Review: Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey

Jul 18, 2011 by shanyn

Title: Guardian of the Dead
Hardcover, 333 pages
Author: Karen Healey
Publisher: Little, Brown
Publication Date: April 1, 2010
Source: Library
Buy: Amazon

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Book Summary:
Set in New Zealand, Ellie’s main concerns at her boarding school are hanging out with her best friend Kevin, her crush on the mysterious Mark, and her paper deadline. That is, until a mysterious older woman seems to set her sights on Kevin, who is Maori, and has more than just romantic plans for him. In an effort to save him, Ellie is thrown into the world of Maori lore, and eventually finds herself in an all-out war with mist dwelling Maori fairy people called the patupaiarehe who need human lives to gain immortality.

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Review:
I had seen Guardian of the Dead being nominated for awards and decided that I wanted to see what the hype was about – unfortunately, this book didn’t really fit with me. In fact, it reminded me of a book I ended up not finishing not long ago (The Jumbee), which didn’t give it a great start.

Based in New Zealand, Karen Healey certainly has a unique setting. This was perhaps my favorite aspect of this book.

I did not connect with Ellie or the Maori story. At times I found it ridiculous, and other times I got really confused with all of the details and the way the relationships were connected. Though my reaction may not totally be fair because I generally am not one that likes mythology type stories as I am a more contemporary reader. I did enjoy Ellie’s voice and the way she attempted to deal with situations, for the most part. She is a character I would have liked to know in real life.

The ending of Guardian of the Gate got more complex and grabbed my attention more than the beginning, but wasn’t enough to redeem the entire book for me. The multiple plots and stories and characters do eventually come together, but I think the entire thing was a little too complicated for my tastes.

Guardian of the Gate is a book based on mythology in a different setting, and would be a good read for those interested in mythology or Maori. Many on Goodreads gave this book a very high rating, so please check out a few other opinions before using mine as a reason to not read

Buy: Amazon

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