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A review by rereader33
The Call by Peadar Ó Guilín
5.0
So, slight tangent: before starting this book I tried reading The Loneliest Girl in the Universe, which was hyped by every YA critic and appeared on every "anticipated YA summer release" article. I made it 37 pages before I dropped it for various reasons, but the biggest being its lack of suspense. For a thriller novel that relies on its twists, it was embarrassing to me how little suspense there actually was. I say this because The Call, a horror/fantasy YA novel, delivered suspense in spades. I seriously had no clue where the story was going to go, what would happen to the characters, any of it, which is an incredible feat for a horror novel (so many of them rely on gore/scary atmosphere but almost never deliver on the suspense). Okay, rant aside, I want to gush about this novel.
This is easily one of the best books I've read and definitely on route to being the best book I read in 2018. The tension, the suspense, the story, the characters, the world, everything just worked so well. As I said before, the suspense is top notch, and the way he accomplishes this is by demonstrating very early on that anything can happen and no one is safe, no matter their training. Not only did this ratchet up the suspense it also made sense in the context of the world. From the first introduction to the Sidhe, it is clear that they have no compassion, no remorse, no conscience, and an abundance of malice. These creatures may kill there prey, they may not, but one thing is certain-that prey is not leaving The Grey Land without suffering. Since the reader gets to witness multiple characters get Called, thanks to the third person perspective (a clever decision), the reader gets to witness all of the horrors of The Grey Land as well as what awaits the characters. What I appreciated about this, and how it relates back to suspense, was that each character faced a different outcome and these outcomes are what made the novel so suspenseful. Since each character's experience is different, readers don't know what's going to happen next, constantly keeping them on their toes. On the subject of suffering, what became clear to me is what makes this story scary is the fear of suffering. As was mentioned earlier, the Sidhe enjoy making their prey suffer, and thus the prevalent fear isn't simply the fear of death, it's the fear of an agonizing death which so much more weight than a quick death.
Speaking of characters, the character roster for this book was exceptional. Readers experienced a wide range of personalities and opinions, from arrogant Conor to outspoken Megan to strong yet flawed Nessa and even pacifists like Anto. It was also nice to see some diversity in the characters, since it was established early on that instructors and kids from all over Ireland attend this school. Aoife and Emma are lesbians, Bruggers is gay, and while Chuckwu is established as the only dark skinned character, Nabil is French but is hinted at practicing Islam. It was little bits of diversity like these that made the world seem more realistic. Going back to the four characters I previously mentioned, each of these characters impacts the story significantly, and while I will avoid spoilers, I do want to talk about them in greater detail. Conor's character goes through an interesting change throughout the story. At first he appears to be nothing more than a narcissistic bully who prides himself on his abilities as a hunter. His reliance on violence and bravado to win his "knights" loyalty speaks volumes of how he sees human life and his disturbing attraction to Nessa makes him a truly detestable character. As the story progresses, and he is thrown obstacle after obstacle, he turns into a pitiful, shameful person. I won't say anymore for fear of spoiling anything, so let's move on to Megan. Megan, at first, was kind of annoying with how blunt and rude she could be. But what I grew to love about her character was that while Conor invoked fear through physical violence, Megan invoked fear/malice through her words. That isn't to say she isn't a great athlete, because she definitely is, but her trademark wit and sharp tongue is what made her such an appealing character, her strong loyalty and platonic love for Nessa notwithstanding.
As for Nessa, she is the strong female character YA has needed for a while. A girl seen as pitiable because of her polio, but refusing to let it slow her down or hamper her. Her recklessness was a strength and a weakness for her, but her lightening-fast reflexes and physical strength help her out. I love how she hides her feelings from everyone, but when a group of girls (including Megan) show genuine concern for her and want to help her, her mask slips and she accepts their help. She is such an awesome character and easily one of my favorite YA female protagonists of all time. Anto is the story's pacifist in a school designed for hunting and being the hunted. This, however, does not make him out as a weak character and while he eventually begins to fight back it is always for someone else's safety. His romance with Nessa is pure and simple, but it is never given center stage. The Sidhe and surviving the Call are always present and while there may be extended moments of Nessa thinking about Anto, the threat born from the Sidhe are never far behind and tend to overshadow it, which I adore. In a novel like this, romance should play second fiddle to the main plot.
