Skip to main content

Review: Rage by Kessler


Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler
Goodreads link
Published April 2011
Arc from Star Book Tours
Rating: 4/5 stars

Chosen to ride as War, one of the four horseman of the apocalypse, Melissa Miller must fight. She is in a war with those around her, and a war within herself.
Melissa is a cutter, which is something I am not familiar with except in fiction (and for that I am lucky), but she is not weak. In fact, Missy is kind of kick ass.
While this is the second book in a series (Hunger being the first), a reader does not have to read Hunger in order to follow Rage.
I had some concern going into this book that the author would kind of repeat the story in a way that was formulaic. But my worries were unfounded. This story is very original, interesting, and the ending was satisfying.
Without giving anything away, I can say that Missy goes through something with her classmates that no one should ever have to experience. There is a message about bullying here that may be hidden under the layers of self-mutilation and anger vs control. It is an important message, and I was super pleased with how it was portrayed.
Also, I'm trying to stay spoiler-free, but I appreciated the author gave us an epilogue that showed the aftermath of the consequences. Time really does heal all wounds.
I hope Pestilence is next! He seems like such a mysterious character.

Also, the book is short, but that is okay. The story was complete. I dislike when writers put out 300 page books that are really only 200 pages of plot and the rest just drags. That is not an issue with this series so far.
Rage is a good, thought-provoking read.
Labels:

Comments

Michelle said…
I need to read Hunger. These look so good! :)
January 27, 2011 at 9:18 AM
Unknown said…
They really are great. They could be horrible, like after school specials used to be, but they are done well.
January 27, 2011 at 10:59 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teddy Bear Storytime

Tonight's storytime followed the same format I use for all of my day storytimes as I have temporarily suspended my idea of doing storytime in reverse in order to get the kids sleepy. They only seem to run out into the library to pick out movies and books and the effect is lost. So here is what we did tonight. Our theme was teddy bears, but our night storytime is always wear jammies, bring a lovey, and low action. My opening song is Hello Bubbles which I learned from Read Sing Play here . BTW this woman is a storytime goddess and I have picked up many great ideas on her blog. Story the 1st: The Red Hat by Lita Judge  Why? Because I want to get across to my kids that books do not always have to have words in order for us to "read" them, and I want to give pre-readers a chance to feel proud they finished a book on their own. I plan to try to read or highlight at least one wordless read for the next couple of storytimes. Flannel Board: Ten in the Bed I used a mod
Post a Comment
Read more

Nebula Award Nominees 2017- Short Stories

This post is my progress report on my self-challenge to read all of the 2017  Nebula nominees! So far, I have completed the short story category and most of the the novelettes. I have 3 novellas and 3 novels to go. Nebula Award Nominees 2017- Short Stories What fun! I would never have read any of these stories on my own, although I expect some of these will show up in some future anthologies. I have one personal gripe, and this will come up again in another category, and that is the death of the horror genre. Because they have just killed "horror" and lumped scary stories in with science fiction and fantasy, we get stories like Sabbath Wine trying to compete with Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies and it's not fair. It really is apples and oranges. Don't believe me about horror? Go find the horror section in the Barnes and Noble. Go ahead, I'll wait.       Griping over, this selection of stories was AWESOME and heavy on the fantasy stories. Seasons and Ward
Post a Comment
Read more

The Perfect Giveway!

Christi the Teen Librarian and I had the great fun of meeting Ellen Hopkins in Princeton last week. I want to share this great event with a reader who would love to own an autographed copy of Ellen's latest YA novel: Perfect. This is a finished copy, not an arc. Here's the skinny. No fancy forms, no extra entries (you know, I think those things are bunk anyway!), and no hoops to jump through! *you must be 13 to enter *I can only ship to US addresses only (sorry!) *Giveaway runs until November 11 *winner will be determined by Random.org So leave a comment with your name, and a way to contact you. Follows are NOT required, but I have more giveaways planned so you may want to follow just so you have a head's up on those.
12 comments
Read more