BYU-Adolescent Literature 420 discussion

Rating: **
Bookshelves: ENGL 420
Status: Read May 27-June 3, 2014
AUTHOR CATEGORY, MEG CABOT

Pierce died for a few minutes at the age of fifteen. After she was revived people thought she was crazy for her memories that she had of the afterlife. While she was there waiting for her boat to take her to her eternal reward, she met a death deity who fell in love with her. When she leaves him behind to return to the land of the living after he gives her a special necklace that will protect her from evil, he wanders between both worlds both to keep her safe and try to get her to return his feelings.

I found this book to be Twilight-esque in many ways. I could have handled that, but the real difficulty for me was that the author spent 21 of the 28 chapters giving background story so the reader could be caught up to where she actually started the story. I fell asleep several times because there wasn't any real progression. The actual story happens over the course of two days, but the rest of the book was spent on the protagonists thoughts and memories of what had gotten her to that point. Then, Pierce mentions several times that she is attracted to John, a death deity, because there is something in his eyes that is wild and reminds her of the animals that she is obsessed with rescuing. I can only hope that the other books in this series are better, but I won't ever find out because I have no desire to continue reading them. I might recommend this book to someone who would like the Twilight books, but a couple years younger. And I would definitely make sure they don't have difficulties with attention because their going to have to work hard to stay interested even without the constant temptation of distraction.

Hi !
Um, maybe it is Twilight-esque, as you say, but in my opinion, I thought it was good. Where I disagree with you, is that the fact the author goes back in time several times is actually an interesting way to write the story. I read a Stephen King's quote once that said “Good books don't give up all their secrets at once.” and that's kind of what Meg Cabot did. For me, it was better to find out the story for almost the hole book then to get it all at the beginning, but that's just my opinion.
For the other books of the series, it's just as Twilight-esque as the first one, but there's surely more romance between Pierce and John, and more action.
And, I just love this series, too bad you think of it that way. Guess each has his own taste ;)