Chime

Franny Billingsley

Summary:

‘I’ve confessed to everything and I’d like to be hanged. Now, if you please.’

Briony knows she is a witch. She also knows that now her beloved stepmother is dead she must look after her beautiful but complicated twin sister, Rose. Then the energetic, electric, golden-haired Eldric arrives in her home town of Swampsea, and everything that Briony thinks about herself and her life is turned magically, dizzyingly upside down.

                                                             

Plot:

This is a wonderfully twisted fairytale. I liked almost everything about the story, even though I had a pretty good idea about what the big plot twist was going to be (maybe I read too much? I seem to know exactly what’s going to happen in every book I read these days). However, even with the predictable storyline, the descriptions are different and intriguing and the story is easy to read. I liked that the story had an old-fashioned feel to it (it’s set in the 1800’s) but still manages to stay relevant. This creates that fairytale atmosphere without making the reader feel disconnected to the story.

Characters:

(WARNING, SOME SPOILERS ABOUT THE CHARACTERS MAY FOLLOW!) What I liked most about the main character is the strange sort of self-denial she’s got fixed in her brain about herself being a normal, feeling human being (that rhymes...sort of...anyways), she’s convinced herself that she isn’t capable of loving someone. This kind of character, who is so clueless about things, irritates me sometimes, but in her case I just sympathised, which means the writing was pretty good. I really fell in love with Eldric as well, he’s the perfect storybook hero, without being too perfect...if that makes sense. The villian (trying not to add too many spoilers here) is extremely scary, once you realise the depth of her (or his) depravity.

Who should read this:

12+, there is practically no language, but the violence and sexual content might be a little too much for younger readers, it’s never explicit, just a little disturbing. The idea of witches, and strange swamp-creatures (no ogres, this is not Shrek) might also be objectionable to some people. If you like fairytales, but want something a little different you might enjoy this one.

My rating:

I enjoyed this book, but it wasn’t exciting enough to make me feel like I couldn’t put it down. The best part was undoubtedly the characters.4/5

Quote:

‘That fellow was a hero, and I’m not a hero at all.’