SPOILER ALERT !!!!!
The writing was very engaging and kudos to the author for keeping the book interesting and quite well written. I didn't skip any pg even if the switched at birth sister 2 that lived with the humans was very 2 dimensional.
The story did had a few issues though. If all the ghosts have to look forward to is wandering aimlessly until their souls fracture and evaporate, and joint the earth to be recycled, why would anyone want that in the first place, or ever be willing to go back to it? Not exactly any kind of afterlife to speak of. Though philosophically it voiced that what many people think is a real possibility. We r a part of something bigger. We impart our experiences and r recycled.
Japanese Shinto religion didn't seem to have an afterlife of any good sort. Sora was so frightened of death because she experienced it briefly and felt what would happen to her spiritâit would have no place and would eventually fragment so she would be lost. The only people who got a reward after dying were the ones whose souls the kami put into other beings so they could continue to live in some fashion. There's nothing there for her or any other human to look forward to, nothing to enjoy or value.
Next question: Why and HOW did Omori turn into a demon able to lend his power to other ghosts? WHERE did his power come from? I got why he became a demonâbecause of the way his family died. But how did that translate into his being a gateway to call other ghosts back? No other creature, deamon or mini god had been able to do that.
Only the End-Ending... the ending was so ummmm cheap? I mean the crescendo was working up to.... WHAT? The Sage first claims a girl of great power will save all. And insists its the REAL DAUGHTER and basically kicks the human living 18 yrs on the mountain out as worthless trash. Then she sees things go south and re-evaluates that it could be the human saving their buts. Then she amends, that she really dont know and water cleanness all. (Water doesnt show at all.) Human daughter walks up to mountain and tells the bad-ass-mafia-boss (now all-powerfull-unbeatable-super-deamon) his wifey and kiddos love him and he goes all soft, walks down from the mountain Palace in front of the Magical Daughter kneels and and begs her to dispatch him (kill him). End. But I must say it is true... I did not see it coming. but WTH
Other then this the book is really wonderful read. Even with this ending 3 stars.Would have given 5 if the ending was more creative).
The writing was very engaging and kudos to the author for keeping the book interesting and quite well written. I didn't skip any pg even if the switched at birth sister 2 that lived with the humans was very 2 dimensional.
The story did had a few issues though. If all the ghosts have to look forward to is wandering aimlessly until their souls fracture and evaporate, and joint the earth to be recycled, why would anyone want that in the first place, or ever be willing to go back to it? Not exactly any kind of afterlife to speak of. Though philosophically it voiced that what many people think is a real possibility. We r a part of something bigger. We impart our experiences and r recycled.
Japanese Shinto religion didn't seem to have an afterlife of any good sort. Sora was so frightened of death because she experienced it briefly and felt what would happen to her spiritâit would have no place and would eventually fragment so she would be lost. The only people who got a reward after dying were the ones whose souls the kami put into other beings so they could continue to live in some fashion. There's nothing there for her or any other human to look forward to, nothing to enjoy or value.
Next question: Why and HOW did Omori turn into a demon able to lend his power to other ghosts? WHERE did his power come from? I got why he became a demonâbecause of the way his family died. But how did that translate into his being a gateway to call other ghosts back? No other creature, deamon or mini god had been able to do that.
Only the End-Ending... the ending was so ummmm cheap? I mean the crescendo was working up to.... WHAT? The Sage first claims a girl of great power will save all. And insists its the REAL DAUGHTER and basically kicks the human living 18 yrs on the mountain out as worthless trash. Then she sees things go south and re-evaluates that it could be the human saving their buts. Then she amends, that she really dont know and water cleanness all. (Water doesnt show at all.) Human daughter walks up to mountain and tells the bad-ass-mafia-boss (now all-powerfull-unbeatable-super-deamon) his wifey and kiddos love him and he goes all soft, walks down from the mountain Palace in front of the Magical Daughter kneels and and begs her to dispatch him (kill him). End. But I must say it is true... I did not see it coming. but WTH
Other then this the book is really wonderful read. Even with this ending 3 stars.Would have given 5 if the ending was more creative).
I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
"Being human, the answers aren't obvious. You have to choose whether you do the difficult thing or the easy thing. It takes a lot more courage to do the difficult thing you don't have to do, that scares you, than to just...follow what you automatically know to do." This was my favorite quote from the book.
This book caught my attention early on, and was unlike any other young adult novel that I have read so far. It was nice to read a book for a change where it was difficult to think of other books that would seem to appear to have a similar plot line. The author does a wonderful job at describing the settings in order for you to visually imagine yourself witnessing the events first hand. The character development of the main character (Sora), in particular, was a wonderful thing to read. She experiences emotions that all readers can relate to in some capacity: fear, bravery, self-doubt, love, etc.
The reason why I decided to give this book a 4 star rating instead of 5 stars is because of the ending. I felt like it was very rushed. The characters spent most of the book searching for certain items in order to defeat evil, and the final battle seemed to just end in a way that I wasn't expecting. I wanted it to last a little bit longer, and be a little bit more intense. But overall, it was a really wonderful read and I would recommend it to anyone that loves to read young adult novels and is looking to read something that's a little bit outside of the normal young adult novel box. It's filled with plenty of action and plot twists to keep the reader interested throughout the book.
"Being human, the answers aren't obvious. You have to choose whether you do the difficult thing or the easy thing. It takes a lot more courage to do the difficult thing you don't have to do, that scares you, than to just...follow what you automatically know to do." This was my favorite quote from the book.
This book caught my attention early on, and was unlike any other young adult novel that I have read so far. It was nice to read a book for a change where it was difficult to think of other books that would seem to appear to have a similar plot line. The author does a wonderful job at describing the settings in order for you to visually imagine yourself witnessing the events first hand. The character development of the main character (Sora), in particular, was a wonderful thing to read. She experiences emotions that all readers can relate to in some capacity: fear, bravery, self-doubt, love, etc.
The reason why I decided to give this book a 4 star rating instead of 5 stars is because of the ending. I felt like it was very rushed. The characters spent most of the book searching for certain items in order to defeat evil, and the final battle seemed to just end in a way that I wasn't expecting. I wanted it to last a little bit longer, and be a little bit more intense. But overall, it was a really wonderful read and I would recommend it to anyone that loves to read young adult novels and is looking to read something that's a little bit outside of the normal young adult novel box. It's filled with plenty of action and plot twists to keep the reader interested throughout the book.
