Genre: Thriller?
Pages: 448
Date of Release: April 10, 2012
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Rating: 8.25/10
Summary: It was like a nightmare, but there was no waking up. When the night began, Nora had two best friends and an embarrassingly storybook one true love. When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands and an echoing scream that stopped only when the tranquilizers pierced her veins and left her in the merciful dark.
But the next morning, it was all still true: Chris was dead. His girlfriend Adriane, Nora’s best friend, was catatonic. And Max, Nora’s sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also—according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone—a murderer.
Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora follows the trail of blood, no matter where it leads. It ultimately brings her to the ancient streets of Prague, where she is drawn into a dark web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all driven by a mad desire to possess something that might not even exist. For buried in a centuries-old manuscript is the secret to ultimate knowledge and communion with the divine; it is said that he who controls the Lumen Dei controls the world. Unbeknownst to her, Nora now holds the crucial key to unlocking its secrets. Her night of blood is just one piece in a puzzle that spans continents and centuries. Solving it may be the only way she can save her own life. -Goodreads
Sorry, I had to put a question by the genre section! I can't seem to find a genre that fits this book. It was just too good:)
After Nora's brother died, she and her parents spent time in solitude... literally. Nora's father locked himself in his office, her mom took a 24 hour job and Nora? She was left for herself. Her friends at school didn't understand how her stupid brother and a popular girl could end up dead from a car crash.
Two years later, Nora and her parents move to a new town. There, Nora meets kind-hearted, Chris and Chris's to-be-girlfriend Adriane. Nora also meets her first true love, Max. But Max isn't what he seems to be. When Nora's professor, Chris and Max start unravel the mysterious, Lumen Dei, things start to get ugly, really fast. The professor gets a "heart attack" and then Nora steal a important piece of information to the Lumen Dei. The next day, Chris is murdered and Adriane goes crazy and Max... no where to be seen. So, naturally everyone suspects Max to be the murderer.
Through a intensifying journey of notes from the past, a possible ally and unlocking the secrets to the Lumen Dei, Nora will have to watch her back, before they get her.
To be honest, I didn't really enjoy the beginning. It started off a bit to slow. But it started going faster when Nora and Max started piecing information together about Lumen Dei. Nora was a very strong character. The book described every detail about her, so well in fact that I could actually guess what she was going to do or say next. And even though she was a bit of a pessimist, she found "true" love in Max. Though it was easy to detect that there was something wrong with him. Max had these weird mood swings, like he was fed up of Nora, then he'd go back to being Mr. Nice guy.
I don't know why they included Nora's brother's death into this. I didn't see the point. But Chris's death was a whole other thing. Nora gives him the stuff she stole and he dies the next day. That means whatever Nora stole was very, very impotant and that is where the story starts off.
I enjoyed reading Elizabeth's diary or journal or whatever you call it. It gave hints to Nora about how she was supoosed to work the Lumen Dei and keep it from prying minds. There were times, though when I thought that there were too much of Elizabeth's notes. I wanted it to hurry along and get back to the interesting parts.
Before beginning her journey to Prague, Nora meets Chris's supposed cousin, Eli. Let me tell you, that I knew that Nora was going to fall in love or like with this guy in the end. I like to call it my sixth sense to know who with who is going to fall in love with eachother:) Anyways, Eli seems like no one should trust. Even weirder he says that his parents taught him everything to know about Prague and just happens to know how to Nora. Suspicious much?
It got confusing at the end, where there are now two groups who want or gaurd the Lumen Dei for different reasons. Then, Max and Eli are on the opposite teams and are against each other. Then, Nora is the Chosen One. Then, Adriane is having an affair with Max behind Nora's back! Oh no, she did not! Yeah, my brain still hurts from trying to figure the ending out.
I know I say this at the end of every review, but... is there going to be a sequel? It doesn't seem like there will, but I'm curious how life adapts for Eli and Nora afterwards.
" 'Something'-would be God, I take it?" Eli asked.
"That would be God. And you know what? If there is a God,
and it's the same God who's so eager to have temples built in
honor of his greatness, and wars fought over him, and people
dropping to their knees telling him what a wondeful, magnificent
being he is? If this all-powerful, all-knowing creature for some
reason just can't get by without my worship? Then let him give
me some proof. Or at least get over himself if I decide to go out
and get some. You think there's a reason people need faith? Like
there's a reason for anything else happens? Right. Is there a
reason Chris had to die? Or that-" I swallowed it.
-The Book of Blood and Shadow, pg.296
