trbartly's review
4.0
First off, I want to thank @jaironside for sending me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
In some ways, I Belong to the Earth is what I expected: mysterious, creepy, full of plot and drama.Yet, the depth of the characters and themes that Ironside tackles is incredible. She successfully addresses grief, healing, familial dysfunction, and respectfully represents a disabled main character. Though not perfect by any means, I think the good in this book far outweighs any bad I found. As I think it’s important to outline these good and bad aspects in more detail, I will get right into it.
I want to start by talking about the writing. At the beginning, it was quite choppy, with repetitive phrases and fragmented sentences that sometimes interrupted the flow of Emlynn’s narration. However, it vastly improves before the halfway point. The sentences became balanced, the phrases more diverse, and the descriptions much more vivid and natural. By the end, I’d highlighted so many beautiful bits of prose, some of my e-pages were practically rainbows. So, while the writing took a bit to get into, I ended up LOVING it in the end.
The plot was entertaining and kept me guessing until the very end!Although the pacing slowed a few times, it was balanced out with big plot reveals, and tense, suspenseful action. For the last 60 pages or so I literally could not put the book down. I wanted to know what was going to happen, but I also didn’t want the story to end. Also, the parallels Ironside made to Wuthering Heights were a respectful and awesome an homage to Emily Bronte and her story.
All of the characters in this book were superb. Not only did they each have a purpose for the story, but, like real people, there was no true good or bad. Instead, each character had their own motivations and dysfunctions. Not all the characters were likable (some were even downright villainous), but Ironside showed the reader why they did the things they did, and that made them understandable on some level.(Though, I do think the Brooklyn Nine-Nine quote, “Cool motive, still murder” definitely applies to several of them.)
In that same vein, let’s talk about Emlynn, the main character. She underwent a great amount of growth and healing throughout the book. I loved seeing her slowly gain more confidence in herself as she struggled not only with her grief and ability to see the dead, but communicating through her stutter and healing from the brain injury she sustained in the accident.I also loved that throughout the book, Ironside used Emlynn to show how important sisterly and familial relationships are, despite the difficulties she faced in both areas.
The only relationship I wasn’t wholly happy with was Ciaran and Em’s. I adored Ciaran as a character, and I understood how it fit into the plot, but the romance was a little rushed for me. Maybe it’s just because I’m a sucker for a good slow-burn, but I would have liked to see more of them becoming friends or working together to figure out the mystery, and then slowly becoming romantic. That said, I did really enjoy their moments together, especially when they traded witty remarks.
Lastly, I Belong to the Earth includes several references to Christianity and the Bible. And, Although, Emlynn is a self-described nonbeliever, I thought Ironside did a great job of representing that, while also being respectful of the faith as a whole and people that do believe.
All in all, this is a great book! It may be a ghost story at its base, but I Belong to the Earth is about so much more than ghosts. It’s about sisterhood, family, love (both the good and the bad), grief, and, most importantly, it’s about healing. So, even if you don’t particularly like ghost stories, I think that this book has something to teach and offer every reader. I, for one, cannot wait for the sequel!
In some ways, I Belong to the Earth is what I expected: mysterious, creepy, full of plot and drama.Yet, the depth of the characters and themes that Ironside tackles is incredible. She successfully addresses grief, healing, familial dysfunction, and respectfully represents a disabled main character. Though not perfect by any means, I think the good in this book far outweighs any bad I found. As I think it’s important to outline these good and bad aspects in more detail, I will get right into it.
I want to start by talking about the writing. At the beginning, it was quite choppy, with repetitive phrases and fragmented sentences that sometimes interrupted the flow of Emlynn’s narration. However, it vastly improves before the halfway point. The sentences became balanced, the phrases more diverse, and the descriptions much more vivid and natural. By the end, I’d highlighted so many beautiful bits of prose, some of my e-pages were practically rainbows. So, while the writing took a bit to get into, I ended up LOVING it in the end.
The plot was entertaining and kept me guessing until the very end!Although the pacing slowed a few times, it was balanced out with big plot reveals, and tense, suspenseful action. For the last 60 pages or so I literally could not put the book down. I wanted to know what was going to happen, but I also didn’t want the story to end. Also, the parallels Ironside made to Wuthering Heights were a respectful and awesome an homage to Emily Bronte and her story.
All of the characters in this book were superb. Not only did they each have a purpose for the story, but, like real people, there was no true good or bad. Instead, each character had their own motivations and dysfunctions. Not all the characters were likable (some were even downright villainous), but Ironside showed the reader why they did the things they did, and that made them understandable on some level.(Though, I do think the Brooklyn Nine-Nine quote, “Cool motive, still murder” definitely applies to several of them.)
In that same vein, let’s talk about Emlynn, the main character. She underwent a great amount of growth and healing throughout the book. I loved seeing her slowly gain more confidence in herself as she struggled not only with her grief and ability to see the dead, but communicating through her stutter and healing from the brain injury she sustained in the accident.I also loved that throughout the book, Ironside used Emlynn to show how important sisterly and familial relationships are, despite the difficulties she faced in both areas.
The only relationship I wasn’t wholly happy with was Ciaran and Em’s. I adored Ciaran as a character, and I understood how it fit into the plot, but the romance was a little rushed for me. Maybe it’s just because I’m a sucker for a good slow-burn, but I would have liked to see more of them becoming friends or working together to figure out the mystery, and then slowly becoming romantic. That said, I did really enjoy their moments together, especially when they traded witty remarks.
Lastly, I Belong to the Earth includes several references to Christianity and the Bible. And, Although, Emlynn is a self-described nonbeliever, I thought Ironside did a great job of representing that, while also being respectful of the faith as a whole and people that do believe.
All in all, this is a great book! It may be a ghost story at its base, but I Belong to the Earth is about so much more than ghosts. It’s about sisterhood, family, love (both the good and the bad), grief, and, most importantly, it’s about healing. So, even if you don’t particularly like ghost stories, I think that this book has something to teach and offer every reader. I, for one, cannot wait for the sequel!
jaironside's review
5.0
An Unveiled short story that sits between book two and book three.
This was born out of the research I did on mythical Black Dogs for 'I am the Silence' where I stumbled on this long standing and allegedly true story. Well there's just no way that Em would leave this uninvestigated so I give you Emlynn meeting the Black Dog of Lyme.
(Just a wee warning - since this is a ghost story, someone will have had to die. If you're very easily upset by stories about animals then I advise you to skip this - and maybe comfort yourself like I do that the Black Dog probably hounded the men involved for the rest of their natural lives... You won't miss anything major if you do skip it but if you want to give it a go there's some tantalising hints for book 3 in her. Enjoy and happy reading!)
Can be found on my site http://www.jaironside.com/ under 'The Veil' tab.
This was born out of the research I did on mythical Black Dogs for 'I am the Silence' where I stumbled on this long standing and allegedly true story. Well there's just no way that Em would leave this uninvestigated so I give you Emlynn meeting the Black Dog of Lyme.
(Just a wee warning - since this is a ghost story, someone will have had to die. If you're very easily upset by stories about animals then I advise you to skip this - and maybe comfort yourself like I do that the Black Dog probably hounded the men involved for the rest of their natural lives... You won't miss anything major if you do skip it but if you want to give it a go there's some tantalising hints for book 3 in her. Enjoy and happy reading!)
Can be found on my site http://www.jaironside.com/ under 'The Veil' tab.
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