Thursday, March 17, 2011

Rage (Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Book #2) - By Jackie Morse Kessler

Release Date: 4/4/11
Purchase Info: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Missy didn’t mean to cut so deep. But after the party where she was humiliated in front of practically everyone in school, who could blame her for wanting some comfort? Sure, most people don’t find comfort in the touch of a razor blade, but Missy always was . . . different.


That’s why she was chosen to become one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War. Now Missy wields a new kind of blade—a big, brutal sword that can cut down anyone and anything in her path. But it’s with this weapon in her hand that Missy learns something that could help her triumph over her own pain: control.


A unique approach to the topic of self-mutilation, Rage is the story of a young woman who discovers her own power and refuses to be defeated by the world.


I started Rage without reading the first book in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse series, Hunger. Something about the story, the cover, it just kind of screamed, "READ ME", and I'm glad that I did.

When first starting the book Missy is dealing with every emotion she comes across by cutting. Just that kiss of a razor will take her momentary pain away so that she might be able to live in bliss. Unknown to her, Death has his eye on her. Not to drag her soul away or anything like that, but he sees a warrior capable of wielding the sword of War. Missy initial reaction is, AWESOME! But when she begins to have inner conflict with War itself, Missy is now trying to control not only the overwhelming urge to cut, but giving into the true meaning of her Horsemen name. Her War potential is to create violence & destruction every where she turns, but Missy doesn't want that. So now the battle begins. Does she give into the War she hears in her head, to destruct everything & everyone in her path? Or does she recreate War into the image she wants for herself?

With a mixture of real life pain, and a slight twist of fantasy, Rage was a huge bundle of emotions for me. Since it didn't really fall into the paranormal, or UF category that I usually read, it was a bit out of my comfort zone. So admittedly I had to then take a few days & step back before I reviewed this book. The pace of the book is great, though there were places where the pace seemed slightly quick for me, but Jackie had good reasoning for it. She was able to shine the light on a problem that faces so many teens every day by creating a world around it that allows you to see what causes it, and what allows them to over come it. I will have to say that I truly felt Missy's torment when she was fighting the urges to cut. Those raw emotions were written right on the surface of each page, causing you to dive into them face first. So in the end I took my time to write this review, and by doing that I allowed the book as a whole to sink in....and boy I'm glad I did, or I would have rushed on something that was truly eye opening and beautifully written.


5/5

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