Review Detail

Blessed is the kind of book that leaves you thinking ‘what the heck just happened’? I was a bit intrigued at the start, lost in the middle, left it there for two weeks and then was confused by the rest. The first half focused on the girls themselves and their characters – what made them tick, so to say. Honestly, I couldn’t empathize with either of them. Agnes was whiny, Lucy was manipulative and self-serving while Cecelia had delusions of grandeur. They meet Sebastian, who tells them they are special. I thought – hey, maybe they turn their lives around with a purpose. Maybe that saint thing works for some betterment of the world. Second half was such a disappointment, the sequel is as appealing as cold raw fish to me now. The plot was relatively stagnant and if you expect action, you find yourself in mindless gory scenes which make you wonder about the brutality capable in any person. The writing was perhaps the only commendable part of the book, but even brilliant storytelling can’t compensate for a ridiculous and almost-non-existent plot. Are we seriously to believe that three girls accepted their destinies just because a hot guy said so. That church had some serious fumes in the air, because even after questioning their own sanity, they participate in a bloodbath, set it on fire and then walk out into what – their sunset? Even the lore, the backstory that was supposed to hold up the story failed to impress – it was too extravagant and obsessed with some brutally killed saints, not to mention a bit preachy and too spiritual. I almost did not finish this book, but the writing carried me till the confusing climax, another piece of WTH that I am not even attempting to comprehend at the moment. Terrible, just terrible.