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YA Review: The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

2/20/2012

13 Comments

 
The Book of Blood and Shadow cover
The Book of Blood and Shadow
Author: Robin Wasserman
Publication Date: 4/10/12
Publisher: Random House Children's Books


Blurb(GR):
It was like a nightmare, but there was no waking up.  When the night began, Nora had two best friends and an embarrassingly storybook one true love.  When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands and an echoing scream that stopped only when the tranquilizers pierced her veins and left her in the merciful dark.

But the next morning, it was all still true: Chris was dead.  His girlfriend Adriane, Nora's best friend, was catatonic. And Max, Nora's sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also—according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone—a murderer.

Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora follows the trail of blood, no matter where it leads. It ultimately brings her to the ancient streets of Prague, where she is drawn into a dark web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all driven by a mad desire to possess something that might not even exist. For buried in a centuries-old manuscript is the secret to ultimate knowledge and communion with the divine; it is said that he who controls the Lumen Dei controls the world. Unbeknownst to her, Nora now holds the crucial key to unlocking its secrets. Her night of blood is just one piece in a puzzle that spans continents and centuries. Solving it may be the only way she can save her own life.

Review:
I really enjoyed the beginning of this book.   It’s tense and exhilarating and I felt immediately drawn into the story.  As it opens, the main character Nora is reeling in the aftermath of the gruesome murder of her best friend Chris.   And then we are immediately thrown back into the past, where we get to see just how amazing and complicated Nora's relationship with Chris really was.  Instant grief!  Instant Intrigue!

There’s also a very nice romance between Nora and the quiet, nerdy Max that’s neither simple nor easy. 

“Max, on the other hand, was hard.  Convoluted and cloudy, full of things I wasn’t supposed to ask and places I knew better than to go.  With Max, I didn’t have to pretend.”

Now that’s what I’m talking about.

Nora is a sympathetic, down to earth voice of reason, even as the plot of this book becomes more and more farfetched. She’s funny and dry, but she has a lot of understandably tender areas.  Her grief is dealt with beautifully and never feels superficial.

“I had a copy of the photo tacked to the wall by my bed, and I had to leave it there, because it was a piece of him.  That’s what death did – it turned trash into talismans.  A CD he’d burned, a notebook he’d doodled in, a sweatshirt he’d worn: holy relics.”

The mysteries, while creepy and compelling to begin with, soon become convoluted and silly.  The historical mystery centers on a manuscript that’s been studied and obsessed over for centuries by various scholars and fanatics, who have all failed to decipher it.  Enter Nora, with her minor fluency in Latin, and a small group of undergrads and 
voilà!, suddenly it’s all being solved.  Granted, there is an attempt to explain this later with a little “The Matrix”-type logic. But it’s still incredibly hard to believe.

The clues themselves are “hidden” in locations that it’s impossible to believe would remain undisturbed for centuries.  For example, the first clue has been sewn into the lining of one of the obsessed-over books.  Really?  No one ever thought to x-ray the book or examine it further?  It takes Nora about two minutes to dig it out.  They’ve all also been conveniently left behind in parts of the world left untouched by development – so mass disasters, wars, new construction, and even just every day wear and tear are not issues.  They are in code. Nora’s up-until-then completely absent Dad pops in randomly to solve the first one, and then fades back into non-existence.  The codes are something like this:

In the third hour of the third day of the third year of the new millennium, I wrote this poem. THIRD. 

I LIVE HERE IN A SPRAY TAN BOX OF ION SKIES.

Whoever solves this wins a prize!*

So, okay maybe Nora's codes are also in Latin.  But still...would something like that really stump scholars for centuries?  And there are so many other absurdities in this story.  I mean, just as a hypothetical scenario...which may or may not have anything to do with this book…

If your best friend were murdered, and it turned out that a mysterious group of fanatical killers were to blame; if they were coming after you next; if the thing they wanted most was a dangerous, powerful machine…do you think the best option would be to track down every element of said machine for them and hand it over
for their use in the tiny, foolish hope that they’d leave you alone after that?  Just because it worked in Mission:Impossible doesn’t make it a good idea.

And in a related and equally hypothetical scenario…

If a boy arrived out of the blue, claiming to be the cousin of your best friend (even you admit that they look nothing alike); if that boy started showing up wherever you were – at your dorm room, at your brother’s grave, on your school trip…
TO FRANCE; if you caught him in obvious lies several times; if he were conveniently fluent in several obscure languages and could beat off six armed men with a knife…would you trust this boy?  With your life?  Admittedly, he does have a “strange comfort in his voice”, so you know.

There are a few interesting questions raised by this book about faith vs. knowledge – Is it better to believe something without evidence or to demand proof?   But none of them are really explored any further than the initial asking.  The ending is confusing and frenetic, with “twists” that I saw coming a mile away and a bunch of loose ends that feel ham-fistedly tied together into sloppy knots.  I really wonder if this was initially planned as a series, and then hastily converted into a stand-alone.

