The Revenant

Rating:
Summary: A Powerful New Voice In Magic Realism
Review: Nenut Kite just wanted to be like every other little girl growing up in North Africa, but she is destined for a life unlike any other. When she is blamed for the brutal murder of her beloved mother and shipped out to juvenile prison. Nenut will spend the rest of her life searching for the answers to her mother's death.

Nenut's journey will lead her through landscapes both real and internal. She will meet ancestors, spirits, and the shadows of her own life. The search will drive her into madness and confusion before she finds any of the answers she seeks.

This is a stunning story of longing and loss, told in a way no one but Reeves could write. The portrayal of disintegrating sanity is both fascinating and harrowing.

Expect to see THE REVENANT on many shortlists later this year. Read it and you'll be ahead of the literary pack.

Rating:
Summary: This is a book--an experience--that you mustn't miss.
Review: Once in awhile, you read a book that changes you. Changes the way you think about things. Alters your perceptions of reality, just a little. Phoebe Reeves' The Revenant is one of those. Its cover describes The Revenant as "a mysterious tale of murder." That's the first layer, anyway, of a story as complex and beautifully structured as a fractal. Sofia Kite (also called Nenut) is a young artist, half American and half Nubian, comfortable in neither world. In fact, she's unable to live fully in either the realm of the living or the land of the dead. The horrific murder of her mother, for which Sofia was blamed as a child, now rules her consciousness and defines her very existence. She's obsessed with death. Obsessed with funerary ritual. Sofia pushes away friends and lovers, preferring the company of her exquisite sculptures of stone, bone, and glass, haunted by spirits only she can see. When she is hired by The End, a mysterious agency which creates special funeral rites, it seems she may at last have found a place to belong, and people who might help her find her mother's true murderer. But The End is just a beginning. The enigmatic entity Brigitte ushers Sofia into a dreamquest, a journey of the soul through the worlds of the dead, the future of the living, and Sofia's own dreams, desires, and darkest fears. When at last the truth is revealed, it's as chilling as the breath of the Reaper on the back of your neck. Gorgeous. Exotic. Mindbending. Uplifting. Spiritual. Frightening. Deeply satisfying. The Revenant is all of these, and more. Do yourself a favor, and don't miss this book. You'll be thinking about it for years to come.