The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick
Four stories: all unique and all tied together with the central theme of spirals. I have to say that I loved two of the stories, liked one of them and the remaining story, I was speechless at the end. To see the central theme in the stories, it could plainly be seen in some of the stories but in others, it was as clear as mud. What was so amazing to me was how different the stories were and how the author tried to loop them together. I think I would have enjoyed the stories just as much without the central theme threading them together, as I felt it really didn’t add much to the stories. So what’s your opinion or theory on spirals, I really didn’t have one until I read this book.
The stories I loved was Whispers in the Dark and The Easiest Room in Hell. In Whispers in the Dark, this story was told in verse and I loved the way that this story played out. The girl desperately wants to be the one who makes magic for her village and is determined to get the job done. In The Easiest Room in Hell, the human spirit is alive and the book’s cover is revealed. The Witch in the Water, I really liked but I wished there would have been something unique added to it and The Song of Destiny, well I followed along with this story until the end and then in the final pages, it lost me. I understand what it was saying, but what?!? really, come on, this really cannot be happening in the final moments. This is my first book by Marcus Sedgwick and I liked his writing and his imagination, I will have to see what else he has out there.
