Friday, August 13, 2010

Review/ Manifest by Artist Arthur

Friday, August 13, 2010
When fifteen-year-old Krystal Bentley moves to Lincoln, Connecticut, her mom's hometown, she assumes her biggest drama will be adjusting to the burbs after living in New York City. But Lincoln is nothing like Krystal imagined. The weirdness begins when Ricky Watson starts confiding in her. He's cute, funny, a good listener—and everything she'd ever want—except that he was killed nearly a year ago. Krystal's ghost-whispering talents soon lead other "freaks" to her door—Sasha, a rich girl who can literally disappear, and Jake, who moves objects with his mind. All three share a distinctive birthmark in the shape of an M and, fittingly, call themselves the Mystyx. They set out to learn what really happened to Ricky, only to realize that they aren't the only ones with mysterious powers. But if Krystal succeeds in finding out the truth about Ricky's death, will she lose him for good?

In her debut YA novel, Artist Arthur writes a suspense filled story that had me reading non-stop and left me wanting more.

Manifest’s cultural diverse cast of characters and its paranormal mystery is a definite treat. It is also a terrific coming of age story. While Krystal does come off as snarky especially with her mother and new step-father, I was not put off by this at all. After all, she has been uprooted from NYC to a small town in Connecticut, she hasn’t a clue why her mother divorced her father, and she has a ghost badgering her for help. I’m thinking I might be a bit cranky too. Eventually, Krystal learns all the particulars of her parent’s break-up, and to her credit Krystal makes amends.

The plot revolves around Ricky a ghost who has asked Krystal to help him figure out who murdered him. As Krystal begins to understand why it is that she is able to see ghosts, she also begins to make friends with Sasha and Jake who like her have abilities that are manifesting and are tied to a mysterious birth-mark that all three of them have.  Together they attempt to not only help Ricky, but to seek out answers about themselves.

I found Arthur’s characters completely relatable and the dialog authentic. The addition of sex-texting added a creep factor to the mystery and helped build tension. Arthur also threw in enough red herrings that it took me a few false guesses before I figured out who killed Ricky.

Since this is the first book in a series, there are of course a lot of questions left unanswered, about Kyrstal and her friend’s abilities, but I am sure that Arthur will provide more in the next book.

I thoroughly enjoyed Manifest. It is a great addition to the YA genre appealing not only to those who love the paranormal, but mysteries too.


Source: ARC copy received through We Love YA Tours

11 comments:

Aleksandra said...

Great review! I want to read it ;)

Mrs. DeRaps said...

Nice review. I've been wondering about this book. And, I like it when authors take on modern issues, like sexting. Sometimes my students need to see those issues in print to think about them in a more objective light.

I'm off to wishlist this book...

Irena @ This Miss Loves to Read said...

Paranormal YA mysteries are really cool. Great review and thanks for sharing!

Emidy @ Une Parole said...

I had no idea this book was part of a series! I do enjoy mysteries, so maybe I'll get the chance to read Manifest someday. Great review!

Daisy said...

This book is at the top of my to-read list as I also have an ARC copy. I'm glad you liked it! Plus, I didn't research this one and am glad you mentioned it's part of a series, cause the last one I read was kind of confusing, since I didn't know it was a series.

Michelle Santiago said...

Wow, this sounds really interesting! I love the idea of a paranormal mystery and will be keeping an eye out for this. Glad you liked it!

Thanks for the great review Jan!

-Leslie:)

Christina T said...

I have this for review from NetGalley but haven't had time to read it yet. I really enjoyed your review. I'm glad to hear that it has a good mystery and that you liked it.

Tammy (The Book Fairy's Haven) said...

I so enjoyed reading your review Jan. Am definitely adding this to my TBR pile and will keep an eye out for this in the shops!

Darlyn said...

Thanks for the review. I've been eying to read this book and never know it is actually part of a series!

Mardel said...

I thank you for mentioning the dialogue. That is one of my pet peeves. Mostly when dialogue is lame for the character, but to a lesser degree when a teen speaks like a oh, let's say a 50 year old. LOL I know there are a lot of very intelligent teens out there, but they usually don't speak as if they are writing an English paper.

Do you think this book is mild enough for middle grade students?

Jenny N. said...

Nice review, I thought it was an ok read but I'm probably going to pick up the next book to find out where the story is headed.

 
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