Called For

By Brie V.

It's not like I saw this in an ad or anything. It wasn't recommended to me. I was browsing through one of my favorite bookstores and I saw it. The book was named The Call. By Peadar O'Gullin, nobody popular. The front cover drew me to it. I read the quote at the back of the book. Another author, Danielle Vega, said it was "A must-read for anyone who's been sleeping too well at night." It seemed interesting to me.

There is this supernatural race of fairy-like creatures called Sidhe, and they want revenge on humans for being driven under earth mounds thousands of years ago. It's not explained why, but somehow they are able to "call" humans into their world for three minutes, or twenty-four hours in the world of the Sidhe. Now Nessa, the main character, is a fourteen year-old girl with with twisted legs. The Sidhe only call people from ages eleven to sixteen, and it's also inevitable. Her peers believe she will die because of her deformity, but she refuses to.

I would definitely consider this a good horror book. The characters were pretty well developed, and they have decent and semi-realistic backstories. I also liked how they included Irish folklore. It also has a fair amount of gore, which is a good trait in horror books.

I don't understand why they don't explain how the Sidhe are even able to get the humans into their world, or why the only do people ages 11-16. I thought that was oddly specific and a bit unnecessary.

The Call is definitely for people who like gore and don't mind a bit of rude humor. I will certainly checkout some of O'Gullin's other books because of this.