Title: Radiance
Series: Riley Bloom
Author: Alyson Noel
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Publication Date: 4 Feb 2011
Source: UK Book Tours Thanks to Lynsey Newton for arranging these tours
Synopsis: From Amazon
Riley Bloom died, aged twelve, in a car crash with her parents and her beloved dog Buttercup. Her sister Ever survived – but that’s another story. Riley must let go of Ever and all the things that tied her to life – and discover what she’s meant to be in the afterlife. Riley is a soul catcher. That means helping the unhappy lost souls who stick around in the human realm to move on – and find their own place, over the bridge, in the great hereafter. With her spirit guide, Bodhi, and Buttercup by her side, Riley embarks on an adventure that will take her around the world – sending ghosts back where they belong, until she can finally make it there herself.
Review:
I really like The Immortals series so was especially curious to see how the spin-off would work.
As you can probably guess it is written in first person narrative from Riley's perspective. We already know quite a bit about Riley's personality from The Immortals Series. However, her narrative voice is sometimes conflicting sounding far more grown-up than the twelve year old she is supposed to be. At times it was hard to reconcile the tone with the picture I had in my imagination.
Riley can be intensely annoying at times, the word brat definitely came to mind. Although Riley is very self-absorbed there is a sense of innocence and goodness about her despite her occasional 'bitchy' and judgemental attitude.
I really liked the storyline which was enthralling and intriguing. Absolutely suited to the Middle Grade category. The concepts were lovely to imagine; the afterlife, helping troubled souls cross over. In addition to the parallel presented with the place name and time (Here and Now) with the notion of living in the moment. The use of the name Bodhi and ensuing plot brought to mind images of Point Break and surfers.
On the whole, a quick and easy read with a nice storyline. I will certainly be reading the next book in the series.
If you have also taken part in the UK Book Tour for this book please link your review below : D
I thought this was a cute one for younger readers too, but I totally agree with you that Riley is a bit of a brat here. I preferred her much more in the Immortals books.
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