The Messenger Reviews

Let me start by saying that I did not want to read this book. A friend made me read it. I had heard about its success, which kept me from absolutely refusing to read it. Still, the idea of this book did not entice me. I thought I should put it out there that I did not go into this book with an open mind. 
First of all, understand that I thought the concept of this book was cool. The idea of having a set of pictures accompany the book was not something I had heard before. It was a new, fresh idea, and I give Mr. Riggs props for that. 
I did not, however, think that this clever idea was executed well. My main problem was that the pictures interrupted whatever action was going on. The book would literally just stop in the middle of a page so that a picture could be shown. I feel like, even though there would have been a completely different set of problems, it would have been a better idea to put the pictures in the back of the book for you to reference. The pictures did not even add that much to the story. I could have very well just imagined what the pictures looked like with the descriptions already given to you. 
I also was not a fan of the story line. I found it a little bit confusing, and a little bit strange. Don't get me wrong, strange can be good, but this was just a little bit too strange for me. Not to mention complected. I don't know if Ransom Riggs wrote it so that it would seem confusing or mystifying or whatever, but I definitely found it hard to follow. I also had a good deal of questions that I felt were never explained. Who knows, maybe the author will explain these questions in the sequel. I felt like, while once again very creative, the plot's explanation could have also been executed a little better.
One good thing about this book is that it did grip me. Despite all the things that the book could have done better, I was interested throughout the whole thing. Mr.Riggs has a good writing style. Even though I thought there were major problems with the book as a whole, I did not especially dislike it. I would consider reading the sequel, providing I did not already find enough books at the library.
Overall, I thought this book was okay. While there were flaws, it was very creative. However, I feel like the concept of having photos as an addition to the book was taken just a bit too far. The plot was a bit confusing and hard to follow, but I found it interesting throughout the whole book.
Two out of Five stars