Marrow - Review

Marrow

By: Tarryn Fisher

Published: April 16, 2015

286 pages

Source: Personal Kindle Library

(Goodreads / Amazon ($.99 at time of posting)

Summary:

In the Bone there is a house. 

In the house there is a girl. 

In the girl there is a darkness. 

Margo is not like other girls. She lives in a derelict neighborhood called the Bone, in a cursed house, with her cursed mother, who hasn’t spoken to her in over two years. She lives her days feeling invisible. It’s not until she develops a friendship with her wheelchair-bound neighbor, Judah Grant, that things begin to change. When neighborhood girl, seven-year-old Neveah Anthony, goes missing, Judah sets out to help Margo uncover what happened to her. 

What Margo finds changes her, and with a new perspective on life, she’s determined to find evil and punish it–targeting rapists and child molesters, one by one. 

But hunting evil is dangerous, and Margo risks losing everything, including her own soul.

MY REVIEW:
This is definitely a dark, disturbing story. One thing it was lacking for my personal taste was romance. Even a dark romance story line. I suppose you could say there was a love interest between Margo and Judah but it is in one word: strange.

This story is more about the painful childhood of Margo Moon and the twisted decisions she makes as an adult. One could partially blame that on her upbringing but really, aside from being dirt poor as a child, she turns out as a strong and independent woman. She decides to take the fates of bad people, specifically those who harm women and children, into her own hands after seeing too many of those bad people get away with hurting those who are innocent. She becomes their vengeance.

Unexpected by me, and pointed out by a fellow blogger as a head's up during one of my Teaser Tuesday posts where I featured a teaser from Marrow as the book I was reading at the time, there are some connections to Mud Vein, but I found them only to be minor and I noticed these to first occur about 79% into the book. I don't think the connections require you to read Mud Vein first though, although I had already read it. I didn't find them to be spoiler-y in nature, no matter which book you read first. These are both stand alone novels.

So I had mixed feelings on this book, going back and forth on how I felt about it. I was blown away by Mud Vein and because of the feelings it drew from me I rated it 4.5 stars. With this story, I just didn't get the same feels. And then I was faced with a couple "what the?" moments which really threw me for a loop as to what was reality and what wasn't. Even now as I sit here writing my thoughts, I am still not sure. I don't want to elaborate because to do so would be to give away too much of the ending and I loathe when details in books are ruined for me. Books are meant to be journey's and I'm not going to take away from your journey should you choose to read this.

At the end I was left with questions and a bit of confusion. And I hate feeling that way at the end of a book, especially one that's a stand alone.

Favorite Quotes:
"I have legs, Judah, and I don't know how to use them. Your life walks, and you're going to walk out of the Bone and be something."

"Dreams are plans; they get your heart moving, and once your heart gets moving, your brain will follow."

We are born ready to cultivate ourselves, find a place where we feel comfortable. Whether that is to fit in with the geeks, or the jocks, or the cold-blooded killers. There is nothing new under the sun. Nothing new we can invent or make up.

What happens to a person when their own brain becomes the enemy?

And while it is not necessary in the dealings of love, it is terribly romantic to have a man look at you like you're the last glass of water on Earth.

Language Rating: 2 (medium)
Mature Content Rating: 2 (medium)
Final Rating:  3.5 stars