After Reading: DIVINE SCREAM by Benjamin Kane Ethridge

By: Meradeth Houston on 4:00 AM

For Jared Kare, every part of life is terrifying. He relies heavily on his friends and family for everything in his day to day existence. So when he is confronted by a banshee who would soon herald his death, Jared finds a new type of terror.

There are things much worse than dying though.

Jared has been given as a gift to the Assembly, a demonic group who hunger to possess and torture him forever. Will the banshee save him from the assembly, watch him die, or both?

Love can be found in the most unlikely places, but nothing can be accomplished without a great deal of luck, and sacrifice. (Goodreads)

Thanks to the author and LibraryThing for a review copy of this book.

This was one really different read, and even after finishing it a couple of weeks ago, I don't know what to make of it. It was interesting, engaging, and definitely different. The Banshee in the novel was an interesting creature (even with the really horrible moniker of Bansh :). I liked her and how she handled Jared and his insecurities and issues. I don't know how she managed it at some points, because I found myself wanting to reach through the pages and slap Jared up the side of the head with a "hello, don't be such a wuss!" (Not that I'd ever do that in real life, but just to give you an idea of some of his troubles--he does mature throughout the book, which was gratifying.) The world and situation they were in, with some crazy interdimensional struggles and quite terrifying bad guys, was both really original...and sometimes made me wonder if there was any order or reason for why certain things happened. I don't want to get specific for fear of spoilers, but some aspects of the world didn't feel organic, more like they were placed in the world just to make things either problematic/convenient for the characters (okay, one small example--the Banshee couldn't lose connection with the ground, so no riding in cars or getting off of floor level. But what about basements? Or underground tunnels?). So, those kind of made me a little confused. Still, it was an interesting ride of a book and definitely enjoyable.

Have you heard of this one? Caught anything else by Ethridge?

And, if you're feeling up to it, wanna sign up for the release day fun for Travelers? :)