There is so much more I could say, but this review would be 10 pages long. Suffice to say, everyone should read this novel, even if they aren't a fan of YA books. The suspense, the story, the characters, everything about it is just awesome. I adore this book and can't wait to get started on the sequel!
This is easily one of the best books I've read and definitely on route to being the best book I read in 2018. The tension, the suspense, the story, the characters, the world, everything just worked so well. As I said before, the suspense is top notch, and the way he accomplishes this is by demonstrating very early on that anything can happen and no one is safe, no matter their training. Not only did this ratchet up the suspense it also made sense in the context of the world. From the first introduction to the Sidhe, it is clear that they have no compassion, no remorse, no conscience, and an abundance of malice. These creatures may kill there prey, they may not, but one thing is certain-that prey is not leaving The Grey Land without suffering. Since the reader gets to witness multiple characters get Called, thanks to the third person perspective (a clever decision), the reader gets to witness all of the horrors of The Grey Land as well as what awaits the characters. What I appreciated about this, and how it relates back to suspense, was that each character faced a different outcome and these outcomes are what made the novel so suspenseful. Since each character's experience is different, readers don't know what's going to happen next, constantly keeping them on their toes. On the subject of suffering, what became clear to me is what makes this story scary is the fear of suffering. As was mentioned earlier, the Sidhe enjoy making their prey suffer, and thus the prevalent fear isn't simply the fear of death, it's the fear of an agonizing death which so much more weight than a quick death.
Speaking of characters, the character roster for this book was exceptional. Readers experienced a wide range of personalities and opinions, from arrogant Conor to outspoken Megan to strong yet flawed Nessa and even pacifists like Anto. It was also nice to see some diversity in the characters, since it was established early on that instructors and kids from all over Ireland attend this school. Aoife and Emma are lesbians, Bruggers is gay, and while Chuckwu is established as the only dark skinned character, Nabil is French but is hinted at practicing Islam. It was little bits of diversity like these that made the world seem more realistic. Going back to the four characters I previously mentioned, each of these characters impacts the story significantly, and while I will avoid spoilers, I do want to talk about them in greater detail. Conor's character goes through an interesting change throughout the story. At first he appears to be nothing more than a narcissistic bully who prides himself on his abilities as a hunter. His reliance on violence and bravado to win his "knights" loyalty speaks volumes of how he sees human life and his disturbing attraction to Nessa makes him a truly detestable character. As the story progresses, and he is thrown obstacle after obstacle, he turns into a pitiful, shameful person. I won't say anymore for fear of spoiling anything, so let's move on to Megan. Megan, at first, was kind of annoying with how blunt and rude she could be. But what I grew to love about her character was that while Conor invoked fear through physical violence, Megan invoked fear/malice through her words. That isn't to say she isn't a great athlete, because she definitely is, but her trademark wit and sharp tongue is what made her such an appealing character, her strong loyalty and platonic love for Nessa notwithstanding.
As for Nessa, she is the strong female character YA has needed for a while. A girl seen as pitiable because of her polio, but refusing to let it slow her down or hamper her. Her recklessness was a strength and a weakness for her, but her lightening-fast reflexes and physical strength help her out. I love how she hides her feelings from everyone, but when a group of girls (including Megan) show genuine concern for her and want to help her, her mask slips and she accepts their help. She is such an awesome character and easily one of my favorite YA female protagonists of all time. Anto is the story's pacifist in a school designed for hunting and being the hunted. This, however, does not make him out as a weak character and while he eventually begins to fight back it is always for someone else's safety. His romance with Nessa is pure and simple, but it is never given center stage. The Sidhe and surviving the Call are always present and while there may be extended moments of Nessa thinking about Anto, the threat born from the Sidhe are never far behind and tend to overshadow it, which I adore. In a novel like this, romance should play second fiddle to the main plot.
There is so much more I could say, but this review would be 10 pages long. Suffice to say, everyone should read this novel, even if they aren't a fan of YA books. The suspense, the story, the characters, everything about it is just awesome. I adore this book and can't wait to get started on the sequel!