Book Nerds Across America

My Loss poster, signed by Jackie!

We were lucky enough to be a part of the Loss blog tour last month. I finished reading the book shortly after, and finally -- here's my review!

Loss is a little different from the previous two books, Hunger and Rage, in Jackie's Riders of the Apocalyse series. Now that we are three books in, the faithful readers know the pattern. If Loss had followed suit, it would have involved a teenager who was living with a disease. Death would come and invite him to be Pestilence, the Rider of the Apocalyse, and then he would go out into the night learning how to use his powers for good.

But Loss didn't follow suit, and I applaud Jackie for that. The main character, Billy Ballard, was not suffering from a disease. He was being horribly bullied. And he was taking care of his grandfather who was suffering from Alzheimer's. There is already a Pestilence, Rider of the Apocalyse -- but instead of doing his job, Pestilence has gotten it into his head that if he doesn't ride then the Apocalypse won't happen. So he puts his physical self into a coma and hides in a memory. It's a good plan -- because he hasn't given up his title, Death can't actually get to him. That's where Billy comes into play. I won't go into the details why here, but suffice it to say that Death needs Billy to go get Pestilence and convince him to ride.

One thing I really liked about this book was all the talk about balance. I am sure it is mentioned in the other books, but it was really emphasized in this one. So, all of our teen Riders are not just going about wreaking havoc to usher in the Apocalypse-- they are helping to keep the world balanced so it can survive.

This book was a little hard to get into at times -- I felt the section where Billy went into the White got a little long-winded and repetitive. But, as always, Jackie's characters delivered some great one-liners and I really enjoyed the final showdown between Billy and the White Rider. And Breath -- Death's story -- is coming next. The final Rider of the Apocalypse. Oh, I cannot wait for Breath!

My review of the Riders of the Apocalypse series:
Hunger
Rage
Loss Blog Tour post

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are back again! This time the story focuses around Missy Miller, a teen cutter who takes up the steed of War. I was lucky enough to win Rage from the publisher awhile back, but I wanted to read Hunger, the first book in the series, before I took this one on. For those who are not familiar with these books, Jackie Morse Kessler has created modern teen characters who become the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It's pretty much awesome.  I really enjoyed Hunger, the story of how Lisabeth Lewis becomes Famine.

Rage, on the other hand, did not fully do it for me. Though it is a small book, I struggled to finish it. The analogy of Missy locking her emotions in a glass jar in her heart was effective....the first few times. By the end of the book, the glass jar had been alluded to about a million times, and if I had to read some variation of the sentence, "She pushed her emotions in a glass jar and closed the lid..." one more time, then I would show Missy what rage was all about! I also felt there was way more internal turmoil than action in the book. My eyes kind of got glazed and I just skimmed over several paragraphs of Missy's internal war with herself.

That being said, this book definitely had its good points. Above all, I just love the idea for this series. So unique. Ares, Missy's warhorse, was one of my favorite characters. I loved his reactions and the way he and Missy had conversations without him actually talking at all. I also did enjoy the interactions between Missy and the other horsemen. I was familiar with Famine, of course, but it was interesting to see Pestilence have a part in the story. Finally, this book gave me some insight into the problem of teen self-injury. I could never understand how someone could cut him or hserself, but Kessler writes it in a way that makes you understand and feel sympathy for its victims.

And now for the exciting news...

Loss, the story of how Billy Ballard becomes Pestilence, comes out in March and guess who is part of the blog tour?!?! That's right -- us! The summary for this book sounds fantastic! I have a copy of the book that I am reading now, and I can't wait to review it for you guys and participate in this tour! Keep en eye out for it on Book Nerds Across America.

~Flo~