Thursday, April 19, 2012

Review: Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 320
Received: Received from Goodreads First Reads

Release Date: April 24, 2012
Buy From Amazon.ca / Buy From Chapters.ca

Goodreads Synopsis:

Everything is in ruins.

A devastating plague has decimated the population. And those who are left live in fear of catching it as the city crumbles to pieces around them.

So what does Araby Worth have to live for?

Nights in the Debauchery Club, beautiful dresses, glittery make-up . . . and tantalizing ways to forget it all.

But in the depths of the club—in the depths of her own despair—Araby will find more than oblivion. She will find Will, the terribly handsome proprietor of the club. And Elliott, the wickedly smart aristocrat. Neither boy is what he seems. Both have secrets. Everyone does.

And Araby may find something not just to live for, but to fight for—no matter what it costs her.

My Review: *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

When I saw this book in the Harper catalogue, I fell in love with it (just because of the cover). Then when I read more about it, I felt that I needed to read it right away, I love the dark feeling of this book. The cover translates that feeling amazingly well to readers. I found out later on that this is actually a retelling of an Edgar Allen Poe story (who I absolutely love), but have not read this story, so I'm definitely getting on that one quickly after reading this book!

Bethany Griffin pulls you into Araby's world in a way that you can't turn away, no matter how dark it gets. In the beginning I was not the biggest supporter of Araby, the way she looked at the world around her seemed a little ignorant, but I did realize that it was a way of describing how she was raised. It's interesting to see how Araby continues on through all the darkness around her. I came to really like her character more than the others as I continued reading.

What really kept me interested in this book was the idea of an evil character that was not actually seen. I found myself wanting to know more about these characters that you barely see. This added more chills because you never know what is coming next from this evil.

There was so much darkness to this story that you never really feel safe reading this book. It definitely made me think a lot about what I would do in a situation where going outside means risking my life. There were a lot of twists throughout this that kept me guessing and asking myself what would I do in Araby's situation.

The setting of the Debauchery Club really adds to this book, Bethany definitely makes it seem like a place to get away from everything on the outside. Bethany has a perfect mix of the beautiful glitz world with the decaying outer world, I definitely felt like I forgot about the plague while I was with Araby in the Debauchery Club.

This is definitely a must-read book for this month. If you like a lot of darkness to your plot, I suggest you pick this one up. This book will keep you looking over your shoulder wondering about the darkness of the world around you. Add this book to your list ASAP!!

2 comments:

  1. I want to read this one so bad! You're right. The cover is AMAZING. And I love dark books and dark characters. I'm glad to hear you really liked it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The descriptions were really good in this book. So much detail I loved it!

    ReplyDelete

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