The Call (The Grey Land, #1)

by Peadar O'Guilin

When THE CALL comes, you have to be ready to run or fight to the death. THE CALL will grab you by surprise - you could be studying or hanging out with friends when suddenly you're pulled into a terrifying land, alone and hunted by the ENEMY. You don't know them, but they know you and they want to kill you, slowly and painfully. Only one-in-ten return alive and no one believes Nessa can make it, but she's determined to prove them wrong! CAN NESSA SURVIVE THE CALL?

• ISBN10: 1910200972
• ISBN13: 9781910200971
• Publish Date: 1 September 2016 (first published 30 August 2016)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 3 April 2023
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: David Fickling Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[wyvernfriend]

Recommended.
Set in a boarding school for young children who are preparing for the day they will be called to Faerie, almost everyone dies who is called and no-one is quite sure why they survive. These are the faerie of myth, not the twee bewinged creatures, but the angry creatures who were exiled to the underworld by human ancestors. These are the creatures our ancestors feared and who they warned about, not the sanitised Disney versions.
Nessa had polio and her legs are going to make it hard to run, in fact a lot of parents with children crippled like this kill them to spare them the inevitable death, but Nessa is determined to survive. Her survival will change things and dammit I want the next book now.

[anne]

Lot of questions remain at the end about what is happening, so this may become more complete if the story is continued.

[Stephanie]

This book was super weird, but in the way that is right up my weirdness alley. But the ending happened so fast, I would have liked a little more?

[Beth C.]

Present-day Ireland: locked away from the rest of the world, no one allowed in or out. Adolescents dying at a crazy pace, picked off one by one by the Sidhe. Taken to the Grey Land, where to live means surviving the day there, returning after 3 minutes away in Ireland. Some do survive - never to be the same in body, mind, or spirit. Nessa trains to survive, even with her crippled legs. But will her training be enough to save her, when the Sidhe have other plans?

The Call is a very dark book, so keep that in mind. There is a hint of romance, and some very deep friendships, but the overall tone is very dark and - to some - possibly disturbing. Murder, disfigurements, pain - it all figures into this story. However, it also covers the strength of the human spirit, the indomitable will that some cultivate.

The writing itself felt a bit clunky to me - it didn't flow as smoothly as I felt it could. Bouncing back and forth from character to character and from Ireland to Grey Land probably added to that feel. The characters were ok, though I didn't ever feel like there was much of a connection there as a reader. Even the Sidhe, which have traditionally been more terrifying than how they get portrayed these days, came across more as lunatics than truly nightmarish beings who truly understood and meant the damage they were inflicting. The story itself has an extremely fascinating premise, but it just didn't seem to live up to its promise. And the ending, well...I don't do spoilers, but - it didn't feel *right*. Instead it felt a bit tacked on, just a convenient way to end it.

Overall, it's not a terrible book, but neither is it a great one. I would recommend checking it out from the library if you determine you're interested, then you can just return it if you decide you just don't want to keep reading.

[Kelly]

I absolutely love Irish mythology. Such a breath of fresh air, gruesome but wonderfully unique with diverse characters. Really enjoyed it.

[Joséphine]

Note: I received a finished copy for free from a local distributor in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Initial thoughts: This book was incredibly gruesome in imagery. I expected it to be a lot more heart-stopping but the plot remained pretty straightforward. I think the anticipation of the inevitable didn't leave a lot of room for surprises, though there were some twists here and there.

While The Call was inspired by Irish folklore, I can't say to what extent things remained true. I will say that the characters cared so much about Ireland, the rest of the world didn't even come into question. How things were beyond their borders remained a mystery.

Either way, I enjoyed the writing style. Even though the focus was on Nessa, the main character, the omniscient narrator didn't neglect the experiences and thoughts of the others. That contributed to the creepy atmosphere as more and more of them disappeared.

This is also the first time I read a book revolving around someone with a physical disability from birth. Nessa had polio and the way she navigated her world opened my eyes to her struggles and strengths. I liked that it was treated as a fact of her life rather than something that overshadowed everything else in the book.