Kayla Glasgow Glasgow itibaren Gulewo, Polonya
I'm pretty sure this is the first book Brendan ever recommended to me. In the 8th grade. We were 13. Yeah, he's a pretty sick puppy, alright.
*imported from amazon.ca* :D 1.5 stars I feel like somewhat of an intruder, jumping to the fifteenth book of a series without having read any of the previous installments. I'm going to generously assume that that was the reason why this book didn't impress me. Perhaps you need to know Acheron beforehand for his origin story to have any impact on you. And impact is obviously what this author was trying - rather overzealously, I might add - to create, because in this book you're treated to three hundred and fifty pages documenting Acheron's torture, abuse, rape, beatings, and endless emotional trauma of the likes you couldn't imagine. Really, I felt sorry for him at first, but as the horrors continued I grew tired and sickened of it instead. So would you, I hope, if you had to read 350 pages of this (in small print)! It didn't feel sad or horrifying after a while, just unreal. I don't believe that anyone could be so cruel to someone, escpecially not someone in their own family, beating them senseless in the same way over and over. But it ended. Eventually. After his final betrayal by someone he thought loved him, Acheron dies and is reborn a god (As you know). The next chapter of his life, his new life, is titled "TORY." Soteria is the woman who finally earns his complete trust and love, healing him of his past in the process. But this isn't a spoiler. Come on. You knew this was coming, didn't you? Every hero with a tortured past has to have someone who comes along to absolve of his pain and the scars on his heart, right? Anyway, Soteria sticks with Acheron even after finding out who he really is. But it's dangerous. Acheron has enemies. They can and will use this weakness of his to their advantage. Tory's presence leads to the last battle, and the end. See my book tags? In this book the pantheon of the so-called lost city of Atlantis, created by the author, exists alongside the actual gods and goddesses of Ancient Greece, which is what makes this book mythopoeic. I love myth and I appreciate what the author did with Atlantis, so I dropped an extra star in. I borrowed this book from the library, along with two other doorstoppers of similiar subject and higher page number. After reading this, though, I'm not going to be reading them. Not if either of them are anything like this book. I would not recommend this to anyone other than serious fans of this series. It's long and tiring, full of horrible abuse, cussing, sex scenes and awkward holes where commas should be. It was disgusting.
* Ad copy lie: "THE INVASION OF THE HALLUCINOGENIC PEOPLE FROM UNDEREARTH! They had existed from time immemorial, hidden in a space warp far beneath the surface of the earth. Until now, their only form of nourishment had been a strange hallucinogenic grain. Now, they hungered for human flesh. The earth was to be their stockyards and mankind their meat..." Of this, the entire back-cover copy, only the second sentence is not a lie, either outright or by implication. The front cover says, "They came from the Underearth to take over the world." This, too, is a lie by implication. The fact is, this isn't a story about "invasion"--unless a story about a serial killer is a story about war. * What it is, in all probability, is one of the strangest stories you will ever read. It's about the search for protection, safety, and security in a world out of control. Two worlds, actually, each representing a side in St. Clair's perception of the world (or the U.S.) in 1969: the hippies (where else?) underground and the Man (oppressive government) on the surface. Others have said that the story falters in the second half, the half spent above ground. Certainly it does if all St. Clair is interested in is the strangeness of Underearth and the creatures who populate it. But she's after something else, something more. And to her credit, she goes for it, blasting both sides with equal venom. * I mention this only because I think it's worthwhile to stick with the book to the end, and because it's easy not to. What sells the book to the genre fan (and this story contains elements of fantasy, horror, the occult, and even science fiction) is Underearth. Fortunately, this, all by itself, makes the book worthwhile. Yes, it's that weird. But if that's all you're in for, then you'll be left unsatisfied. (Although, in a shadowy, dystopian sort of way, the first half is really a story unto itself, about a guy who's life suddenly spins out of control, gets worse before it gets better, then ultimately spins out of control again.) * Art lie: The cover art has nothing whatsoever to do with the story. Yes, a sword figures in the plot and, yes, it is called "Merlin's sword." But any resemblance to the kind of sword and sorcery conjured up by the artwork is just that superficial. Clearly, given the fact that almost nothing on the covers of this book is true, the publishers (Dell) had little faith in it selling on its own merits. Make of that what you will, but I think it's a shame. For those who enjoy dark fantasy and the occult, I think reading "The Shadow People" is time well spent.
Really good book. Reminded me of why I would never want to be famous.