Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Publisher: Roaring Books
Released: Originally, Oct 2, 2014
The Hook: If I’m being honest, the cover. Yep.
As mentioned, the cover totally reeled me in. Followed closely by the title. The Ghosts of Heaven. Tell me that doesn’t intrigue you.
When I read the back cover I became a bit unsure. Four separate, yet connected, stories told in four different eras intrigued me yet concerned me. I’m not one to like books that follows three or more different plots and characters.
I don’t know if I can clarify this statement and I know it may have confused people, but that will take another post so, I’m going to leave it at that.
Anyway, these four different, yet connected, stories can be read in any order and the overall story will make sense. So I decided to be dating and read the fourth story first, The Song of Destiny. I liked it, more or less. The mystery behind it and that ending. Wow. But I didn’t love it. In fact, after reading it I felt myself thinking, “you know what kind of books you like and you know which ones you don’t, so why?”
I wanted to be a trooper. I wanted to continue on. So I skipped over to the second story. I thought I’d like it. Someone accused of witch craft? My kind of story … except that it wasn’t. I couldn’t get myself interest enough to continue. I tried. I really did!
But in the end, I gave up. Whether it’s because it caused my brain to lock up, thinking about spirals and how time isn’t linear or if it was just the presentation, I just couldn’t finish it. I admit defeat.
It’s not for everyone, this story. Another reader, who loved it, compared the book to Cloud Atlas and acknowledge the same thing I just did, that it won’t be for everyone. And I didn’t like Cloud Atlas.
I may pick this up one day in the future because I like the concept and the idea of where the story is heading. I’m not a fan of multi-character plot lines (if that’s what they’re called) or short stories and this book seems to have both. So I say if you like Cloud Atlas and like short stories, go for it!