Mundie Moms

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Book Review: The Shattering


To Be Released on: September 5th, 2011
Source: ARC from publisher to review
2.5 stars- I Wanted To Like It More Than I Did
Purchase from: Amazon

Seventeen-year-old Keri likes to plan for every possibility. She knows what to do if you break an arm, or get caught in an earthquake or fire. But she wasn't prepared for her brother's suicide, and his death has left her shattered with grief. When her childhood friend Janna tells her it was murder, not suicide, Keri wants to believe her. After all, Janna's brother died under similar circumstances years ago, and Janna insists a visiting tourist, Sione, who also lost a brother to apparent suicide that year, has helped her find some answers.

As the three dig deeper, disturbing facts begin to pile up: one boy killed every year; all older brothers; all had spent New Year's Eve in the idyllic town of Summerton. But when their search for the serial killer takes an unexpected turn, suspicion is cast on those they trust the most.As secrets shatter around them, can they save the next victim? Or will they become victims themselves?

A dark, intense book that blends reality and dark magic to create a story that is at times horrifying and other times relatable. The Shattering is a story that explores the lives of three teens from New Zealand whom are all coping with the loss of their older brothers who have supposedly died from committing suicide. I say supposedly, because that's what it's suppose to appear like, but for the teens who's siblings died, they know that's the furthest thing from the truth.

I liked that Karen wrote a story from three different points of views, and that all three of the characters are brought together to solve the mystery behind the deaths of their loved ones. In working secretly together, not only do Keri, Janna and Sione start to form strong relationships, but they try to piece together the overlooked evidence to find out what really happened to their brothers. One of the things I admired about the three characters is they're are not afraid to ask questions or to find their answers. This is definitely a hard subject to tackle and Karen has three great characters she uses to do so.

I loved the setting. I've always wanted to visit New Zealand and now I feel like I've gotten to have a little peak into this beautiful, vast country. Karen even includes some of her story's terminology at the end of the book, which I found to be extremely helpful. Karen incorporates a few different elements into her storyline with her folklore, murder-mystery, suspense, a little bit of romance, and a dash of humor, and then gives it's a twists by adding a paranormal element like magic to it. This isn't just any magic, it's dark magic.

Even though I loved the setting and enjoyed getting to know the characters, I struggled with the book itself. I had such a hard time with the flow of the book and the over all plot line. I couldn't get into the story like I had hoped to at all, and there's not one exact thing I can point to to say why. In the end The Shattering ended up being a book that wasn't my cup of tea, but I think it's one a lot of fans of Karen's will enjoy. This is a book I'd definitely recommend to older YA readers. There's a lot of themes discussed or mentioned through out the book, some of which are suicide, racism, and bullying that may be sensitive to younger readers.

I commend Karen for including a letter at the very end of her book to her readers about suicide prevention and along with hot line numbers. I really admire authors who are going above and beyond to reach out to their readers.

3 comments:

  1. I have also always wanted to visit New Zealand. I will keep this in mind, but may not rush to read it right away.

    Andrea @ Reading Lark

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  2. Me too! I hear it's beautiful. I am more than happy to send you the ARC if you want to read it. I feel bad I didn't enjoy it like I had hoped to. I was so excited to read the book too.

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  3. This sounds really interesting if not perfect. It's something that calls to me though seems really intense for eight now. Wish it had done more for you. :0/

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