X-posted from Once Upon a Bookcase.
Fury by Elizabeth Miles (review copy) -
Sometimes sorry isn't enough....
It’s winter break in Ascension, Maine. The snow is falling and everything looks pristine and peaceful. But not all is as it seems...
Between cozy traditions and parties with her friends, Emily loves the holidays. And this year’s even better--the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But Em knows if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend.
On the other side of town, Chase is having problems of his own. The stress of his home life is starting to take its toll, and his social life is unraveling. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel...something the perfect guy he pretends to be would never do. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed.
In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—are here to choose who will pay.
Em and Chase have been chosen. From Amazon US
I thought this book sounded like it would be pretty good, but I had no idea how amazing it was going to be! I absolutely loved it!
This book is creepy and freaky, but not in the usual way. This book has been classed as paranormal horror, but it didn't scare me like a horror would. I had no problems reading it at night, it didn't give me nightmares, I wasn't jumping at every little noise - though there were definitely scary parts in it, what with random girls suddenly showing up in windows. No, this book scared me because I didn't know what was going to happen. Furires punish the wrong do-ers, but what they consider "wrong" isn't set in stone - for a completely unrelated to the book example, the furies would punish you just as harshly for dropping litter as they would for kidnapping. Not oly is the definition of wrong very loose, the punishment, what they consider "justice" for what you did isn't predictable either. For the litter example, going arond wearing a bright jacket picking up other people's litter isn't as likely as you being "dropped" in some way, but what could "dropped" mean? There are hundreds of possibilities. You just
don't know what the furies are going to decide you deserve. And that's what I found scary, not being able to work out, or even make a guess, at what would happen, or when. With every turn of the page, I was on edge, waiting for god knows what, just something
bad. Yet having to read on because it is
so exciting!
As I said, Fury didn't scare me in the traditional horror sense, but I was definitely freaked out by some of the furies behaviour. As readers, we know these mysterious, beautiful girls are furies - blurbs, descriptions, even reviews tell us so. Yet the characters in the book don't get any kind of inkling of something not-quite-human until quite a ways into the book. So the behaviour of the Furies, the things some of the characters see, not knowing that Furies exist, believing them to be human... the torment is freaky, and I was empathetically freaked out.
Yet I kind of loved them, like villians you love to hate. It sounds kind of right to have some
thing that goes around fixing wrongs, something that dishes out karma. I'm sure plenty of us have wanted bad things to happen to bad people - I think it's natural with some of the things we see on the news. And these ladies are making sure those bad things happen. When said like that, I did feel there was a strange kind of "rightness" to them. But then you read on and see how messed up they are and things start to change. What if the furies were real? What mistakes have you made? What would they think you need to be punished for? And how? It's freaky and creepy, but all kinds of briliant!
When it comes to urban fantasy, there's a certain progression that I expect. By the time I put the book down, no matter what the story, or if it's in a series, I just expect a certain kind of ending. There tends to be a lot of action in urban fantasy, and the constant threat of danger to our main characters and narrators. There are fights, people get hurt, and you're excited, and sitting on your edge seat in suspence. But eventually, the book will still have that ending, even if there's a cliff hanger. The main characters are a little bruised and roughed up, and plan to try and kick some paranormal butt the next time when book two comes along, or at least try to live a normal life until paranormal butt comes a-knocking again. You expect certain things to go a certain way simply because
that's how these thing go. It's like urban fantasy law or something. However, a little over half way through Fury I realised that the ending I expected - without even realising I expected it, because you don't expect the moon to come after the sun, it just does - wasn't what I was going to get. On a second read of this book, I would probably react differently, but the first time round, there was just complete shock. I was shaken. Miles tore up the urban fantasy law book, slapped me in the face and left me reeling. I believe my thoughts were along the lines of
"WHAT?! But that can't happen!" I read on for a little while in a daze, sure there was a mistake, or some sort of joke, and things were going to change and sort themselves out. They didn't. Which makes me SUPER excited to read more of Miles books, because not only do you not know what to expect from the furies, but you don't know what to expect from Miles' writing either! I was completely blown away!
If I had any kind of criticism, at some points, some of the characters just seemed a little too young for their age, a little too naive, but it's a very small thing, and can easily go unnoticed in all the excitement. Also, on it's own, I really like the cover, but I don't think it says much about the book, except that the girl is like smoke. I guess that's true, furies can disappear like smoke, but it doesn't really say "fuies" to me, but I'm not sure what would. With the US cover, at least you know it's Ty, one of the furies, on the cover, because of the hair colour. I generally prefer the US cover.
Fury is a phenomenal debut novel, absolutely brilliant, and I cannot wait to read book two, Envy, when it's released next year. It's going to be incredible. If you haven't read Fury yet, you need to read it now!
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the review copy.
Published: 1st September 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Buy on Amazon USBuy on Amazon UKElizabeth Miles' Website
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Happy New Year, everyone!
