The Book Of Lies by Terri Terry
Sep. 5th, 2016 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Tell a lie and the darkness will find you.
Quinn and Piper are twins, but they’ve never met. A tragic event brings them together, and draws them into a family curse that stretches across centuries.
One twin can command the darkness; the other could hold the key to breaking the curse.
But when lies become truth and truth looks like lies, who can you believe?
16-year-olds Quinn and Piper are twin sisters who have never met. Separated at birth by their mother, Quinn has been raised by her emotionally cold and abusive grandmother in a remote cottage in Dartmoor that had few amenities and where her mother only occasionally visited every few months. Piper was raised in a more affluent house by her mother and father (who has no idea of Quinn’s existence) and she has a loving boyfriend called Zak, who is taking time off from university following the death of his mother.
The two meet when their mother dies in a freak accident. For Quinn, Piper’s existence is a shock – but finally she thinks she understands her mother’s behaviour: she knew of the darkness within Quinn and was trying to keep Piper safe. Piper, however, is less surprised. She knows some of their family history but is keen for more answers and Quinn is the only person who can help her find them. Together they try to work out who their mother was and what she was hiding and in the process, discover dark secrets about themselves …
Teri Terry’s standalone YA novel mashes psychological thriller with supernatural fantasy to emotionally satisfying effect. The alternative first person narrative between Quinn and Piper is well done with Terry giving them each a distinctive voice and viewpoint and controlling the flow of information so that details are slowly revealed and discovered. Also good is the depiction of the relationship they each have with Zak (a rare example of a YA love triangle that’s reads true) with Terry unveiling additional facets of their character through their interactions with him. The fantasy elements are a bit of a slow burn and for me, the curse element was revealed a little too late for it to be as effective as it could have been, but the gradual revelation of the girls’ abilities – especially the dream scenes with the hounds, which are quite chilling – is eerie and effective. Writing wise, I thought that the dialogue could have been crisper in parts (at times it didn’t sound as naturalistic as it could have done) but Terry has a great sense of place – Winchester and Dartmoor are both rendered in believable detail with Dartmoor in particular portrayed with a haunting and bleak quality. All in all, I found this a good YA read and will definitely check out Terry’s next book.
The Verdict:
Teri Terry’s standalone YA novel mashes psychological thriller with supernatural fantasy to emotionally satisfying effect. The alternative first person narrative between Quinn and Piper is well done with Terry giving them each a distinctive voice and viewpoint and controlling the flow of information so that details are slowly revealed and discovered. Also good is the depiction of the relationship they each have with Zak (a rare example of a YA love triangle that’s reads true) with Terry unveiling additional facets of their character through their interactions with him. The fantasy elements are a bit of a slow burn and for me, the curse element was revealed a little too late for it to be as effective as it could have been, but the gradual revelation of the girls’ abilities – especially the dream scenes with the hounds, which are quite chilling – is eerie and effective. Writing wise, I thought that the dialogue could have been crisper in parts (at times it didn’t sound as naturalistic as it could have done) but Terry has a great sense of place – Winchester and Dartmoor are both rendered in believable detail with Dartmoor in particular portrayed with a haunting and bleak quality. All in all, I found this a good YA read and will definitely check out Terry’s next book.
Quinn and Piper are twins, but they’ve never met. A tragic event brings them together, and draws them into a family curse that stretches across centuries.
One twin can command the darkness; the other could hold the key to breaking the curse.
But when lies become truth and truth looks like lies, who can you believe?
16-year-olds Quinn and Piper are twin sisters who have never met. Separated at birth by their mother, Quinn has been raised by her emotionally cold and abusive grandmother in a remote cottage in Dartmoor that had few amenities and where her mother only occasionally visited every few months. Piper was raised in a more affluent house by her mother and father (who has no idea of Quinn’s existence) and she has a loving boyfriend called Zak, who is taking time off from university following the death of his mother.
The two meet when their mother dies in a freak accident. For Quinn, Piper’s existence is a shock – but finally she thinks she understands her mother’s behaviour: she knew of the darkness within Quinn and was trying to keep Piper safe. Piper, however, is less surprised. She knows some of their family history but is keen for more answers and Quinn is the only person who can help her find them. Together they try to work out who their mother was and what she was hiding and in the process, discover dark secrets about themselves …
Teri Terry’s standalone YA novel mashes psychological thriller with supernatural fantasy to emotionally satisfying effect. The alternative first person narrative between Quinn and Piper is well done with Terry giving them each a distinctive voice and viewpoint and controlling the flow of information so that details are slowly revealed and discovered. Also good is the depiction of the relationship they each have with Zak (a rare example of a YA love triangle that’s reads true) with Terry unveiling additional facets of their character through their interactions with him. The fantasy elements are a bit of a slow burn and for me, the curse element was revealed a little too late for it to be as effective as it could have been, but the gradual revelation of the girls’ abilities – especially the dream scenes with the hounds, which are quite chilling – is eerie and effective. Writing wise, I thought that the dialogue could have been crisper in parts (at times it didn’t sound as naturalistic as it could have done) but Terry has a great sense of place – Winchester and Dartmoor are both rendered in believable detail with Dartmoor in particular portrayed with a haunting and bleak quality. All in all, I found this a good YA read and will definitely check out Terry’s next book.
The Verdict:
Teri Terry’s standalone YA novel mashes psychological thriller with supernatural fantasy to emotionally satisfying effect. The alternative first person narrative between Quinn and Piper is well done with Terry giving them each a distinctive voice and viewpoint and controlling the flow of information so that details are slowly revealed and discovered. Also good is the depiction of the relationship they each have with Zak (a rare example of a YA love triangle that’s reads true) with Terry unveiling additional facets of their character through their interactions with him. The fantasy elements are a bit of a slow burn and for me, the curse element was revealed a little too late for it to be as effective as it could have been, but the gradual revelation of the girls’ abilities – especially the dream scenes with the hounds, which are quite chilling – is eerie and effective. Writing wise, I thought that the dialogue could have been crisper in parts (at times it didn’t sound as naturalistic as it could have done) but Terry has a great sense of place – Winchester and Dartmoor are both rendered in believable detail with Dartmoor in particular portrayed with a haunting and bleak quality. All in all, I found this a good YA read and will definitely check out Terry’s next book.
