September 2010, Harper Collins Children's Books
232 pages, Paperback
Review copy
Young Adult, Paranormal
A little bit of violence, lots of paranormal activity (some is really spooky), friendships, deception, frequent peril
Summary from Harper Collins Children's Books
Four freak accidents. Four mysterious deaths. Four signs of trouble. Welcome back to Weirdsville…
"You see, the girls that died – it wasn't by accident. They were cursed, every one of them. Cursed to meet a horrible death… And I'm going to be next." Four girls from posh school Riverbank have been killed in seemingly random but freakish ways and it’s not long before Bethan and co. are lured into investigating the grisly case. Is it really just coincidence or is there something more sinister going on? Meanwhile Hashim’s playing truant, Kelly’s on the warpath and Jay’s trying to avoid someone even more close to home… Himself. Scary, paranormal and supernaturally chilling experiences are everyday in a town like Weirdsville…
Nayuleska's thoughts
Nearly Departed was a little spooky. Immortal Remains is very spooky. It felt like my spine was on edge all the way through the book, especially to the very last sentence. Cliff hanger endings have me both loving and hating the authors who do this. I love it because I'm so eager for the next book. I hate it because this cliffhanger is particularly major, involving the one of the main characters.
As for the story itself, the events in Woodsville tests Bethan's friends to their coping limits. I'm referring to their emotional coping limits, as well as their physical coping limits. Death lurked on every page for all of them. With death came an enormous amount of suspense which led to a lot of breath holding. (Don't worry, I'm breathing now). Friendships require a lot of effort to maintain. it's a bit hard when one person doesn't make the effort at a crucial point in the other's lives. I understood why Hashim stayed away from the gang of friends (I mean gang in a friendly sense, not in the come beat me up sense). It was a natural reaction. However, I wanted to hit him over the head and point out why his friends needed him so much.
Bethan is by far my favourite character, especially with what happens at the end. Albert is a new character on the scene, one with a great deal of wisdom (most of the time) and mystery. As for the girl who believes she's the next to die, well there's a lot more to her than meets the eye. And that's all I can say on the matter. (Now you're guessing what's going on, aren't you? Go read the book!)
Final Conclusion
Life in Woodsville has leapt up a few notches in the spooky factor.
Check out book one in the series, Nearly Departed, my first interview with Rook, and the second one.
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