The Call (The Grey Land, #1)

by Peadar O'Guilin

[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.