Friday, May 25, 2012

The Faustian Host by Dave Becker

Plymouth Rock is bleeding. Day has turned to night. Hundred-pound hailstones level buildings. The small town of Clement seems cursed, and the residents know who's to blame: the new kid, Tony Marino.

After losing his family and his home, 14-year-old Tony is forced to move from Florida to Massachusetts to attend Kalos Academy, an unconventional school for gifted children. Strange things begin to happen the day he arrives, and soon stories of plagues, monsters, and mystical objects surround him. Refusing to believe superstitions, Tony struggles to explain the occurrences logically, until he comes face to face with a satanic cult determined to bring about the end of the world.



This book’s premise is definitely attention-grabbing, and thankfully, it doesn’t disappoint.

What’s best about the novel is the atmosphere, almost the little world he builds in Kalos, an academy for the highly gifted. The descriptions are well done, never overwhelming the plot. As the story progresses we really become immersed in the school. The characters, for the most part are well written, with Tony (the protagonist) being the most thought out. Some of the other, side characters, though, are left a bit underdeveloped, which is a shame since they all seemed like they could have had really interesting side-plots.

There are some unresolved plot points which left me wondering a little. Maybe the author is setting up for another book. That’s probably it, but I still felt like they should have been at least touched upon a little bit more to give us a better sense on what’ll be happening in the next installment.

This is a fun story, and I do recommend it to teens and even fantasy-loving adults.






1 comment:

Priya said...

That sounds like a great book; though, I admit, if I'd just seen the cover I probably wouldn't have picked it up. Being a fantasy-loving adult, I think I'd like to read it. I liked your nice and short review!