Review: A Brilliant Work
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 1, 2013
Who knows what true loneliness is - not the conventional word but the naked terror? To the lonely themselves it wears a mask. The most miserable outcast hugs some memory or some illusion.Joseph Conrad"All universal moral principles are idle fancies."Marquis de SadeThis isn't just a five-star review, ladies and gents. This is a full on, jumping up and down, screaming and squeeing and generally making an ass out of myself I am so excited about the book!Where do I start? There is just so much HERE. . .This is, in a way, as Mells describes it, an Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance, which is, as everyone knows by now, my favorite genre. However, that "title" doesn't even begin to delve into the wonder that is Mells writing.To be honest, when I first started the book, I was hesitant after the first couple of pages. Maybe her particular sort of "crazy" was a little too close to home for me. Memory. Obsession. Horror and fear. All living inside her head, counting steps and tiles and pain pain pain. Then, I kept turning pages. And becoming more and more engrossed into a world which includes, as I said, the UF genre, but is so very very much more.Pierce is just a very small child when we first meet her. The daughter of an addict, living in a hell of someone else's making, she is 'different' in some way she is not aware of. Different enough that her mother hands her books, and orders her to tell anyone she meets that she has Asperger's Syndrome."Never show anyone what you can do. Never. If you slip up and anyone questions you about it, you tell them you have Asperger's. Do you understand me?""Here are some books on the subject."Seemingly pretty strange for a child of six. But then, when that child can watch a foreign language movie and subsequently become fluent in said language with no training, that in itself is enough to worry that your child might become a pawn in someones perverted chess game. And that is only one of Pierce's strange and wonderful abilities.The perversions that flow through this book, and in no way do I mean that in a bad way, are horrifying, painful and yet a loud cry from the depths of the human soul. The strength of the human soul, and its ability to survive what no one should ever know exists, much less be required to survive."You are strong, you are a fighter, he will not know this, and you will win. Men will always underestimate the supposed weaker sex, even if they suspect them to be dangerous."Mells takes the 'modern fairy tale' stories of UF and turns them on their heads, giving them a deeper and 'truer' view of the creatures of myth and legend. Pierced touches on the twists and turns of the mythological soul - and yet, her grasp on these creatures, no matter how perfect, is outshone by her ability to touch upon the true depth of depravity that the human soul is able to plumb.Action, adventure, mystery, fantasy, suspense, it is all here. Wonderful and completely and with a raw brutality that sucks in the reader, keeping you on the edge of your seat and drawing you into a world so very like our own, and yet so very strange. The depths of mental illness (or something similar), the terror of living on the run, hallucinations and a really good recipe for steak and kidney pie. I know, weird, right? But so very right.I highly recommend you take a chance on Pierced. You are in for a book of depth and character I haven't seen since, well, I can't really remember off the top of my head. But take a pinch of Othello, throw in a heaping handful of Mildred Pierce and a big splash of Jack Kerouack. Serve with a blast of What It's Like by Everlast. Stir well and serve with a side of desperate hope. Just read it.Book courtesy of J. C. Mells, [ ... ]