The Call by Peadar Ó’Guilí

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What if you only had 3 minutes to save your own life and the clock is already counting down…

Three minutes.
Nessa, Megan and Anto know that any day now they wake up alone in a horrible land and realise they’ve been Called.

Two minutes.
Like all teenagers they know that they’ll be hunted down and despite all their training only 1 in 10 will survive.

One minute.
And Nessa can’t run, her polio twisted legs mean she’ll never survive her Call will she?

Time’s up.

How did I get the book? StorytellersInc Book Club

Genre: Fantasy / Dystopia

Review: This book is set in an isolated Ireland. Many years ago there was a treaty, between the Sidhe (Fairies) and the humans, which resulted in the Sidhe being banished to another world. A wasteland they can’t escape from. The Sidhe hate humans and have cut Ireland of from the rest of world. Now, teenagers are ‘called’, they disappear for 3 minutes which equals 1 day on the other side. The Sidhe hunt them and only 1 in 10 makes it back alive.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book. I’ll admit that I’ve tended to avoid stories with dystopian themes because I’ve found them becoming a little repetitive. However The Call didn’t feel like that at all, it pretty much hooked me from the beginning. Peadar Ó Guilín gives you all this space to let your own imagination add to the world you’ve been invited to. The description is balanced so you have the tools to create the Grey Land but there is plenty of room to build it up. And trust me, I built it up. The hounds and other creatures of the hunts are something to behold.

Apart from the story, which would have been enjoyable enough all on this own, the shinning glory of this book is Nessa. As much as I liked Megan, Anto & Aoife and how the narration sometimes changed perspective, it is Nessa that is the hero. I loved her determination, though it meant building a shell around her emotions.

The Call was a wonderful and thrilling surprise of a read.

Recommend it?

Absolutely