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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

MICHELLE'S REVIEW: Obsidian Mirror by Catherine Fisher

Title: Obsidian Mirror
Author: Catherine Fisher
Format Acquired: Hardcover
Publication Date: April 23, 2013
Publishing House: Dial Books
ISBN: 9780803739697
Source of Copy: Purchased from Fully Booked

Summary:

THE OBSIDIAN MIRROR

Its power is great and terrible. Men have been lost in it, the dead brought back to life through it, and the future annihilated by it. That's what will happen, unless the mirror is destroyed. Someone has been sent from the future to do just that. But someone else will protect the mirror at all costs, obsessed with its power. And yet another needs the mirror to find a murdered father and save his life. 


 Only one can succeed.

(Image and information courtesy of Goodreads; Summary lifted from actual book)

Review:

Jake had to resort himself to extreme measures to make sure he gets kicked out of his Switzerland boarding school - the school paid for by his father's best friend and killer, Oberon Venn. He wants answers, and he's pretty sure that the only one who can answer him is Oberon, who has seemingly put him far from sight, far from mind to evade from Jake's relentless pursuit concerning his father's whereabouts. Accompanied by his teacher, Jake makes it to Wintercombe Abbey determined to get to the bottom of things once and for all. But things are not always as they seem. Determined to get back his dead wife, Oberon has run several tests with the obsidian mirror, a curio that enables time travel. Oberon isn't the only one who has plans for it, however. Because the obsidian mirror has a rightful owner, and a person from the future who will need to destroy it before someone else becomes obsessed with its power.

I'll be frank and say that Obsidian Mirror more or less disappointed me. The first chapter got me all excited about the book because it was what I was really expecting, only to have the next chapters bore me to the point that I had to reach for another book from time to time. While I do appreciate how Fisher managed to include a LOT of different story elements in this one, I didn't like the fact that some chapters, even when they were supposed to be the more exciting ones, just didn't deliver.

What I do like about this book is the fact that there is no forced romance (Cue inner fist pump.) and that the story seemed to have a mind of its own. Like I said, the story incorporated a lot of story elements/genres that would arouse the inner skeptic in you, but Fisher makes it somehow work. There weren't really any illogical events, per se - just boring ones.

While I didn't harbor any sort of attachment to the characters, the characterization was decent. The pace was initially slow, and would probably put off some of the more impatient readers. Admittedly, I do like this a little more than Fisher's Incarceron series, but I think I'll pass on the next book.

Catherine Fisher's Obsidian Mirror has a great plot in theory, but the execution will probably disappoint readers who are expecting kickbutt protagonists and killer twists. I know I was.

Rating:

           


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