Perfect Musical Pairing
Underworld – Born Slippy

This song is so mellow and gorgeous at the beginning, with a slowly building tension that evolves into a full-on techno dance fest right around 1:16.  By the end it’s almost unrecognizable (especially if you have the super long 9 minute version).  At least with this song, you can just turn out your lights, break out your glow sticks and shout LAGER LAGER LAGER while pretending you’re back in the 90’s.  I don’t want to give away too much about the ending of this book, but it’s hard to dance to melting human flesh.


*The prize is knowing that you’re a smarty pants!!

2/5 Stars 
Readventurer C Signature
13 Comments
jowearsoldcoats link
2/19/2012 11:26:50 pm

<i>If a boy arrived out of the blue, claiming to be the cousin of your best friend (even you admit that they look nothing alike); if that boy started showing up wherever you were – at your dorm room, at your brother’s grave, on your school trip…TO FRANCE; if you caught him in obvious lies several times; if he were conveniently fluent in several obscure languages and could beat off six armed men with a knife…would you trust this boy?</i>

Catie, you forget... this boy was SMOKING HOT so of course you would.
Mmm, I've missed Eli.

LOL, I love this review. So funny and so true. I think I liked this one a bit more than you but I can see exactly what you mean.

Anyway, what am I still doing here? I'm off to have a rave with some dirty numb angel boys from Romford.

Reply
Tatiana (The Readventurer) link
2/19/2012 11:44:40 pm

I was 100% sure it was a series! It is not? (IDK why I care so much.)

Reply
Catie (The Readventurer) link
2/19/2012 11:56:32 pm

Ha, enjoy your rave! (Do they still exist? Are they called something else now?)

It was the tweety bird boxer shorts that got you, wasn't it.

Tatiana - it seemed pretty wrapped up at the end, but who knows? Maybe it IS a series. I looked around the internet and couldn't find out (she has surprisingly little information about this book on her blog!).

Reply
Missie, The Unread Reader link
2/20/2012 01:01:21 am

Strange comfort in the voice of a stranger with that much talent always gets me to trust him. No lie.

And those scholars apparently didn't go to the same high school as Nora. I will no longer believe the rants that they educational system is failing.

Reply
Catie (The Readventurer) link
2/20/2012 03:35:43 am

Ha! Then I think you will adore Eli, Missie. Even I have to admit that, even as I was hoping that Nora would wise up and stop trusting him, I was swooning. A teensy bit. I'm only human!

Reply
Maja
2/20/2012 01:27:18 am

"would you trust this boy? With your life? Admittedly, he does have a “strange comfort in his voice”, so you know."

I'm with Jo on this one. Does he have tousled hair and a crooked smile?

I'm starting this tomorrow, I think. So far, all the reviews I've read have been positive. I do hope I'll like it, but somehow, after reading your review, I'm not so sure I will.

The other cover is mesmerizing, though, right? the UK one.

Reply
Catie (The Readventurer) link
2/20/2012 03:38:30 am

I hope you love it Maja. I look forward to seeing your review. There are actually THREE swoony guys in this book, so you should keep your options open. Eli is nice, but...I have to admit that I'm kind of a Max fan. I'm just going to disregard everything that happens in the second half of the book on that one though.

I haven't seen the UK cover!

Reply
Sam @ Realm of Fiction link
2/20/2012 01:38:11 am

I liked Eli! ;) Though admittedly the only other guy present for me to compare him to after Chris died was Max. Who I found just plain strange.

I gave this book a 4 myself, but I guess I do understand what you mean about the far-fetched plot. It was definitely a bizarre one, especially closer to the end of the book.

Reply
Heidi link
2/20/2012 01:51:27 am

This book sounds interesting but I think I would have trouble with the far fetched aspects you mentioned. I have been trying to decide whether to request this or not and I think I will pass. Thanks for your extensive and honest review.

Reply
VeganYANerds link
2/20/2012 04:45:16 am

I just got my copy of this book, I ordered it because a friend said it was awesome but now I'm a bit worried about reading it!

Reply
Catie (The Readventurer) link
2/20/2012 08:40:00 am

I have a few friends that really enjoyed it! You should check out the reviews of Sam (Realm of Fiction) and Jo (Wear The Old Coat).

Reply
Rachel
2/21/2012 04:12:57 am

Sorry you didn't care for this one Catie. Is it funny that your review kind of makes me want to read this more? I'm with Maja, if he has tousled hair and a crooked smile. :)

I originally read Sam's review which made me want this but I didn't see Jo's review on this, I'll have to check it out. :)

Reply
Stepping Out of the Page link
2/22/2012 12:50:32 am

Love this review! It's a shame you didn't like this one more, I have this one waiting on my shelf for me. Hopefully I'll enjoy it, though - I LOVE Born Slippy, so maybe I'll like the book. ;)

Reply



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