Review: The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

Title: The Book of Blood and Shadow
Author: Robin Wasserman
Published: April 2012
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 448
Genre(s): YA, mystery

It was like a nightmare, but there was no waking up. When the night began, Nora had two best friends and an embarrassingly storybook one true love. When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands and an echoing scream that stopped only when the tranquilizers pierced her veins and left her in the merciful dark.

But the next morning, it was all still true: Chris was dead. His girlfriend Adriane, Nora’s best friend, was catatonic. And Max, Nora’s sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also—according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone—a murderer.

Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora follows the trail of blood, no matter where it leads. It ultimately brings her to the ancient streets of Prague, where she is drawn into a dark web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all driven by a mad desire to possess something that might not even exist. For buried in a centuries-old manuscript is the secret to ultimate knowledge and communion with the divine; it is said that he who controls the Lumen Dei controls the world. Unbeknownst to her, Nora now holds the crucial key to unlocking its secrets. Her night of blood is just one piece in a puzzle that spans continents and centuries. Solving it may be the only way she can save her own life.

-- Cover Critique --

This is one cover that I don't like. Maybe it's because I fell in love with this cover first: 

I think that's the UK cover? Anyways, it is absolutely beautiful and full of colours and excitement, unlike the US cover, which is a bit more dull, although the building in her eye is a nice touch. While the cover looks OK digitally, in real life it comes across as a bit ... cartoonish? But my major problem with the design of the book is that the spine and back cover are both white, bland and boring and don't connect with the book at all! The inside of the hardcover has a nice cityscape in blue and black, but the outside is just so... blah. Also, the shadowy font, while it works a bit on the cover, is hard to focus on and looks weird on the back cover and throughout the book for section headings. I honestly thought my library had messed up the covers some how, but no, that's the official book cover and layout :( 

-- Expectations --

I was really excited for The Book of Blood and Shadow because it sounded like it had an excellent mystery, while combining aspects of travel, adventure, and history. I was so looking forward to it that I placed a hold on it soon as I found it in my library's catalogue, so I would be the first to get it. I don't think I had *high* expecations, but I was expecting a good story!

-- Review --

The Book of Blood and Shadow follows a group of friends as they try and solve the murder of one of their own. This brings them to Prague, where they must try to put together missing pieces of a historical puzzle that is part of a larger master plan that they would have never expected. That's my quick summary... but if I had to choose one word to define this book, it would sadly be: lackluster. Let me explain.

The characters. *sigh* I wanted to like Nora, the protagonist, and whose POV we experience the story from. I really did. However, not matter how I wanted to, I never ended up truly caring about any of the characters. Even in pivotal moments I found myself bored, and not shocked by the characters actions because I just didn't care. The characters felt very empty and were lacking in true personality. They seemed to fall into stereotypical categories: Nora was good at Latin and smart. Adrianne was beautiful and practically perfect, as was her boyfriend Chris. Max was the "geek". Then, if you can believe it, there was one character who we knew even less about, except that he could speak Czech! In addition, it was hard to believe that kids who are 17 could travel so easily by themselves, and be ace detectives, with one practically a professional at translating Latin (even if she grew up with it, I still didn't buy that she could be THAT good, especially since she went for a few years without practicing it). It was just so much to accept at face value! 

Then there was the writing. OH the writing. Let me just say that it was severely lacking, IMO, to the point where I almost quit 50 pages in because it was so distracting from the story being told. There were run on sentences like NO other, and I mean, sentences that took up half a page before a period was in sight. This made it difficult to follow the train of thought as little details padded sentences that trailed on for lines upon lines. It was exhausting! The first hundred pages or so, run-on sentences were extremely frequent, although much less so in the later half of the book. Even without run-on sentences, the writing wasn't anything special. I expected something more from Robin Wasserman, who has numerous books under her belt. Overall, the writing did nothing to draw me in, and in the end, yes, it has affected my rating because it bothered me so much.

Now, onto the actual mystery and plot. I can't say much without spoiling the storyline, but I do think the comparison to the DaVinci Code is a fair one, as the mystery is complex and sort of follows a similar religious storyline. I did enjoy learning about Prague's history, and how it factored into the mystery. However, I think because the writing was off putting, and the characters were flat that the mystery lost a lot my interest, and I was reading to find out what happened and be done with it. In the end, I think what the mystery unfolded to was also underwhelming. I was like, really? You're going to pull that NOW? Reveal upon reveal, coupled with numerous action sequences, left me with a conclusion that I was less than impressed with, sadly. The story seemed sort of pointless by the end *sigh*.

Overall, the Book of Blood and Shadow was a major disappointment. While the mystery was complex, and at times exciting, as the characters race around Prague's historical sites, the lack of a connection with the characters, coupled with a writing style that just didn't work for me, left me feeling less than impressed. Oddly enough, I found myself more enticed by the afterword and acknowledgements - no lie! Going into The Book of Blood and Shadow, I was excited to start reading, but as it turns out, I was even more excited to finish it.