Heaven by Christoph Marzi
| Heaven by Christoph Marzi | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Jill Murphy
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| Summary: Characters from Dickens are used as a motif and it's unusual tense and full of unforgettable characters. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 416 | Date: February 2011 |
| Publisher: Orchard | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 1408314665 | |
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The night that Heaven lost her heart was cold and moonless. But the blade that sliced it out was warm with her dark blood.
David Pettyfer stumbles into this explosive first scene as he takes his usual shortcut over the rooftops of night-time London on his way to deliver a book to one of Miss Trodwood's most valued customers. David hates closed-in spaces and in particular the Tube, but loves the open air and the freedom he feels on the roofs. And so, it turns out, does this beautiful, enigmatic girl who claims that evil men have cut out her heart. David can feel the danger but he is lost right from his first glimpse of Heaven. He couldn't walk away from this girl even if he tried.
And so begins David and Heaven's search for her heart. It's a journey that will bring fear, grief and danger, but it will uncover a secret of unearthly wonder...
I loved reading a book about London written by a German author who uses characters from Dickens as a motif. Heaven's London is as truthful and vivid and intimate as anything I could imagine, and my first four decades (eurgh, yes, I'm that old) on the planet were spent there. And I loved the idea of a girl without a heart, better still, a heart that has been stolen. Fans of urban faerie stories will be surprised to find relatively little about faeries for quite a long while, but they will enjoy the mystery and the chase. General readers will be swept away right from that first, explosive scene.
It's unusual, tense, and full of unforgettable characters who hold back just a little so that you want quite desperately to know them better. And it's been beautifully translated by Helena Wragg-Kirkby. If you're looking for something fresh and original to read as this winter draws to a close, and you like a bit of fantasy, take a look at Heaven. You won't regret it.
Heaven is a much more interesting urban faerie story than many on the shelves. One of our favourites from the standard genre fare is Wings by Aprilynne Pike. But if you are looking for something else original, you could try Heaven Eyes by David Almond or Far Rockaway by Charlie Fletcher. We also have a review of Memory: She's Dying to Remember by Christoph Marzi.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Heaven by Christoph Marzi at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Heaven by Christoph Marzi at Amazon.com.
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