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elementarymydear 's review for:
The Ghosts of Heaven
by Marcus Sedgwick
Spirals. Spirals. Spirals.
SPIRALS EVERYWHERE.
My mind had been absolutely blown by this book. Four individually brilliant stories, all of which somehow boil down to being about spirals, and which are all linked together. I've never really thought about spirals much before, but now... my head is spinning around with beginnings, ends and infinities. The way that the stories were linked... these completely separate people were somehow sharing one experience, and it just blew me away. Marcus Sedgwick's writing is, as always, beautiful.
I do feel that his world book day book, [b:Killing the Dead|25060403|Killing the Dead|Marcus Sedgwick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1425373882s/25060403.jpg|44743359] was an unofficial 5th tale to this novel. The themes are the same, some lines appear in both, and I actually think that I retrospectively understood Killing the Dead much better after reading Ghosts of Heaven.
The free verse of the first story was strangely engrossing, to the point that rather than feel like I was in the story, I felt like I was the story. Something about its elegance and simplicity was perfect for this story, leaving just the right amount to the audience's imagination.
At the end of the second one, at that moment when you see the 'spiral' coming... wow. This was, I think, my least favourite of the stories, but I still loved it - it was just a bit less abstract than this others.
The third story was, I think, the most elegant, if only because it was so disturbing. Even though the story was written from the point of view of one character, you felt yourself being in the head of another. And once again, the ending? A punch in the gut that you see coming just as it's too late.
The fourth story was my favourite, by far. I fell in love with it as soon as I realised that the chapters were the Fibonacci sequence, and this was easily the most chilling, disturbing and harrowing of all the stories. I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but I am sure that I absolutely loved it. I think I forgot to breathe at some point in the last few pages, but Sedgwick's brilliant writing makes me unsure what actually happened and what was in Keir's head.
In conclusion: READ THIS BOOK. And then never look at spirals in the same way again.
SPIRALS EVERYWHERE.
My mind had been absolutely blown by this book. Four individually brilliant stories, all of which somehow boil down to being about spirals, and which are all linked together. I've never really thought about spirals much before, but now... my head is spinning around with beginnings, ends and infinities. The way that the stories were linked... these completely separate people were somehow sharing one experience, and it just blew me away. Marcus Sedgwick's writing is, as always, beautiful.
I do feel that his world book day book, [b:Killing the Dead|25060403|Killing the Dead|Marcus Sedgwick|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1425373882s/25060403.jpg|44743359] was an unofficial 5th tale to this novel. The themes are the same, some lines appear in both, and I actually think that I retrospectively understood Killing the Dead much better after reading Ghosts of Heaven.
The free verse of the first story was strangely engrossing, to the point that rather than feel like I was in the story, I felt like I was the story. Something about its elegance and simplicity was perfect for this story, leaving just the right amount to the audience's imagination.
At the end of the second one, at that moment when you see the 'spiral' coming... wow. This was, I think, my least favourite of the stories, but I still loved it - it was just a bit less abstract than this others.
The third story was, I think, the most elegant, if only because it was so disturbing. Even though the story was written from the point of view of one character, you felt yourself being in the head of another. And once again, the ending? A punch in the gut that you see coming just as it's too late.
The fourth story was my favourite, by far. I fell in love with it as soon as I realised that the chapters were the Fibonacci sequence, and this was easily the most chilling, disturbing and harrowing of all the stories. I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but I am sure that I absolutely loved it. I think I forgot to breathe at some point in the last few pages, but Sedgwick's brilliant writing makes me unsure what actually happened and what was in Keir's head.
In conclusion: READ THIS BOOK. And then never look at spirals in the same way again.