Summary:
Velveteen, Velvet for short, is dead. She's in Purgatory because she is too young for Heaven or Hell to know what to do with. Purgatory is a little different than what we normal think of. It is separated into areas, like neighborhoods I suppose. The souls are put into an area and then given a job. Velvet is a Salvager. She gets to go grab souls that should be in Purgatory and also deal with banshees. As a Salvager and the team leader for that matter, Velvet has a pretty good status in Purgatory even though she is breaking the rules.
Velvet was killed by a serial killer nicknamed Bonesaw. Obviously, this pissed Velvet off. Unfortunately as a ghost, Velvet can only haunt him. While dreams of gore run through her head, she is reduced to moving his things. Thankfully this is as creepy as one might expect. Velvet has to be careful with her haunting though because this is breaking the number one rule of Purgatory. Thou shalt not haunt!
If the job and haunting was not enough, there are some changes going on in Purgatory. There are more shadow quakes and a group is rising up against how things are run. Velvet, as a leader, is responsible for figuring out what is going on and possibly saving the gray, ashy place she resides.
No YA novel would be complete without a little romance. Nick, Mr. love interest, is a soul that was salvaged by Velvet. Unfortunately for her, he ends up being an employee who is off limits. She plays the "get away from me" line again and again, but you know the two are just meant to be together. Besides, Velvet can't help being a little attracted to him. Love is in the dull air.
My thoughts:
Man the pacing of this story sucks! The first chapter is thrilling, but then it dips down to a rather stalled pace, then it picks back up again about 115 pages in, but then dips again. It is a mixture of exciting and unbelievably long parts. That made this book hard to get through. It is very disappointing because the overall storyline, characters, and world building are done very well.
I generally love character development over all else. Velvet is wonderfully developed. Other than the fact that she is a rather rough character, she is easy to picture and get to know. I understand her underlying motivation and I went through several parts of rooting for her. She is a heroine that is easy to love even though she isn't a sweet girly girl. The fact that she is done so well is the only thing that kept me reading.
The world building within the story is also awesome. Purgatory is an interesting place to be. It is an odd mixture of nothingness and high school. There are definitely certain areas that are more elite than others. Certain jobs are of higher status and there are cliques along with bullying and revolution. Along with this is a lot of description about the drab surroundings. I was intrigued and wouldn't mind reading another story that involved this back drop. The only problem is that some of this description slowed the storyline down.
Overall, I would put this in my high school classroom with an interest on who picks it up. It is a little creepy, gory, and inappropriate for younger ages. I teach juniors and seniors, so I don't think they would have too big of a problem. There are some students that are a little more sensitive to frights than others, so a warning about serial killers and lots of blood may detract for their enjoyment. Plus, this needs to go to a student that gives a book more than a few pages to get into it. If not, they are not likely to finish.
Velveteen, Velvet for short, is dead. She's in Purgatory because she is too young for Heaven or Hell to know what to do with. Purgatory is a little different than what we normal think of. It is separated into areas, like neighborhoods I suppose. The souls are put into an area and then given a job. Velvet is a Salvager. She gets to go grab souls that should be in Purgatory and also deal with banshees. As a Salvager and the team leader for that matter, Velvet has a pretty good status in Purgatory even though she is breaking the rules.
Velvet was killed by a serial killer nicknamed Bonesaw. Obviously, this pissed Velvet off. Unfortunately as a ghost, Velvet can only haunt him. While dreams of gore run through her head, she is reduced to moving his things. Thankfully this is as creepy as one might expect. Velvet has to be careful with her haunting though because this is breaking the number one rule of Purgatory. Thou shalt not haunt!
If the job and haunting was not enough, there are some changes going on in Purgatory. There are more shadow quakes and a group is rising up against how things are run. Velvet, as a leader, is responsible for figuring out what is going on and possibly saving the gray, ashy place she resides.
No YA novel would be complete without a little romance. Nick, Mr. love interest, is a soul that was salvaged by Velvet. Unfortunately for her, he ends up being an employee who is off limits. She plays the "get away from me" line again and again, but you know the two are just meant to be together. Besides, Velvet can't help being a little attracted to him. Love is in the dull air.
My thoughts:
Man the pacing of this story sucks! The first chapter is thrilling, but then it dips down to a rather stalled pace, then it picks back up again about 115 pages in, but then dips again. It is a mixture of exciting and unbelievably long parts. That made this book hard to get through. It is very disappointing because the overall storyline, characters, and world building are done very well.
I generally love character development over all else. Velvet is wonderfully developed. Other than the fact that she is a rather rough character, she is easy to picture and get to know. I understand her underlying motivation and I went through several parts of rooting for her. She is a heroine that is easy to love even though she isn't a sweet girly girl. The fact that she is done so well is the only thing that kept me reading.
The world building within the story is also awesome. Purgatory is an interesting place to be. It is an odd mixture of nothingness and high school. There are definitely certain areas that are more elite than others. Certain jobs are of higher status and there are cliques along with bullying and revolution. Along with this is a lot of description about the drab surroundings. I was intrigued and wouldn't mind reading another story that involved this back drop. The only problem is that some of this description slowed the storyline down.
Overall, I would put this in my high school classroom with an interest on who picks it up. It is a little creepy, gory, and inappropriate for younger ages. I teach juniors and seniors, so I don't think they would have too big of a problem. There are some students that are a little more sensitive to frights than others, so a warning about serial killers and lots of blood may detract for their enjoyment. Plus, this needs to go to a student that gives a book more than a few pages to get into it. If not, they are not likely to finish.
