5 July 2013

Rory (The Ghosts of Palladino #1)

Reviewer: Kelsey
Author: Ciye Cho
Format: ebook (This novel was sent to me for an honest review)
Pages: 660 (on my eReader)
Rating: 8 out of 10

Summary (with love from Goodreads): Far beyond heaven, earth and hell is a city known as Palladino, a place ruled by ghosts and filled with demons, magic, and all sorts of darkly beautiful things. A city where no one can ever escape.

Eighteen-year-old Rory is a cake decorator who makes stunning confections. But no amount of frosting or miracles can save her when a demon kidnaps her—and carries her to Palladino. Here, Rory ends up in a deadly charm school where young women are forced to become companions for the Ghost Lords. And for her to survive, Rory must become everything that she isn’t: graceful, elegant... and perfect.

But nothing is what it seems in Palladino. Not the magic. Not the ghosts. And definitely not Martin Marius, the bizarre Ghost Lord-slash-inventor who is drawn to Rory. For amid a thousand machines and a hundred cats, Martin holds a secret that could change everything. A secret that could either free Rory... or destroy her.


Thoughts on the matter: A character that's like a real person? No way! You can't find one of those anywhere...or can you? I like Rory. She's sassy and knows what she wants (until a certain part of the story that it but shhhhhhh...no spoilers). Rory has had real hard times and real pain. In fact, thanks to the fact that it apparently doesn't matter where a group of girls is, they are all still jerks to the odd one out, she still suffers a lot when she shouldn't have to. I felt so bad for her and wanted to reach into the story so I could beat some people up for her.

Actually, all the characters really showed and stayed true. Some were sneaky and could hide coming  twists and turns while some you could figure out in a heart beat. Each character was worth their lines, easily. And Martin? What the heck was with that guy? Talk about an enigma. I liked it. Who could forget Cookie? I'd ignore any or my allergies or those of my family for a cat like Cookie.

Sadly, I felt that a lot of time was given to things that may not have been important to the story while not some very important parts seemed to be skimmed over. This bothered me because it meant spending so much time reading over what seems less important but as soon as there is a major conflict, I want more. I wasn't super clear on which part of the story was the most important. This small problem didn't cause me to lose interest or anything, it was just something that I noticed. Okay, okay, it made me kinda sad but at least the writing was clear and didn't require much thought outside of the schemes, plots, and theories that I couldn't stop throwing around in my head.

I was, however, totally distracted from most of the writing style stuff. I'd read novels by this author before (check them out, they are great!) so I knew a bit of what to expect writing wise but I had no idea where the story was going. I was surprised at where it went. The concept for this novel, I thought, was very unique and I love me my unique works. I really didn't know where we would get to by the end of this novel. I didn't see what was coming ahead until it was right there. If I did figure something out before it happened, it wasn't too far ahead of it actually happening. I'm glad it was like that. It kept me focused. 

And we've come to the cover. How gorgeous is that cover? All of the covers for this author match, which I love, and they all look incredible. They are as much of a work of art as the novel itself. I love this cover. Apparently, I'm a sucker for colour it would seem.

Basically: This is an easy and enjoyable read. I've not read another book with the same idea. The characters were perfect for their roles but I did feel that some scenes were a bit lacking. I would definitely consider rereading this novel and I recommend it to anyone who loves paranormal, science-fiction, and magic or doesn't mind not knowing whats coming next.

At least you have the benefit of reading this before decided whether or not to read this novel. I just went for it with no idea of what I was getting myself into. Now I'm just sad that I have to wait for the next one.

See more by this author. Check out Florence.

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