The Reventant

Review: The Revenant, by Sonia Gensler

Author's website: http://soniagensler.blogspot.com/ 

I was excited to read this, because it has an awesome premise. I like historical fiction. I like paranormal. I like stories about the West. I like well-written love stories. So a book that combines all this? Awesome!

Well, okay. This book was good (I had to know how it ended, and it kept me reading) but it wasn't as good as I had hoped. First of all, our main character is fleeing home. She's paranoid and afraid she's going to get caught. As a reader, I was immediately drawn in. I was intrigued! And then, her reasons for leaving didn't satisfy me. I never fully felt like she had to go, like this was a good thing for her. I felt like she was an immature, spoiled brat who was running away from responsibility. The author never really convinced me otherwise, and in the end, I was right. I don't think that's how this character was supposed to be portrayed.

I liked the paranormal parts, but honestly the climax didn't really meld with the rest of the book. It was cool, and I liked it, but it left me with too many questions. If the ghost knew it could do that, why hadn't it before? Then there were all the things that happened in the school because of the ghost, and I felt like they could have been done better. Especially the water parts. The water at the end was great, but it left me with too many questions about what had happened earlier. It drew me out of the story and I didn't like that.

Now on to the love story. It had so much potential! I thought it was going to be one of the good, developed romances, instead of the usual I-don't-really-know-you-but-I-love-you-undyingly kind I get so tired of. But it wasn't . Really, our main characters never "fall" in love. They are physically attracted to each other, and that's the bulk of it. We are told they know and love each other, but we're not shown through their time spent together and conversations. Because of this, I did really love the end. It's a fitting ending, and some of the only maturity our main character shows throughout the novel.

I realize this review is mostly negative, but that's not really how I felt about the book. I liked it, and maybe I'd read it again, but it wasn't as good as I felt it could have been. That's the kicker - I feel like the author could have done it better. Would I recommend reading it? Yes! Maybe you'll disagree with me. Who knows?