ARC Review: Heaven by Christoph Marzi

You know when you've read something entirely different from what you always read and you can barely sort things out in your head because it's so unique? That's how I feel about Heaven.

Title: Heaven by Christoph Marzi
Pages: 384
Release Date: February 2nd 2012
Published by: Orchard Books
Source: Publisher (thanks Vicki!)
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Summary:

The night that Heaven lost her heart was cold and moonless. But the blade that sliced it out was warm with her dark blood...

David Pettyfer is taking a shortcut over the dark rooftops of London's brooding houses, when he literally stumbles across Heaven: a strange, beautiful, distraught girl who says that bad men have stolen her heart. Yet she's still alive...

And so begins David and Heaven's wild, exciting and mysterious adventure - to find Heaven's heart, and to discover the incredible truth about her origins.

Part thriller, part love story and part fairy tale, this brilliantly original novel from a bestselling German author will take your breath away...

Heaven's heart got stolen, literally. That one night she was up the roof, admiring the night sky and the stars, solving the puzzle that has turned into a mini obsession for the last few years, she bumped into David Pettyfer, courier of hard to find, obscure books. He didn't believe her at first, but something in David compelled him to help Heaven. And when he did, he was suddenly in on a dangerous adventure. And Heaven wasn't just one without a heart, she's also something else. Someone closely connected to the reason why London's sky hasn't been quite the same for years, and he's about to find out just what Heaven is.

Heaven and David are two of the most unlikely pair of teens I've read in quite a while. She was born in a privileged family, orphaned and has been living a double life: one where she's free to study the night sky phenomenon and the other a quiet, rich miss. David escaped from a suffocating family and got acquainted with the rough side of life, a small price he had to pay for his freedom. Both Heaven and David are mature, serious characters but that doesn't make them less interesting of a read. The experience is a little different because they seem less foolish and less frivolous but I love seeing the strength behind each of their personalities.

Most of the time I'm trying to grasp a hold onto the world where Heaven and David are, but since it feels like it's shifting all the time, it's hard to keep track of it. There were times when I feel like I'm in Old London, what with the almost obvious absence of technology at some point, and then in another moment I see Pods, they talk about the internet and mobile phones and so I'm hurled into the present, and then the author introduces something completely out of the loop, something supernatural, that it completely throws me off balance again. It's the kind of confusion that I think comes along with the way the story was made. It makes you really think what this book is all about, and figuring it out is part of the reading experience!

Heaven is a good kind of different. The kind that makes you wonder what's real and what's not. It'll make you skeptic and doubtful but despite the constant unreal feeling, Heaven and David will certainly make you feel much alive. Thrilling, intriguing with a brush of reality and what's beyond it. Christoph Marzi's got a special way of blending the supernatural with adventure, adding a dose of angst along the way and gave it a unique spin. Heaven's got it all: mystery, thrilling (rooftop) chase scenes, evil villains, magic, ghosts, dynamic characters and a solid plot. If you feel like reading a book that has a fascinating unique tone, give it a try!

Content (plot, story flow, character):

Shining: Worthy of a Goddess' Love!

Book Cover:
One of the most gorgeous covers I've seen~!

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.