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Friday, September 2, 2011

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton



            When I was in the 8th grade my best friend was a storyteller, by which I mean I could sit and listen to her tell stories for hours.  We were in plays together and liked to listen to Broadway musicals.  She had an amazing voice, could draw beautifully, honestly there wasn’t anything about her that wasn’t artistic.  They say people are drawn to their natural opposites, and Tess was mine.

            Tess gave me books to read that completely changed the person I was becoming.  I am the tree hugging, flaming liberal I am today because my best friend in middle school had more common sense than most of the adults I have known.  She is an old soul.

            When I read Blood Magic I could hear her voice inside my head reading it to me.  There was so much of her in it that I could recognize, and the best part is that it was really well written.  I will be honest, the genre she is writing in is not my cup of tea anymore, hasn’t been for years, but when I started reading her book I couldn’t put it down.  I can’t say the same for The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo or any of those Twilighty books.  While their content might be interesting to some, I find myself cringing when I read the dialogue or internal monologues of the main characters.  Tessa’s book is different.  She has a rich sense of language that comes from having read voraciously since she was a child.  Her setting, which is as much a character as the protagonists, is beautifully rendered without being cheesy or boring.  The book also has a natural flow, which is a difficult feat for most writers.  Instead of stopping and starting, staggering along as she unfolds each event, there is a real sense that every chapter, each line is planned and specifically placed.

            I might be biased as a reader because I really care about the author, but I am generally more inclined as a person to be critical of literary endeavors.
            I am truly looking forward to the next installment in this series