The Gates by John Connolly

Let me begin this post by saying that my sister is a wonderful resource for book recommendations (perhaps she should write this blog instead of I). I can usually rely on her when I find myself without something to read, and this instance was no exception. She grabbed The Gates by John Connolly off her shelves. Here's what it looks like (I love the cover design!)

    As I crawled in bed late at night to begin this book, I casually flipped through the first pages of the book and there is was. A signature. And a smiley face? I stared at the page with curiosity and flipped it over, scanning the back for signs of pen that had bled through (since books sometimes have the author’s signature printed). And sure enough the signature had bled through!

    I shouted to my sister, “Um, did you know this book is signed... by the author?” Turns out she had no idea. She had picked it up off the sale table at Barnes & Noble–thirty percent off! I geeked out over this for quite some time, since authors are the celebrities of a bookworm’s world.

    Anyways, on to the actual review. I was already familiar with Connolly’s work, having read The Book of Lost Things (another amazing book) quite some time ago. His style is wonderful because it is refreshing. Both The Book of Lost Things and The Gates are essentially children’s stories for adults. This style is perfect for me because I refuse to ever grow up completely. Connolly’s writing is witty, educational and hilarious without being self-satisfying. The Gates is both imaginative and informative (well, as informative as a work of fiction can be ;D).

    The Gates is a book about a bright, eleven-year-old boy named Samuel and his dachshund Boswell. It is also about CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), the Large Hadron Collider, Hell, and the end of the world. And trust me, I am not giving anything away. This book was absolute chaos and so much fun to read. It was, however, a little difficult to get through at first, since there is a lot of technical introductory writing for a good third of the novel. Even so, I enjoyed every minute of this book and I highly recommend you pick it up. The sequel to The Gates is also out now, so you won’t have to worry about feeling sad when you finish it.


    You can find The Gates by John Conolly at your local bookstore or on amazon.com http://tinyurl.com/86coye3

Bookishly yours,
Vanessa