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Book Review: "The Call" by Peadar O'Guilin

To begin, this probably isn't the greatest book to start off with on my page, but unfortunately, it was the last book I have read. 

A little backstory regarding why I purchased this book and got super hyped about it. I heard about it due to the fact that I am a complete Irish history freak. I love the culture, love seeing pictures of his atmosphere, love the mythology -- which was why I am currently writing my second novel based around it. 

So as you may imagine, I was stoked to find "The Call" on the bookshelf at my local Books-A-Million. I was eyeballing it for months before I finally decided I wanted to grab a hold of it. 

So when I cracked it open and finally started to read it, I was initially happy to see it written in third person. The only other book that I have read that embraces that well was the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. So it was a welcome departure from the first-person phenomena that has embraced YA lit that I have, unfortunately, fallen into myself. There isn't much that I'm going to spoil from here on out, but regardless, spoiler alert.

The story is essentially about Ireland becoming cut off from the world due to the Sidhe, or fairies, escaping their prison that their Irish ancestors had banished them to. They take children around fifteen to seventeen and take them to their world to be hunted down. This action is called The Call. It lasts three minutes and four seconds in our world while in theirs, it's a full twenty-four hours. Most of the time, the child ends up dead and mangled when they return. Those who survive are never the same, or worse, something else. 

Now, I'm going to come out and say this. The review is slightly unfair, but slightly not, because I didn't finish it. Nope. I barely got halfway through the book before I realized that there was no way I could complete this book and sadly, I cheated, read the end to see what happened, shut it, pulled the bookmark out, and shelved it. Why?

Bottom line: I hated it.

The concept was amazing and the mental imagery of it was horrifying, I will give it that. That is a definite pro of it all. I figured that O'Guilin would stay true to the mythology considering he is of Irish nationality. I read an interview where he wanted to put a new spin on what he knew, which should be applauded. Unfortunately, for me, it simply didn't work. Below are the reasons that I had found it to be hard to continue:

The story was riddled with choppy narrative. Sometimes I lost track of who was speaking. I wasn't sure if it was Nessa speaking or if it was someone else. I also couldn't tell if it was objective or subjective. The third person was simply, painfully unfocused. 

The detail wasn't there enough for me to really picture the story in its entirety. The graphic scenes of dead bodies or even the Sidhe trapped in the trees simply didn't do it for me. It didn't give me the same feeling as what The Hunger Games did. Something gruesome in nature should be exactly that, and it felt far too toned down for my liking. 

The punctuation. Maybe this is a personal pet peeve, but the exclamation point was used far too much in this story to project a sharp thought. It's more of an annoyance to me as I'm reading than anything else.

The fact that I stopped reading this book not even midway in says a lot. I don't normally do that. I read "Riders" by Veronica Rossi and disliked it, but I at least pushed through it so I could find out where it would go from there. With a book I was so hyped about such as "The Call" to get me to do that... it was disappointing. 

I rate "The Call" by Peadar O'Guilin a 2/5 for a brilliant idea, but poor execution and narrative.

The next book I am reading is "City of Heavenly Fire" by Cassandra Clare. I'm late to the game, but I'm getting to it. Hopefully I'll find enough time to bulldoze my way through this thick beast of a book. 

Goodnight, internet.

-Tabatha

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ㅤ··Dᴇᴀᴛʜ ɪsɴ·ᴛ ᴇᴍᴘᴛʏ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʏᴏᴜ sᴀʏ ɪᴛ ɪs. Eᴍᴘᴛɪɴᴇss ɪs ʟɪғᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ғʀᴇᴇᴅᴏᴍ.·· 

  ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤRed Rising, @pierce-brown  

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Luke Evans in The Alienist

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So I’m roughly the size of a barge.

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Traditional Celtic marriage vows, better than anything I've ever heard:

You cannot possess me for I belong to myself But while we both wish it, I give you that which is mine to give You cannot command me, for I am a free person But I shall serve you in those ways you require and the honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand.

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Ireland, Galway 2017

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Saoirse Ronan in Ed Sheeran’s “Galway Girl” Music Video

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Wheel of the Year aesthetic: Beltane

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THE ANGEL SANCTION NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

PURCHASE HERE

The Angel Sanction tells the story of a seventeen-year-old girl named Gena Helms who lives in a world where you are only allowed to live one of two lives. Unfortunately, the best one is the hardest to get to. Born as a Partial in Zone Four of the Angel Sanction, she has endured abuse by her caretaker and her fellow villagers, all while being told to stay in the shadows, never to be seen. They fear the Scouts that venture into the villages of their Zone, white-clad Ideals that search for unfortunate souls that were born into their idea of perfection in the wrong place.

When Gena makes a wrong move and accidentally garners the attention of one of the Scouts, Ayce McCarthey, a series of events pushes her forward into the white-clad world of Idealism, believing that the struggles of her life are about to be over… only for the true face of perfection to reveal itself in deception, manipulation, and impossibilities.

“The Angel Sanction” was written by me over the course of eight years since I was seventeen. It has gone through many revisions and character and story changes since the original idea was thought up. 

More information to follow. Visit me through the ask box, Instagram, or Twitter.

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I JUST NOW NOTICED @lauren-oliver ACTUALLY LIKED MY POST.

CONSIDER ME DEAD.

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Odd request.

But I am writing a fiction novel regarding Irish immigrants to America in a fantasy setting. My MC was very young when he immigrated but his mother spent most of her life in Ireland.

If anybody would like to be lightly interviewed or offer any sort of advice on authentic Irish linguistics, lifestyle, and American Irish comparisons, I would greatly appreciate it. You can reach me in my inbox if anybody has any life experience with this topic.

Thank you in advance.

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Celtic Otherworlds

The Otherworld(s) of Celtic myth are invisible realms where gods, spirits, elves, giants, etc reside. Some Otherworlds are beautiful heavens, and others are terrible hells. Otherworlds are guarded and hidden by magic. The Otherworld(s) can be found in places like lakes, caves, forests, rivers, dunes, and islands. An Otherworld may also be a grandiose castle or even a humble cottage. Often times the Otherworld(s) make an appearance at night, but then quickly vanish in the daylight. It is also said that on the eve of Samhain (saah-win) all gates to the Otherworld open and spirits venture into our world from theirs. The Otherworld(s) have a very different concept of time. Generally, time moves at a much slower slower rate. Spending one year in an Otherworld could mean centuries have passed in our world.

Keep reading

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Luke Evans’ entire interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, March 1, 2017.

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I’m pretty sure Lauren Oliver just liked my post about my book and then took it back. I had a mini-panic attack of excitement for a second. 

Still kind of having that said mini-panic attack but oh well.