Review : Masque Of The Red Death by Bethany Griffin
Summary (from Goodreads)Everything is in ruins.
A devastating plague has decimated the population. And those who are left live in fear of catching it as the city crumbles to pieces around them.
So what does Araby Worth have to live for?
Nights in the Debauchery Club, beautiful dresses, glittery make-up . . . and tantalizing ways to forget it all.
But in the depths of the club—in the depths of her own despair—Araby will find more than oblivion. She will find Will, the terribly handsome proprietor of the club. And Elliott, the wickedly smart aristocrat. Neither boy is what he seems. Both have secrets. Everyone does.
And Araby may find something not just to live for, but to fight for—no matter what it costs her.
A devastating plague has decimated the population. And those who are left live in fear of catching it as the city crumbles to pieces around them.
So what does Araby Worth have to live for?
Nights in the Debauchery Club, beautiful dresses, glittery make-up . . . and tantalizing ways to forget it all.
But in the depths of the club—in the depths of her own despair—Araby will find more than oblivion. She will find Will, the terribly handsome proprietor of the club. And Elliott, the wickedly smart aristocrat. Neither boy is what he seems. Both have secrets. Everyone does.
And Araby may find something not just to live for, but to fight for—no matter what it costs her.
Personal Thoughts
When you look at the cover of Masque Of The Red Death, you expect a dark story. Dark is exactly what this book is. Going into the story, I had huge expectations because of all the hype surrounding it. Luckily, Masque Of The Red Death did not let me down.
The book is set in a strange dark and grisly dystopian world shrouded in bloodbath and death. We are introduced to the main character, Araby Worth. Araby has lost her twin brother, Finn, to the plague and is grieving all by herself. Her nights consists of trips to Debauchery Club while dressing up and looking beautiful along with her best friend, April, who once saved her from committing suicide. The society that Araby lives in is controlled by a selfish and narrow-minded Prince. Araby is desperate and no longer has the will to live. Soon though, she meets Will and Elliott at the Debauchery Club, but both of them have their own share of secrets.
I'm not so sure of what to think of the main character. Araby was overcome with guilt. Because of the close and tightly knotted bond that she shared with her twin, Finn, she was devastated by his death. She couldn't understand why her brother was taken away from the world and not her. To top it off, even her parents' behavior towards her suggested that they wished she was the one who had died instead of Finn. Due to all of this, Araby was in a constant state of depression throughout the book. Initially, I really felt for her. I understood her pain and sorrow. Those who share a very deep connection with their siblings will understand her and will connect with her. Araby even vowed never to experience things that Finn would never experience, such as kissing. All she wanted to do was get rid of the sadness ruling her life. To accomplish this, she even drugged herself at the Debauchery Club during her visits. However, after a while, her gloomy mood started to annoy me a little. I am aware that grief from the loss of a dear one can be very hard, but that doesn't mean you stop living. I wanted Araby to start living her life. I wanted her to realize that compared to the other people living in her world, she was lucky. I thought she wouldn't do anything to get over her sadness, but she proved me wrong when towards the end, she started opening up and started to do things that she shouldn't have been denying herself from. Araby underwent emotional growth towards the end of the story. On numerous occasions throughout the story, the reader also gets to see the sweet, down to earth and generous side of Araby. I honestly loved the fact that she was willing to endanger her life to help the needy. Overall, Araby was an interesting character who started to become likable towards the end. I look forward to seeing her mature a lot more in the next installment of this series.
Love triangles are paramount in so many YA books these days that it has become somewhat of a norm now. Masque Of The Red Death had my favorite love triangle of all time. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a love triangle this much. The reason for this is that both male characters were truly incredible and you can't help but fall for both guys.
