On My Bookshelf: The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis

On My Bookshelf: The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis

Source: Publisher

Format: ARC

Pagecount: 416

Publication Date: January 1^st, 2012

My Rating: 5/5 Stars

Summary: Anna and Abel couldn’t be more different. They are both seventeen and in their last year of school, but while Anna lives in a nice old town house and comes from a well-to-do family, Abel, the school drug dealer, lives in a big, prisonlike tower block at the edge of town. Anna is afraid of him until she realizes that he is caring for his six-year-old sister on his own. Fascinated, Anna follows the two and listens as Abel tells little Micha the story of a tiny queen assailed by dark forces. It’s a beautiful fairy tale that Anna comes to see has a basis in reality. Abel is in real danger of losing Micha to their abusive father and to his own inability to make ends meet. Anna gradually falls in love with Abel, but when his “enemies” begin to turn up dead, she fears she has fallen for a murderer. Has she?

Award-winning author Antonia Michaelis moves in a bold new direction with her latest novel: a dark, haunting, contemporary story that is part mystery, part romance, and part melodrama.

My Review: This book took me over a month to finish. It’s a huge book, with tiny printing. I feel bad for the person who translated it from German. Anyways, I absolutely adored this book. Like, loved it. But the ending….. no. Just… no. It’s a very dissatisfying ending. ALMOST SPOILER IN NEXT PARAGRAPH. HIGHLIGHT TEXT TO READ IT.

But it’s dissatisfying in a ‘Titanic’(the movie) sort of way. The first time I watched Titanic, I was bawling at the ending… but if everyone had lived, it wouldn’t have had as much of an emotional effect . Same thing with this book. I was bawling at the end, but if everyone had lived, it would have had less of an awestriking ending. Plus, it made everything fit together strangely. But I hate when you read an entire book getting to know characters, then poof, they die.

END OF MY RANT.

Anyway, it is an amazing, dark, real-life book,  and I just… wow, it’s amazing. Spectacular, awestriking. I just love it so much. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. If I could give it more than five stars, I could, and I’m thinking of getting my sister this when she is a bit older(I want to buy her a copy since I got the ebook version of the cover on my ARC, and in my opinion the original one is prettier) and that’s one more thing- you should be a bit older to read this. I know, I’m a hypocrite, since I’m younger than the people I say should read this, but I think 16+ is better than the original 14+. Just my opinion, as it contains very dark themes.