January 22, 2011

Morpheus Road: The Light by D.J. MacHale

Marshall Seaver is a 16 year old geek who's summer plans with his best friend Coop are destroyed when Coop gets in trouble and is sent away for the summer. Marshall's mom was recently killed in an earthquake while doing a photo shoot in eastern Europe. Traveling the world, she often sent Marshall "stuff" from her travels. One was a mysterious glass ball, for which Marshall was clueless as to its purpose. One evening, after a heated argument with his father, Marshall throws the ball against his bedroom wall. It bursts into pieces, sending a blood like liquid all over. Moments later the liquid disappears, and strange things start happening. His friend Coop mysteriously disappears, strange patterns appear out of nowhere, and he gets a horrifying visit from a character that Marshall created in his art class named Gravedigger. This is the beginning of Marshall Seaver's nightmare, one in which he tries to find his friend Coop, while being hunted by forces with powers beyond his imagination.
          I'm not a fan of horror, nor does anything I read really scare me, BUT The Light, first in the Morpheus Road series is really creepy, and will send a chill to those that scare easily. It is a wild roller coaster ride of continuous mysterious events that will leave you exhausted.

Reed Read's Score: 4