I have to admit, the cover got me. The cool looking sword, the hazy Big Ben in the background, the shades of blue, it's just a great cover. I'm sorry to say the rest of the book didn't quite live up to it.For some reason I thought The Thirteen Hallows [US] [UK] [Kindle] would be YA, but that's far from the truth. It's probably because Scott wrote The Alchemyst series (Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel). Lots of bloody rituals, sex, and more bloody rituals.
Thirteen people, the keepers, charged with watching over the thirteen hallows, powerful objects that when brought together, well, that's just a bad idea. Evil and bad with a touch of scary happens.
The thirteen keepers are charged with keeping their respective hallow safe and never to bring them together. Judith Walker is a keeper and she's noticed that, while the police and media aren't acknowledging it, the keepers are being killed one by one and she's number four...wait, sorry, wrong book.
Did I mention Judith Walker is 77? So, we start out with a 77 year old protagonist, and while I felt bad about it, I had a hard time with a 77 year old running around trying to solve a mystery. It just breaks all kinds of tension. It could have also been the fact that I was picturing a nonexistent walker. That really never helps.
Luckily, there are more people who get involved and Judith doesn't remain the main protag for very long.
So, why didn't I like The Thirteen Hallows?
It's pretty simple. The characters are pretty shoddy. They are stale and boring to be honest. There's nothing that makes you want to hang out with the leads, buy them a drink. They aren't even sympathetic. Sarah Miller is in her 20s and repressed by her parents, so she stays and continues to take it? No, I have no sympathy. Grow a pair.
And then the antagonists are just evil for evil's sake. They're killing children brutally (luckily we're saved from that description for the most part) and they revel in it, have sex in it. It was pretty disgusting actually. There's some attempt at explaining why they're that way, but I wasn't ever convinced.
I ended up sticking it out to the end, so The Thirteen Hallows wasn't terrible, it just wasn't good. Okay is really the best way to describe it. I really can't recommend wasting your time, there's too much out there that's really good.
2 out of 5 Stars (Just Okay)
Ps. If you were wondering, yes, The Thirteen Hallows does mention Harry Potter. Thought you were wondering. :)
Pps. No, it's not the same Michael Scott as you're thinking.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher
