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A review by thewallflower00
Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler
2.0
This book is really short, more like a novella. Nonetheless, I love the concept. Death calls upon a teenage girl with anorexia to be Famine, one of the horsemen of the apocalypse. It's something I should have thought of. I like the parts that seem real for anorexics -- constant calorie calculation, excessive exercise, obsession with what she eats (to a point where it starts to interfere with the narrative), and denial.
But I was a little sad that, despite being a horseman... horsewoman of the apocalypse, there is no apocalypse. And I'm not sure what her purpose in being Famine was. One says her job is to spread chaos, another indicates she's supposed to pave the way for War, to work in tandem with Pestilence. Or is she supposed to eliminate hunger?
In fact, that's what she does, once she starts to understand it, to feel the joy that satisfied hunger brings, making her stint seem pointless pandering to dark fantasy nerds. The four horsemen stuff is kinda what I came here for, so it was disappointing that most of it was about the girl and her horse. There are other books in the series though.
And they don't wrap up nice and tight either. Her disease is still there after the climax and she seeks help. I think the author did a good job and gave me what I wanted -- a plausible portrayal of an eating disorder + a little dark fantasy.
But I was a little sad that, despite being a horseman... horsewoman of the apocalypse, there is no apocalypse. And I'm not sure what her purpose in being Famine was. One says her job is to spread chaos, another indicates she's supposed to pave the way for War, to work in tandem with Pestilence. Or is she supposed to eliminate hunger?
In fact, that's what she does, once she starts to understand it, to feel the joy that satisfied hunger brings, making her stint seem pointless pandering to dark fantasy nerds. The four horsemen stuff is kinda what I came here for, so it was disappointing that most of it was about the girl and her horse. There are other books in the series though.
And they don't wrap up nice and tight either. Her disease is still there after the climax and she seeks help. I think the author did a good job and gave me what I wanted -- a plausible portrayal of an eating disorder + a little dark fantasy.