Will, an employer at The Debauchery Club, appeared to be a bad-boy on the exterior with his dark hair, numerous tattoos and mysterious and flirtatious attitude. However, there was a lot going on with Will inside that bad-boy character. He was a remarkable character who had a lot of responsibilities to shoulder. However, not once did he complain in the book. His love, devotion and protectiveness for his siblings, Elise and Henry, were so admirable.
Elliott on the other hand was April's older brother. He was somewhat of a perplexing character because he tried to hide his true feelings and emotions in the book, which made it hard for me to figure him out. His uncle, the unfair and harsh Prince ruler was a dictator who was selfish and gave no thought to pain and suffering. When he was younger, Elliott witnessed an event which propelled him towards becoming rebellious. He wanted to change the world they were living in since he wanted to see more happiness. Elliot's strong desire to bring changes to citizens' life for their good was truly awe-inspiring. As I mentioned above, both male characters had redeeming qualities.
For this reason, I really couldn't make up my mind on whom I wanted Araby to end up with.
The secondary characters were all very vital to the development of the story. All of them had depth and were essential to the story line. There was a thread of some sort that held all the characters together such that they interacted with the main character often. Reading about the different personalities meshing together was fascinating. Overall, the secondary characters were all very well written and well developed.
My favorite aspect of Masque Of Red Death was the world-building. Simply put, it was incredible. The author created a world that was vibrant and vivid. With Bethany Griffin's writing style, it was very easy to imagine the truly gruesome world of Araby clearly in my head. Her descriptions were full of life, intense and highly pictorial. I especially loved the exhaustive descriptions about The Debauchery Club. They lived in a dark, grisly and disturbing world that I truly cannot imagine living in. Disease and dictatorship had led to a ghastly world with thousands of people dying on a daily basis. The book made me think of the future of our own world. With all the problems that we face nowadays from global warming to political issues, the situation in Masque Of Red Death isn't one that cannot happen in the near future. Honestly, I would fear living in such a horrific society.
The pace of the story was quite slow, but somehow that didn't really bother me, because the story itself was so compelling. The author's writing style was gripping, but I'm not so sure it will appeal to everyone. However, I really enjoyed Bethany Griffin's literary style because it was beautiful.
My only complaint is that the reader is left with a thousand unanswered questions at the end of the book and it's really frustrating since I don't how much longer I have to wait for a sequel. The wait will be excruciating for sure!
Masque Of The Red Death shows that YA books are not always about sappy romances and can contain issues that are truly worth considering and that are mind-openers. This book was fascinating, gory and mind-boggling. With it's horrifying, bloody and dark stories of disease, death, dictatorship and a fractured society that seems beyond repair and an appealing set of intriguing characters, Masque Of The Red Death will surely stupefy you and keep you awake until the wee hours of the morning.
The book is set in a strange dark and grisly dystopian world shrouded in bloodbath and death. We are introduced to the main character, Araby Worth. Araby has lost her twin brother, Finn, to the plague and is grieving all by herself. Her nights consists of trips to Debauchery Club while dressing up and looking beautiful along with her best friend, April, who once saved her from committing suicide. The society that Araby lives in is controlled by a selfish and narrow-minded Prince. Araby is desperate and no longer has the will to live. Soon though, she meets Will and Elliott at the Debauchery Club, but both of them have their own share of secrets.
I'm not so sure of what to think of the main character. Araby was overcome with guilt. Because of the close and tightly knotted bond that she shared with her twin, Finn, she was devastated by his death. She couldn't understand why her brother was taken away from the world and not her. To top it off, even her parents' behavior towards her suggested that they wished she was the one who had died instead of Finn. Due to all of this, Araby was in a constant state of depression throughout the book. Initially, I really felt for her. I understood her pain and sorrow. Those who share a very deep connection with their siblings will understand her and will connect with her. Araby even vowed never to experience things that Finn would never experience, such as kissing. All she wanted to do was get rid of the sadness ruling her life. To accomplish this, she even drugged herself at the Debauchery Club during her visits. However, after a while, her gloomy mood started to annoy me a little. I am aware that grief from the loss of a dear one can be very hard, but that doesn't mean you stop living. I wanted Araby to start living her life. I wanted her to realize that compared to the other people living in her world, she was lucky. I thought she wouldn't do anything to get over her sadness, but she proved me wrong when towards the end, she started opening up and started to do things that she shouldn't have been denying herself from. Araby underwent emotional growth towards the end of the story. On numerous occasions throughout the story, the reader also gets to see the sweet, down to earth and generous side of Araby. I honestly loved the fact that she was willing to endanger her life to help the needy. Overall, Araby was an interesting character who started to become likable towards the end. I look forward to seeing her mature a lot more in the next installment of this series.
