Skip to main content

Review: Blackwood by Gwenda Bond


On Roanoke Island, the legend of the 114 people who mysteriously vanished from the Lost Colony hundreds of years ago is just an outdoor drama for the tourists, a story people tell. But when the island faces the sudden disappearance of 114 people now, an unlikely pair of 17-year-olds may be the only hope of bringing them back.

Miranda, a misfit girl from the island’s most infamous family, and Phillips, an exiled teen criminal who hears the voices of the dead, must dodge everyone from federal agents to long-dead alchemists as they work to uncover the secrets of the new Lost Colony. The one thing they can’t dodge is each other.

Blackwood is a dark, witty coming of age story that combines America’s oldest mystery with a thoroughly contemporary romance.


***

I enjoyed Blackwood because it had a brilliant lead character and some unique and interesting ideas which kept me guessing throughout the book.

I really enjoyed how the author used a legend and twisted it to make her own story centring around the disappearance of people from a small town in the USA. I thought the story was really creepy as you are never quite sure about what is going on and why everything is happening. It makes for some intense atmosphere as the story goes on and the ideas certainly get quite deep as the story goes on leaving you lots to think about.

I really loved the duo of Miranda, the local misfit and Phillips, the local bad boy and their relationship throughout the story. I really liked seeing how they sparked off each other and how similar they both were in their isolation. I found the more I got to know them the more I wanted to get behind them and root for them and their plight.

What I really liked about this book is the intensity of it. The story take place over a few days which means it feels a bit like events are unfolding in real time in front of you. I found this meant I really felt right in the middle of the action from page one and gave it a real cinematic feel.

Definitely an author I will be keeping my eye out for in the future

Comments

Ahh! Another book waiting for me to read! I'm so far behind and all of the books sound so good..