Meridian - Amber Kizer

Meridian is a fantasy novel written by Amber Kizer. It was released on 11th August 2009 in hardback and will be released in August this year (2010) in paperback. Meridian is 320 pages long and currently available for £7.53 on Amazon.

Plot

Meridian has always been surrounded by death for as long as she remembers. Dead insects and animals have found their way to her bedroom and nothing she does will stop them coming. If this wasn't bad enough, it seems that these dead animals are making her really ill as well. After dealing with this for a long time, she has pretty much accepted that she is a freak and will never have a normal life. The only person who treats her like everyone else is her little brother, Sammy.

On Meridian's sixteenth birthday, something terrible nearly happens and her parents, in a huge panic, put her on a bus to go live with Auntie in Colorado. Just like Auntie, Meridian is a Fenestra, a human/angel hybrid who helps souls move on. This explains the dying animals. Meridian has been sent to learn how to do her job but finds it extremely hard to cope with what is being asked of her. Finally feeling like so much of a freak, Meridian is completely attracted to Tens, Aunties companion and it turns out that they have a lot more in common than she thought.

As everyone knows, when there are good guys, there are also bad guys...

What I thought
Loved, loved, loved this book. It had been sat in my wish list on Amazon for such a long time because I didn't really want to pay for it as a hardback but I eventually gave in and I must say, it is worth every penny.

Meridian was one hell of a heroine. It seems like in many books of this genre, the hero/ heroine is extremely willing take up her fate without any signs of a fight. Meridian was completely different. She has long come to accept the fact that things die when she is around (even if this isn't the real case) and has learnt to kind of accept it. When she is shoved on a bus to go live with her Auntie and her real talents are explained, she wants nothing to do with them, nearly flat out refusing to have anything to do with her fate. Even when she is learning how to cope with her power, she still doesn't really want to be a part of it and you can feel the pain she goes through each time she tries to be better. Meridian is extremely strong for a female character in this genre, seeing as they are normally portrayed as quite weak and easily led but she knows exactly what she wants and how she feels and isn't afraid to show it at all.

Right from the first page, I was drawn into the story and extremely curious about Meridian. The author described her past and feelings so well that I couldn't help but feel connected to her which was a very clever thing to do. Any good author will know that no body wants to read about a character they don't like so this time, Meridian was made as likable as possible in such a short amount of time.

Tens, the love interest doesn't play much of a big role until the second half of the story when he begins to come out of his shell. I don't think that the relationship between him and Meridian was drawn out enough and due to this, parts felt extremely rushed and not quite right. That being said, I know a sequel is in the works so I am hoping that this aspect is expanded on a lot more. One of my biggest problems with Tens is that I cant picture him at all. He is a mysterious character anyways but I didn't really get much of a feel for him and he wasn't described well at all.

There is not a dull moment in this story. There is a lot of action and mystery but also a love story at the same time. One of the most predominant themes is Religion but it is never over done or thrown in your face. Quite a bit of history is given concerning what everyone is and what their roles are which is something I found really interesting. At the same time, it made the story less confusing and easy to follow. I really enjoyed that character of the preacher of the church, even though I wasn't supposed to. The way he speaks, sounding very Southern and quoting the bible a lot made me think of how crazy preachers are portrayed in films so it was very easy to picture what he would be like.

The ending was a little rushed and I was quite disappointed by this. After such an amazing story, I felt kind of cheated but knowing there will be a sequel makes me a little happier. There are some twists and turns throughout but overall, somewhat predictable at times.

Meridian was much better than I had first expected. A very welcome change to the fantasy genre and I think it would be suitable for anyone over 15. There isn't any sex scenes or much bad language but as I said, quite a lot about religion so maybe not to everyone's taste.