Sunday 14 October 2012

Review: Blackwood


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Title: Blackwood
Author: Gwenda Bond
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Publication date: UK - 6th September 2012 | US - 4th September 2012
Format: Paperback - 352 pages
Genre: YA - Paranormal


On Roanoke Island, the legend of the 114 people who mysteriously vanished from the Lost Colony hundreds of years ago is just a story for the tourists. But when the island faces the sudden disappearance of 114 people right now, an unlikely pair of 17 year-olds maybe the only hope of bringing them back.

Miranda, a misfit girl from the island's most infamous family, and Phillips, an exiled teen criminal who hears the voices of the dead, must dodge everyone from federal agents to long-dead alchemists as they work to uncover the secrets of the new Lost Colony. The one thing they can't dodge is each other.


My thoughts:

For me this was one of those reads that were clearly divided with each half of the book. I didn't enjoy the last half as much as I did the first.

From the first page I started to really enjoy the writing style of Bond. The story started off with this really creepy feel to it and it carried on that way for a good while - it was such a great read. The island has this amazing description and the characters are introduced, both of them seeming to be great. The first of the evil happenings were really intense and captivating. I desperately wanted to know what was going on and getting seriously excited to find out at the end.

The characters were also really great to start off with. Miranda has a little fight to her and questions everything whereas Phillips is a little bit of a bad boy with a self-made reputation. During the second half of the book I started to get really tired of them though. Thinking back I felt that they weren't developing and changing in the little ways characters are supposed to. I can't read three hundred pages of characters who remain the same throughout.

The second half of the book was disappointing simply because it was incredibly underwhelming. I was so excited for the explanations to be revealed and when they were I was really unenthusiastic. It became a lot of effort to pick this book back up towards the end so I ended up dragging it out even longer. 

I did enjoy the first half so this book does have it's really good moments but the ending just kind of throws it all away.

My rating: 5/10

Gwenda Bond:





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