Lou MorganReviews
Author of Blood and Feathers
Reviews
My blog theme this month is spooky, scary, creepy stuff and nonsense, so in the lead up to Halloween, I've joined the #redeyereadalong on Goodreads. I’ve already acquainted you with Frozen Charlotte, and now from 5th October 2015 – 11th October 2015, I've read the second book in the #redeyereadalong, Sleepless by Lou Morgan, finishing a couple of days early!!
I finished this in super quick time, it was such a faced paced, exciting, adrenalin filled read. Highly entertaining.
What did I like about Sleepless?
Well first point I'd like to make is the excellent premise. A bunch of kids from a high achieving school, Clerkenwell, are about to sit their final exams and the pressure is well and truly on to get those perfect results, so they are tempted to take a little innocuous looking pill to make sure they get top marks. The drug looks harmless but smells foul, that's the first clue to the outcome. Clever use of this premise by Lou Morgan, she illustrates in vivid detail the nasty side of internet supplied drugs, in crazy, manic, horror fashion, and highlights the temptations that teenagers face in a modern world that is becoming more and more pressurised.
On the whole the characters are pretty well crafted, but I would say that my two favourites are without a doubt Izzy, and Grey. When these two team up later in the book, the story really starts to buzz with energy. The beginning of the book builds up the story line slowly introducing the reader to this close knit group of friends. It gives you a view of the different personalities of the characters, not all of which came across as that appealing! Tigs, the instigator tempting the others to take the pills seems pretty brattish, and not particularly likeable. But often it is the characters that seem friendly and approachable that turn out to be not so nice. Lou Morgan explores this concept well by bringing the worst aspects of the different personalities to the forefront in vivid detail after they have foolishly gulped down these study drugs. Result: Chaos, Fear, Dread, Mania, Sleep Deprivation, Hallucinations.
The book's title Sleepless is a bit of a hint to one of the possible aspects of the drug. But it does not tell the reader the full story, even though sleeping is crucially important to the story line, believe me when I say there is so much more to come. What price will these youngsters have to pay to get those results? The reality is shocking beyond the mere word Sleepless. Can you imagine what it would be like to suffer the most dreadful spate of insomnia, then add horrendous hallucinations, murderous intent and then you might be halfway there! I've suffered from difficulties sleeping from time to time so this really struck a chord with me, as I know just how wretched this can be. Then add into the horror scenario mix this foul smelling and foul behaving drug.
The story tackles friendships well, and looks below the surface of relationships to question how much do friends know about each other? Even in sibling relationships in which closeness is paramount, (the twin brother and sister, Mia and Dom,) startling truths are revealed. Just how well do we really know those we love? Again, I felt Sleepless handled this topic so well. The effects of the drug are far reaching, turning friends against each other. So faced with that kind of scenario who do you dare to trust?
The ending is great, but I had to read it twice to really understand what the author was trying to say!! Perhaps it was a bit ambiguous on first reading. So read the ending and the build up to the conclusion more than once to savour its startling implications!!
Warning: Sleepless is shocking in parts, one particular scene really turned my stomach, so this is not for younger readers, or those who don't like reading anything too gruesome.
My rating:
4 stars.
The hierarchy laid out in Lou Morgan's universe is gloriously detailed, with angels split into choirs under each Archangel with powers related to their choir. As a lady who's spent far too much time with her nose in books about angelic mythology, the amount of effort put into Blood & Feather's worldbuilding was great to see.
I had trouble empathising with the leading lady, Alice. She seemed to make a lot of decisions without even hinting at her motivations beforehand, leaving me to follow behind her in the dark without a clue what she was up to. But the other characters more than made up for this. The flawed angels are a world apart from their biblical counterparts, with kind-hearted but battle-hardened alcoholic Mallory, a disgraced angel, being the closest to human while cold, aloof angel Gwyn is his apathetic opposite. The conversations between Alice and the angels were sharp and witty, keeping the story going at a great pace.
I loved the world created here, and I'm excited to see where else Lou Morgan takes this story in the sequel.
When Alice comes home to find two strange men in the house with her father, she doesn’t know what to think. When a pair of hands reach down from the ceiling and snap her father’s neck, all hell breaks loose. Something is coming. Something big. And it wants Alice. Luckily, she’s got Gwyn and Mallory on her side. They insist she’s in danger and can trust them, and when she sees the spread of their wings, a new reality comes crashing down on her. There’s a war brewing in the realm of the angels, and the Morningstar is at the center of it. Turns out Alice is a half-born (half angel, half human), which makes her a hot commodity (in more ways than one) to the Fallen. Gwyn is an Earthbound, which means his wings have been clipped and he’s been exiled to Earth to carry out his sentence. His crimes aren’t detailed at first, but suffice it to say he made a few bad decisions. Mallory is a Descended, which any angel that comes to Earth is called. Gwyn is assigned to watch over Mallory, much to Mallory’s chagrin, and Mallory is in charge of Alice. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Alice will need all the help she can get, and with a team of angels in her corner, what can possibly go wrong?
For years, the Fallen have been opening hellmouths and taking thousands of people, whole families, down into the depths of hell. This overabundance of souls has tipped the balance in hell’s favor, and it’s all about balance. Alice is the key to restoring balance and Mallory, Gwyn, and Co. must train her to use her powers as a half-born in order to stop the hellmouth machine and bring order back. Little does Alice know, there’s more at work here, and revelations about her mother, Lucifer, and the rest of the angels will soon come to light, and it will change the stakes. Alice won’t be going to Wonderland. Instead, she’ll be descending into the freezing depths of hell alone. A clash of fire and ice is coming, and a war will be waged at the bone gates of hell, while Alice struggles to come to terms with her power, and her destiny.
I’ll be the first to admit that so far, with the recent popularity of angel themed books, I haven’t been all that impressed with some of the offerings, but I loved this book. Mallory is a slovenly, hard drinking, gun toting, smart mouthed angel with plenty of attitude, and I loved him. Vin, her angelic bodyguard, follows a close second, and Alice is a strong, brave heroine who’s had to deal with plenty of backlash in her life because of her otherness, and has always blamed herself for her mother’s abandonment. Can you imagine the news that you will have to go to hell and use your newfound powers to restore the balance in order to save humanity? If you’re a fan of Mike Shevdon’s Courts of the Feyre series, you’ll find much to love in this wonderful debut. Lou Morgan has a gift for visuals, and the final battle with the Fallen is something to behold. She expertly weaves fantasy and horror elements into a creepy, exciting, roller coaster ride of a book. Lou Morgan’s angels aren’t warm, fluffy, and halo’d, either. They’re fiercely beautiful warriors, and distinctly “other.” The angel mythos is fascinating and rich, and the author has laid the groundwork for what promises to be an explosive sequel. Luckily, Blood and Feathers: Rebellion is out in 2013, and I’ll be the first in line for it!
"Pitched as "Alice in Wonderland goes to hell"
Sounds unusal enough ;)
Anne Stokes "Magic Mirror"