Book Thoughts: Breath

Title: Breath
Author: Jackie Morse Kessler
Series: Riders of the Apocalypse #4

I am just not quite sure how to feel about this book.

I like Xander; I thought he was better developed as a character than the previous protagonist, Billy. And I LOVED getting to spend time with Death as the protagonist. Seeing the character of Death develop was super cool and I love the way Kessler handled his backstory.

I also really enjoyed seeing the other Riders again. As a conclusion to the series, BREATH is absolutely what it needed to be.

I just didn't quite like Xander's story. Riley is never referred to by a pronoun, so it's always "Riley pushed Riley's hair behind Riley's ear" (that is NOT an actual quote, just a condensed example), and I didn't quite follow where the whole Baby Lex thing came from. The story with Riley made perfect sense in light of the plot twist, but Lex just didn't. And the twist just sort of felt like a cop-out, I dunno.

I think what I'm getting at is this: I love Xander's character and I liked his story (not his ending), but I thought the novel would have worked better had it focused solely on Death and the Riders without bringing Xander into it. But it's still definitely a worthy conclusion to the series and absolutely worth reading for Death's story.

Book Thoughts: Loss

Title: Loss
Author: Jackie Morse Kessler
Series: Riders of the Apocalypse #3

Billy Ballard is the local punching bag, the kid everyone picks on, the boy who never fights back. He keeps his head down at school, cares for his Alzheimer's-afflicted grandfather, and generally hates his life. He also has nightmares about the "Ice Cream Man" -- nightmares that are about to become all too real, when Death himself shows up on Billy's doorway and hands him the Bow of Pestilence.

I really enjoyed the story here -- the idea of Pestilence having been so disenchanted with and maddened by his job that he tricks little Billy, who must now at fifteen go get him back. It's a change from the previous two books; although I enjoyed both of them, the story arcs were very similar, and this one takes a slightly different tack.

I also really love the way Kessler puts words together. I love that she's putting out such a vehement anti-bullying message, and I love that she's donating proceeds from this novel to Alzheimer's research. It was a fun story and a good continuation of the series.

But Billy felt kind of flat to me. He's the school punching bag, sure, but there are references to bringing home good grades and slight hints that he's into music that could have helped him be so much more rounded as a character. There are vague indications that he has a personality besides "bullying victim," but that's the only part that's really developed. And while I think the message about standing up to bullies is incredibly important, I think it's also important to acknowledge that there is more to a person than just being bullied.

So I don't know. I definitely liked the book, but there were also things that I thought could have been better. I'm still going to look for book four for sure, but I'm not going to say LOSS is my favorite in the series.

Book Thoughts: Rage

Title: Rage
Author: Jackie Morse Kessler
Series: Riders of the Apocalypse #2

I liked this one so much more than the first book in the series. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the first book, but I liked this one so much more. The characters seemed to have a whole new depth and Missy's internal struggle with War was just wow.

There were moments where I had to wonder whether high school students are really so cruel to each other -- peeing on her gym bag, really? My high school experience was vastly different and while there was bullying, it was much more subtle. Still, exaggerated situations aside, I felt like Missy's struggle was very real and portrayed beautifully. Ms. Kessler has a way with words.

Melissa Miller is such a great character. I loved that she was so involved with the soccer team; so many times, self-injurers in teen fiction are portrayed as having nothing at all except cutting, and Missy's not like that. She is more than a cutter, she's a person who cuts. And placing that in the fantastical context of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse made it that much easier to understand.

You don't have to read Hunger before this one (although that's the order they were written in); this one stands perfectly well on its own. But once you read this one, you'll want to read more of Ms. Kessler's writing. And if you weren't a fan of Hunger, read this one anyway. So good!

Book Thoughts: Rage

Title: Hunger
Author: Jackie Morse Kessler
Series: Riders of the Apocalypse #1

This review is a hard one for me to write. I had a lot of problems with this book, but at the same time I thought it had a really interesting premise and I loved Jackie Morse Kessler's writing style. The idea behind the story is simple enough: Lisa is anorexic, depressed, and one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Three pills into her suicide attempt, Death shows up at her front door and hands her the role of Famine. Lisa doesn't know how to handle the new job, especially not with all the pressure from her family and her boyfriend and her ex-best friend, but maybe, just maybe, it will teach her some important lessons.

My main objection to Hunger was at the very beginning. When Death shows up to hand her the Scales that are the symbol of the office of Famine, Lisa is three pills into a suicide attempt. He says a couple of weird sentences, hands her some scales, and leaves. Lisa decides that she is hallucinating (and fat), but says "At least I'm not depressed anymore." Not right-this-second suicidal I can understand. To be so torn up as to be in the middle of a suicide attempt and then decide after a brief interruption that she's not at all depressed anymore? It didn't seem realistic. At all.

My other problem was the characterization of Lisa and her friends. All we really know about Lisa is that she's anorexic. Everything we see about her character is directly related to anorexia. We don't know who she is as a person, we know who she is as an anorexic girl. By the end, we do see a few of her character traits, but it's still mostly about her anorexia. Tammy is just the bulimic friend. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the way that subject was handled, but all we know about Tammy is that she's bulimic. The relationships with James and Suzanne are more interesting, but we don't know really anything about them, either.

That aside, I loved Jackie Morse Kessler's writing style, and the concept was really cool. Death was my favorite character by far, and it was interesting to see the way Lisa's role as Famine affected her personal life and vice versa. Despite my initial problems with the characters, I did enjoy the book and will most likely read the second one when it comes out. Hunger is not a book that I'm going to press into someone's hands and say "Read this!" but I do think it makes a good read.