Annotation:
Sixteen-year-old
Wendy and her mother are both Lightbringers: humans with the ability to see
Earthbound souls and send them into the Light. After Wendy’s mother
mysteriously falls into a coma, however, she will do anything to find her soul
and help restore her to life. When Wendy meets Piotr, a teenage ghost who
dedicates his afterlife to protecting the souls of children, the two work
together to search for Wendy’s mother and to try and find out why the children
Piotr watches over have begun to disappear.
Personal
thoughts: This was one of those novels that, after I finished reading it, I
wasn’t really sure what to think. Since I live in Silicon Valley, I naturally
enjoyed the setting and references to things like Great America, the Great
Mall, etc. I also thought that the minor characters in the novel were
interesting, especially Piotr’s fellow Riders. I just couldn’t wrap my head around
what exactly was going on with Wendy, the White Lady, and Piotr’s missing
children. I was struggling to understand what was happening, and it seemed to
get more and more confusing with each chapter. I also found the relationship
between Wendy and Piotr to be unsettling, even though I’ve read novels with
human/ghost romances before. I’m interested to see what happens in the sequel,
but I don’t know if I would recommend this title readily.
Plot
summary: After she witnessed the death of her best friend Eddie’s father in
a tragic car accident when she was twelve, Wendy, now sixteen, has been able to
see Earthbound spirits: those who have died but continue to exist in the Never,
a world similar to that of the living, but visible only to a select few. Wendy,
like her mother, is a Lightbringer and has the ability to call forth the Light
that sends souls into the world beyond the Never, setting them free and
bringing them peace. Wendy can’t discuss her abilities with anyone but Eddie,
and spends of her spare time training with her mom, trying to perfect her
skills and learning about the intricacies of the afterlife. Everything changes,
however, when Wendy’s mom inexplicably falls into a coma, her soul nowhere to
be found. Wendy gives up reaping lost souls in order to search for her mother
in the Never, hoping to find her and reunite her with her body, bringing her
back to life. One day, Wendy encounters Piotr, the ghost of a Russian teenager
who has spent his afterlife as a Rider: someone who protects the souls of
children caught in the Never. Piotr is on a hunt of his own, trying to find out
why some of the children he and the other riders in San Francisco watch over
have begun to disappear. Piotr and Wendy decide to work together, and begin to
form a relationship that seems to be more than just business. Can Wendy find
her mother and help Piotr save the children he has sworn to protect?
Review: From debut
author K.D. McEntire comes this interesting if somewhat strange new series that
creates an afterlife that is much more than ghosts simply haunting graveyards
and rattling chains. Set in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Lightbringer is the story of Wendy, a
goth-girl who actually has something to be morose about. Unlike other stories
with similar concepts, Wendy begins the story knowing about her powers and
being familiar with how to send ghosts into the Light. Many novels that have
had a protagonist discovering that they have some kind of supernatural ability
tend to spend a lot of chapters focusing on said person learning how to do
whatever it is they can do. That is not the case in Lightbringer. Instead, Wendy is more comfortable with her powers,
and uses them to help solve the mystery of her mother’s condition and Piotr’s
missing children. Although the storyline does have some interesting portions,
however, much of the novel is, simply put, odd. The relationship between Eddie
and Wendy is confusing, as are the details of her inevitable romance with the
very-much-dead Piotr. There is also quite a bit of cussing, but it doesn’t
always seem to fit in the moment. The end of the novel does pick up quite a bit
and become exciting, but, overall, the story is a mixed-bag. The next
installment in the series, Reaper, is
set to be released on August 24, 2012.
Genre: Science-fiction
Reading
level: Grade 8+
Similar
titles: Dearly,
Departed by Lia Habel, Hereafter by
Tara Hudson, Juliet Immortal by
Stacey Jay, Shattered Souls by Mary
Lindsey, Soul Screamers series by
Rachel Vincent, Anna Dressed in Blood by
Kendare Blake.
Themes: Ghosts, lost souls, reapers, death, the
afterlife, mother/daughter relationships, sibling relationships, romance, San Francisco.
Awards/Reviews:
Positive reviews from authors Kristoper Reisz
and Robin Wasserman.
Series
Information: First installment in Lightbringer series. Second installment, Reaper, set to be released August 24, 2012.
Discussion
questions:
-
Why do you think Wendy didn’t want a
relationship with Eddie? Do you think it’s common for long time friends to
develop romantic feelings for each other?- Why do you think Wendy didn’t tell Piotr about being the Lightbringer? Do you think it was the right thing to do?
- Which of the Riders did you like the best? Why?
- How did you feel about Wendy and Piotr forming a romantic relationship? How would you feel about a friendship with a ghost?
- Were you surprised to learn the truth about the White Lady? Why or why not?
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