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 Book Nerds were lucky enough to be asked to host a stop on the blog tour for Loss by Jackie Morse Kessler. For those of you not familiar, Jackie's series is a unique take on the story of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I just love this idea -- so creative! -- and was beyond thrilled when I received a copy of Rage from Jackie's publisher. I went back to read the first book -- Hunger -- which I reviewed here. Then I came back around to Rage, the second book. (Here's my review.) Needless to say, I was super excited when the idea of hosting a stop on the blog tour for the third book, Loss, came up. My review will be coming shortly, but for now -- here's a guest post from Jackie herself! (Hint: There's a giveaway at the end.)  ~Flo~



Names are a big deal. Just ask the kid who hates her given name. J
Authors usually get to name their books. (I say “usually” because there’s always a chance that the publisher will change the book title.) This can be migraine-inducing at times—we all want the perfect names for our novels—but other times, names can come easily. When I wrote Hunger, which looked at eating disorders and Famine, well, the name was pretty much a given from the start. Ditto for Rage, which focused on self-injury and War.

LOSS, though, isn’t as straightforward. Its focus is on bullying and Pestilence, with a subfocus on Alzheimer’s. So why did I choose to name the book “Loss”?

The book looks at different types of loss. There’s loss of memory—the protagonist’s grandfather is suffering from Alzheimer’s. There’s loss of sanity—the primary antagonist is flat-out crazy, partially due to dementia.  There’s loss of self-esteem—the protagonist is horribly bullied and doesn’t have the strength at first to stand his ground. “Loss” means the act of losing, and that best describes Billy, the protagonist: he’s constantly losing himself every time he gets beaten down. There’s his loss of control when he finally has the power to strike back against his tormentors. (Not a major spoiler; it’s on the back cover copy. **whistles innocently**)

And loss happens when we say good-bye for a final time, whether we’re walking away from part of ourselves, from people in our lives, or from a situation. From loss comes grief…and, eventually, healing and moving on.

Ultimately, Billy, the protagonist, experiences loss in many forms before he comes of age. And so, LOSS was the perfect name for the book.

And happily, my editor didn’t change it. J
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

LOSS by Jackie Morse Kessler comes out March 20, 2012! 
GIVEAWAY: One lucky commenter below will win a small cover poster of LOSS—and will be entered in the grand prize drawing! The grand prize winner will receive signed copies of HUNGER, RAGE and LOSS—and will get to name a character in BREATH, the fourth book in the Riders of the Apocalypse series. The grand prize winner will be picked on Sunday, April 1, 2012. No foolin’.