Written by: Craig Staufenberg
# of pages: 163
My Rating: 2.5/5
Release Date: April 16, 2014
Read in September 2014
Summary according to goodreads
When you die, your spirit wakes in the north, in the City of the Dead. There, you wander the cold until one of your living loved ones finds you, says "Goodbye," and Sends you to the next world.
After her parents die, 12-year-old Sophie refuses to release their spirits. Instead, she resolves to travel to the City of the Dead to bring her mother and father's spirits back home with her.
Taking the long pilgrimage north with her gruff & distant grandmother-by train, by foot, by boat; over ruined mountains and plains and oceans-Sophie struggles to return what death stole from her. Yet the journey offers her many hard, unexpected lessons-what to hold on to, when to let go, and who she must truly bring back to life.
My Thoughts
I received a copy of this book to review as part of a blog tour, but that does not affect my opinion.
Since this was such a short novel there is not much that I can say about it, but it was a very quick read with an interesting writing style. The short chapters helped it to go by very quickly, but unfortunately I never got sucked into the story. I had expected it to have a smidge of creepiness, but I was wrong. If anything this novel is more of a coming of age story, with some character development thrown in.
Sophie was an interesting character to read as she didn't have a lot of dialogue, but although she is young, she is very smart. She is also a very determined and independent young girl, who knew what she wanted and how she was going to do it.
Unfortunately, I didn't feel connected to any of the characters, nor did I feel any emotions towards Sophie and her journey. This novel is told from a third-person point of view, so as a read you never knew what Sophie or her grandmother were really feeling. I think if we had been able to see these characters open up more, I would have enjoyed it more than I did.
I can't say who I would recommend it to because I think it varies based on reader, so if the synopsis sounds interesting to you then you should pick it up. If you do read it, make sure you let me know what you think!
