Meridian Book Review

Book: Meridian

Authoress:

Amber Kizer

Pages:

305

(Hardcover)

Genre:

Young Adult

Fiction

My condensed version:

An accident on her sixteenth birthday gets Meridian pulled away from her family and bused to a great-aunt she has never met. She awakens to learn she is a Fenestra (half human half angel that ushers the dead into the light).

Can and will she make peace with her fate?

What is her great-aunt keeping from her?

Why does her "sworn protector" Tens dislike her so much?

But most importantly why is she being haunted?

My take: This is dark done right. From the moment I removed this book from the package and read the first page I was unable to put to put it down. Death in all her complexities is a main captivating character in this tale. This a story of good versus evil and the never ending battle between the light and the dark.

My rating: 5 stars; I loved this book. It was thought provoking, fast paced, and well-written. While the subject matter is dim, the resolution is full of light and leaves the reader anxious for part 2.

3 for 3:

Characters: Intriguing secretive unusual

Plot: Enthralling quick paced
Writing: Beautiful multi-leveled

The Meter Readings:

Adventure-o-meter: High. Meridian seems to spend the entire novel in a race against time and darkness.

Kiddie-o-meter: While there is no sex there is a couple of strong curse words. It is also important to note that one of the central characters in this novel is a false prophet who abuses religion and the bible to control the people. After carefully reading and scrutinizing this aspect of the book I strongly believe that the authoress handles this subject matter rather tactfully and clearly states (on page 222) that the issue in the story is not Christianity but false prophecy. Later on in the story a woman of strong faith is brought back and the reader is made aware that angels and goodness are never far away.

Adult-o-meter: Great for adults that appreciates magical realism but require a strong captivating story.

Love the love?: Yes! I am officially adding Ten to my list of literary crushes. He is tender, loving, patient, respectful, protective, and doting. I found my self not wanting to let Ten go.

Worth-a-read?: Most definitely.

Quotables:

"Visions of Buffy danced in my head. I couldn't imagine myself in cute outfits battling demons. That wasn't on my list of things to do before graduating high school. High school - do I get to go back?"

"My heart stuttered and I reminded myself to breathe. Tens towered like one of those black-and-white movie stars - a gangster, dangerous, possessive."

Noteable: To have your name acknowledged in an upcoming novel be sure to visit the author's web site for a very interesting contest. Contest ends September 30th so if you are interested please do not delay.

Pass the mic: Reading Rocks called this book, "impossible to put down." I could not agree more.

Shout-out: I wanted to thank Kim at The Book Butterfly for the awesome contest that made this review possible. Make sure to visit Kim's interview with Amber Kizer.

A gigantic thanks to Amber Kizer for my beautiful book and the following bookmarks.

Freebies:

The first 3 people to tell me the name of Meridian's great-aunt receive a free Meridian paper bookmark signed by the author her self. Please make sure to leave me your email address.

My final say: If they were making a movie from this book I wonder which actor I would select to play Ten?