de Pierres, Marianne 9781742751016 Random House Australia 03 Oct 2011 Available
I am thrilled to introduce you all to a new guest reviewer for The Book Gryffin. Beth is a student at my school and an avid and mature reader. I have had many conversations with beth about her reading and her enthusiasm is admirable.
Very early in the year, we were fortunate enough to have Marianne de Pierres visit our school and talk to our students about the process of writing and her experiences as an Author. Needless to say, Burn Bright- the first book in this series has been extremely popular with my senior students. Beth was delighted to be asked to review Angel Arias- the second book in this series.
Angel arias is an amazing book! Never have I read such a dark novel with such enriched language, as Marianne de Pierres masterpiece. I had no trouble what so ever reading the second book to Mariannes series without reading the first book (Burn Bright) Right from the first chapter of Angel Arias I was immediately curious as to what this book was about. I had heard great things about it and I just had to see what all the fuss was about with this new book.
Naif is a girl who was brought up strict and kept under close surveillance. Her whole world is turned up side down when she realises what her home- Grave, has been keeping from the whole town. There are night creatures and ripers and all sorts of intriguing creatures she wasn’t even aware of. Throughout the book she uncovers these mysteries and explores the island of Ixion. Naif is slowly learning about the truth of her world and that some things aren’t always as they seem. She experiences trouble and gets up to her own mischievous plans with the help of her friend Markes. The characters in this book have such strong personality traits and were all so different that I wish I could have climbed inside the book and personally met them all. All of them show so much courage and persistence, they were inspirational!
The phenomenal creatures in this book turned my world upside down. I encountered such a surreal picture in my head from Angel Arias to the point where I stayed up reading to the late hours of the morning trying to feed my excitement.
This is the first novel I have read by Marianne de Pierres and certainly will not be my last! After only one novel she has grabbed my attention and kept me wanting more from start to finish. If you need a book with darkness,fate,uncertainty and unique characters, this book should definitely be your first choice!
Beth 