Love triangles are paramount in so many YA books these days that it has become somewhat of a norm now. Masque Of The Red Death had my favorite love triangle of all time. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a love triangle this much. The reason for this is that both male characters were truly incredible and you can't help but fall for both guys.
Will, an employer at The Debauchery Club, appeared to be a bad-boy on the exterior with his dark hair, numerous tattoos and mysterious and flirtatious attitude. However, there was a lot going on with Will inside that bad-boy character. He was a remarkable character who had a lot of responsibilities to shoulder. However, not once did he complain in the book. His love, devotion and protectiveness for his siblings, Elise and Henry, were so admirable.
Elliott on the other hand was April's older brother. He was somewhat of a perplexing character because he tried to hide his true feelings and emotions in the book, which made it hard for me to figure him out. His uncle, the unfair and harsh Prince ruler was a dictator who was selfish and gave no thought to pain and suffering. When he was younger, Elliott witnessed an event which propelled him towards becoming rebellious. He wanted to change the world they were living in since he wanted to see more happiness. Elliot's strong desire to bring changes to citizens' life for their good was truly awe-inspiring. As I mentioned above, both male characters had redeeming qualities.
For this reason, I really couldn't make up my mind on whom I wanted Araby to end up with.
The secondary characters were all very vital to the development of the story. All of them had depth and were essential to the story line. There was a thread of some sort that held all the characters together such that they interacted with the main character often. Reading about the different personalities meshing together was fascinating. Overall, the secondary characters were all very well written and well developed.
My favorite aspect of Masque Of Red Death was the world-building. Simply put, it was incredible. The author created a world that was vibrant and vivid. With Bethany Griffin's writing style, it was very easy to imagine the truly gruesome world of Araby clearly in my head. Her descriptions were full of life, intense and highly pictorial. I especially loved the exhaustive descriptions about The Debauchery Club. They lived in a dark, grisly and disturbing world that I truly cannot imagine living in. Disease and dictatorship had led to a ghastly world with thousands of people dying on a daily basis. The book made me think of the future of our own world. With all the problems that we face nowadays from global warming to political issues, the situation in Masque Of Red Death isn't one that cannot happen in the near future. Honestly, I would fear living in such a horrific society.
The pace of the story was quite slow, but somehow that didn't really bother me, because the story itself was so compelling. The author's writing style was gripping, but I'm not so sure it will appeal to everyone. However, I really enjoyed Bethany Griffin's literary style because it was beautiful.
My only complaint is that the reader is left with a thousand unanswered questions at the end of the book and it's really frustrating since I don't how much longer I have to wait for a sequel. The wait will be excruciating for sure!
Masque Of The Red Death shows that YA books are not always about sappy romances and can contain issues that are truly worth considering and that are mind-openers. This book was fascinating, gory and mind-boggling. With it's horrifying, bloody and dark stories of disease, death, dictatorship and a fractured society that seems beyond repair and an appealing set of intriguing characters, Masque Of The Red Death will surely stupefy you and keep you awake until the wee hours of the morning.
Rating
Cover : 4/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 4/5
Writing : 4/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 4/5
Writing : 4/5
Big Thanks To HarperCollins for providing me with an ARC of this book.
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