Meridian

Reader reviewed by Khadija

Name: Meridian

Author: Amber Kizer

Pages: 320

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Published: August 11, 2009

Rating: 4 1/2

Cover Rating: 5

Genre: YA Fiction/ Paranomal/ Mystery

Summary: Half-human, half-angel, Meridian Sozu has a dark responsibility. Sixteen-year-old Meridian has been surrounded by death ever since she can remember. As a child, insects, mice, and salamanders would burrow into her bedclothes and die. At her elementary school, she was blamed for a classmates tragic accident. And on her sixteenth birthday, a car crashes in front of her family homeand Meridians body explodes in pain. Before she can fully recover, Meridian is told that shes a danger to her family and hustled off to her great-aunts house in Revelation, Colorado. Its there that she learns that she is a Fenestrathe half-angel, half-human link between the living and the dead. But Meridian and her sworn protector and love, Tens, face great danger from the Aternocti, a band of dark forces who capture vulnerable souls on the brink of death and cause chaos.

My Review: There is nothing i love more than a story that jumps right into action. So naturally Meridian instantly caught my attention. Not ten pages in did i have to wait for the action to start.

Meridian isn't a slow passed book, but not entirely fast passed either (i suppose it's balanced) but i found the speed just right. Fast enough to keep you turning the pages as fast as you can and slow enough that you understand everything and you don't have to re-read a paragraph to make sure you understood.

(Never thought I'd say this but....)

Interesting take on death and how it all works.

The fact of how different Meridian is strikes you from the first sentence 'The first creatures to seek me where the insects; my parents cleaned the bassinet of dead ants the morning after they brought me home from the hospital.' And from that first sentence i just had to know the mystery behind this strange girl and why dead things kept showing up around her. This answer came rather quickly which is the only thing i can find fault with. Though even then the story doesn't slow down for a minute it just picks up speed.

I have to say me and my perceptiveness knew there was something more to be told with a connection between Tens and Meridian the second they met and am glad i was right :)

You find out about halfway threw the story that Auntie has to train Meridian before she dies. This was rather sad but not at all depressing it just made the story even more interesting.

I really really liked the ending. I know that's not much to go on but i don't want to give it away.

You really need to add this book to the long list of books you need to read if you haven't already.

I'm highly anticipating the second book and you can count on a random blog post as soon as any info is released about it.

Reader reviewed by Kelsey

I was looking forward to this book from reading the description. It
sounded really cool. Also, one of my commenters said they liked it.
Well...I didn't. I continued reading this book through to the end only
for the sake of reviewing it.

First off, most of the chapters
ended at weird places in the dialogue. I felt that the chapter wasn't
really finished before it started the next.

Secondly, the
philosophy of the book I definitely didn't agree with. I understand that
it's fantasy and not reality, but some aspects of the book were
pertaining to current events. The author insinuated that neither prayer
or creationism belongs in the school, and that it was a shame that Jesus
Christ was replacing Santa Claus as the symbol for Christmas (Jesus is
the meaning for Christmas, hence the CHRIST in Christmas). I'm trying
really hard not to go into a political/religious spiel in this post, but
the point I want to make is that Kizer was insulting my religion in
places throughout the book, and I was offended. I am definitely not saying that I agree with some of
the things the Nocti pastor was saying and doing. But I feel that if a
person (young adult or adult) were reading this book and they have never
stepped into a church, they would most likely not after reading this
book. Perimo was made into a manipulative, awful person, and readers
might think that is what all pastors are like. They're not.

Thirdly,
I didn't get involved in the characters' lives. This was mostly because
I didn't understand them, especially Tens. He was a very complex
character, going from one emotion to the next in rapid fire. I couldn't
understand why he was angry and spouting off at Meridian, and toward the
end of the book he was happy and calm. Usually when I read a book, I
can understand the characters and empathize with them. In Meridian, I couldn't.

Fourthly,
the Fenestra history part of the book was very confusing, especially
when Kizer packs it all into small conversations.

However,
despite the negatives, I felt that the plot was interesting and that's
why I'm giving Meridian two
stars.

Reader reviewed by Yan

I thought the development of Meridians power was greattaking baby steps. Some of the novels I have read show the character going from completely oblivious to this sudden surge of control and knowledge; not here though! This book gives off a much more realistic approach.
The relationship with the characters was also well done. I enjoyed reading the small scenes between the characters and the dialogue between them. Within these dialogues, background information was given. If you know me, I greatly appreciate it when an author gives background information. She gives you enough about the supernatural world for readers to understand but not too much to completely ruin the enjoyment of the story. In addition, small bits of character backgrounds are given. This gives the reader a much better feel and care for the characters, as well as the reasons behind their motives and actions.

Some parts to me were too predictable though. It felt that the suspense and ambiguity factor that the book tried to create&lacked, in a word. Many of the scenes I could have predicted in the very beginningof course, the author did leave major hints behind, but it bores the readers to know the outcome of almost the entire storyline.

There were also some sections in the book that had me scratching my head. Where did this character pop up from? What just happened? And the ending was just one giant blur to me maybe I just did not read it carefully enough?

One of my major issues has to be when Meridian actually got in a car with a stranger. Granted it was a taxi driver, but it definitely irked me that she can be so careless of herself. Every now and then there would be awkward moments where I just wanted to shout "What!?" In that sense, I was not confused but rather flabbergasted; "Where in the world did this come from!?" It all comes together in the end but, even after, I still cannot wrap my head around it. It can be easily interpreted as a scapegoat to create a forced happy ending. I am still very much peeved about this to this point.

Overall: A very nice book if you're bored; a good book overall, but nothing too spectacular. Still, definitely an enjoyable read if you're sick of faeries and want to try a different supernatural being.