movie more so then reading a book.

All in all, I'm glad that I pushed through and finished this one, creep factor and all. There's a bigger picture here behind all that's going on and I'm looking forward to finding out just what's next for Marshall, Sydney and Cooper in the books to come.

For more info and reviews please visit my Book Review Blog here - A Life Bound By Books

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Light is an intense and down right creepy beginning to an exciting new series. From the get go, I knew this book was going to creep me out. Just look at the cover. This character screams "I am uber creepy. You better fear me." So it was no surprise to me when the first real scary / suspenseful scene occurred early on in the novel and that I was on the edge of my seat the whole time... with every little twist and suspenseful bump making me want to hide under the covers. From that scene alone, I knew this was going to be one of those novels that I had to either read in the daylight or at least a few hours before sleep. Now before you get thinking that this book is going to be way too scary for you, I must admit that 1.) I scare pretty easily and 2.) The novel's two scariest scenes (in my opinion) are in the beginning of the novel. The rest of the novel is more suspenseful and mystery based with a few creepy scenes mixed in.

Despite the creepy and scary factor involved, I really enjoyed the novel. The Light is an action packed read that kept me on the edge of my seat. It seemed like the pages flew by as I tried to say one step ahead of Marshall and his mystery. The characters in the novel were quite interesting to me. Marshall reacts in a manner very similar to how I think I would, so his character was very easy to relate to. And while Marshall's character did not have as much character growth as I was hoping for, I realize that this is the first novel in a series so it is possible that readers will see the needed growth in one of the next novels. The secondary characters of Sydney and Cooper were a lot of fun to read about. Sydney is a tough on the outside character. She is sassy, and at times, hilarious. Her character was a wonderful foil to Marshall, and the two of them together made this book an exciting read.

The Light, thankfully, has enough scary / creepy moments to satisfy the horror fans, but not too much to turn off other readers like myself who tend to get scared really easily. The creepiness that MacHale has created sets the mood in the novel perfectly. The Light is a suspenseful gem by giving the reader plenty of little twists. And while every question is not answered or at least mostly explored by the end of the novel, the ending will definitely have readers craving more.

[Kish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Truthfully, I wasn't expecting much from this book, so when I finally picked it up and read it (I'd had it since Christmas), it gave me a pleasant surprise. The main character, Marshall Seaver, is a refreshing protagonist who's into graphic novels, building rockets, and science fiction, even though his best friend Cooper has moved on to chasing girls and occasional criminal activity. Basically, Marshall is a geek and I love it. He's a ball of typically teenage insecurity, as opposed to those heroes who remarkably (unrealistically) always know what they're doing.

Marshall's characterization made the book for me. His friendship with Cooper made a lot of sense, too - don't we all have that friend who seems better than us at everything?

I also enjoyed the supernatural elements of this story, although for me they took a backseat to Marshall's character and back story. The scenes with Marshall alone in his house gave me chills. Some of the later illusions thrown at Marshall by the big baddie seemed a little over the top - think, say, the end of Stephen King's IT, (SPOILER) where the clown is suddenly a giant spider and not nearly as weirdly terrifying (/SPOILER) - but on the whole, the author handled the horror elements well.

One other nitpick: Sydney, Cooper's sister, could have been as great a character as Marshall. Instead she alternated periods of extreme awesome with random bouts of idiocy. In some scenes she seemed a bit dull and unnecessary to the plot, especially toward the end of the book, when she'd stopped antagonizing Marshall completely. By the end of the book she reminded me of, for instance, Megan Fox in Transformers: added in just to be the gorgeous girl at the hero's side. If I'd edited this novel, I would have advised the author to stick to writing guys, which seems to be his forte. If not that, then he should at least have cut out the forced romance between Marshall and Sydney. That relationship only serves to reinforce the idea that men and women cannot possibly be platonic friends, and I was dreading it from the moment I saw it coming.

Anyway, overall this book entertained me. Read it if you want some strong character relationships (Marshall's mostly offscreen friendship with Cooper being my favorite), a few good scares and a protagonist most boys and some girls will readily identify with.