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In the first few pages of the book we get an infodump outlining the Worlds of the book: Originally, when people from the Live World died they moved on to Half World, a sort of Purgatory for working out their spiritual baggage before moving on the live for a time in the Spirit World. (And then they would be reborn into the Live World.) However, something (hand-wavely never explained) broke the connection between the Spirit World, the Living World and the Half World, so that everyone who was in each World at the moment the connection was broken got stuck where they were. In Half World they are reliving their deaths, with greater or lesser time spans between the reliving depending on their strength of will... and somehow they can extend that time also by mutating into monsters (also never explained). Humans still die (the story begins in a world indistinguishable from ours) but instead of going to Half World they are now being immediately reincarnated, which causes more anger and violence because they don't get to work out their stuff. Those who were in the Spirit World at the time things broke can't get back to be reincarnated and apparently are getting steadily more ethereal, possibly to be lost forever if things don't get reintegrated.
The writing was uncomplicated, but did have enough variety in sentence length and structure to give some expression of different levels of intensity and emotion, which I appreciate. However, I felt the whole story suffered from bizarre over-the-top characterizations and speech mannerisms. Why does one character always refer to everyone in the third person? No reason is ever given, it's just one of those mannerisms, intended, I guess, to make her 'distinctive.' The Big Bad Guy is particularly weirdly monstrous and psychotic. In addition I'll grant you I don't know much about mythology but this idea of Half World rang to me as though it had been quickly invented for the story. There are also several points which are not very well explained. How is it that there's a convenient portal from the Living World to the Half World, which seems to be where people need it to be? Why do some animals help our young heroine? When did the link between the worlds get broken, and how? The Half World seems to have a perfectly modern feel to it, so it might have been last Tuesday. And there was rather more gruesomeness than I would have preferred, personally. I felt a bit scarred by so much talk of people's violent deaths, even if they weren't actually dying that moment. I was left wondering why nobody seemed to have died peacefully in their sleep! And then there's the occasional mystical character which seems to exist for no particular purpose, almost as though the author is attempting to create the feeling of a cross-over from other stories.
I awarded points for the main character being non-special, and remaining so all the way through. She's overweight, poor in school and gets bullied really harshly. (I kind of hate those books that try to pass a girl off as unattractive because she's 'too thin.' Yeah, sure.) Her mother disappears one day and the girl is told she has to travel to Half World if she wants to see her mother again.
So, yes, most of the way through I was not a big fan, because I thought the background was unnecessarily hideously gruesome and horrific, but I do realize I'm probably overly sensitive, and undoubtedly more sensitive than the average kid these days. Because, you know, I'm old. (And frankly I read a lot of horrific fantasy stuff when I was young which I think screwed my brain up rather badly, so I'd hate to see that happen to other people.) But I was really pleased and surprised that in fact the main character never develops super-mystical-powers, she remains completely ordinary, doesn't do anything violent, and in fact triumphs through compassion, while it still being an action-packed story. Which was awesome. In fact it's implied that she's not exactly the person that the prophecies refer to, which was amusing to me.
The writing was uncomplicated, but did have enough variety in sentence length and structure to give some expression of different levels of intensity and emotion, which I appreciate. However, I felt the whole story suffered from bizarre over-the-top characterizations and speech mannerisms. Why does one character always refer to everyone in the third person? No reason is ever given, it's just one of those mannerisms, intended, I guess, to make her 'distinctive.' The Big Bad Guy is particularly weirdly monstrous and psychotic. In addition I'll grant you I don't know much about mythology but this idea of Half World rang to me as though it had been quickly invented for the story. There are also several points which are not very well explained. How is it that there's a convenient portal from the Living World to the Half World, which seems to be where people need it to be? Why do some animals help our young heroine? When did the link between the worlds get broken, and how? The Half World seems to have a perfectly modern feel to it, so it might have been last Tuesday. And there was rather more gruesomeness than I would have preferred, personally. I felt a bit scarred by so much talk of people's violent deaths, even if they weren't actually dying that moment. I was left wondering why nobody seemed to have died peacefully in their sleep! And then there's the occasional mystical character which seems to exist for no particular purpose, almost as though the author is attempting to create the feeling of a cross-over from other stories.
I awarded points for the main character being non-special, and remaining so all the way through. She's overweight, poor in school and gets bullied really harshly. (I kind of hate those books that try to pass a girl off as unattractive because she's 'too thin.' Yeah, sure.) Her mother disappears one day and the girl is told she has to travel to Half World if she wants to see her mother again.
So, yes, most of the way through I was not a big fan, because I thought the background was unnecessarily hideously gruesome and horrific, but I do realize I'm probably overly sensitive, and undoubtedly more sensitive than the average kid these days. Because, you know, I'm old. (And frankly I read a lot of horrific fantasy stuff when I was young which I think screwed my brain up rather badly, so I'd hate to see that happen to other people.) But I was really pleased and surprised that in fact the main character never develops super-mystical-powers, she remains completely ordinary, doesn't do anything violent, and in fact triumphs through compassion, while it still being an action-packed story. Which was awesome. In fact it's implied that she's not exactly the person that the prophecies refer to, which was amusing to me.