The call by Peader O’Guilin
On her tenth birthday, Nessa is told everything that she’s ever believed is a fabrication and a lie. On her tenth birthday Nessa is told, like almost every other child her age, that this simple world she’s grown up in, may not be the same world she’ll die in. On her tenth birthday Nessa is told about a brother she’s never known, and never will know. On Nessa’s tenth birthday, her whole world fell apart. All this happened on Nessa’s tenth birthday because of three deathly minutes. Three deathly minutes, which have decided the fate of Ireland’s teenagers for generations and will do so for generations to come. These same three minutes will decide whether Nessa like every single teenager who’s come before her will live or die at the hands of The Sídhe. These three minutes are known only as, The Call.
Four years have passed since Nessa’s tenth birthday. Those four years have allowed Nessa to train for when she will be ‘called’, and will have to survive in the land of The Sídhe. Nessa has been training harder than any of her classmates at Boyle Survival College, following all the rules exactly and never stepping out of line. Yet with her legs crippled from birth, Nessa fears even the best preparation in the world won’t be enough to keep her alive for 24hrs in the Sídhe’s deathtrap of a world. When Nessa’s ‘whole’ and ‘healthy’ friends start dying dropping left right and centre, after going through the same training she has, designed to give them the best chance of survival when those life determining three minutes come about. If they, unhindered and capable of putting the life-dependant lessons to use, cannot sufive their Call, then what chance does a ‘cripple’ like Nessa have? Would it be easier for her just to give up and accept her faith, like everyone else insists she should?
‘The Nation must survive’~ Ms Breen.
Teen Rating: A perfect book to start off on if you want a taste of horror but, nothing too daunting to keep you up at night. 13+ 4/5
