Parents' Guide to

The Blessed

By Mary Eisenhart, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Extremely violent religious fantasy from ghostgirl author.

Book Tonya Hurley Fantasy 2012
The Blessed Poster Image

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Is It Any Good?

Our review:
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Kids say (3):

THE BLESSED could have been a great book, but it misses the mark. Three very different girls are recruited by a mysterious guy for grand adventure and cosmic battle; teens are chosen by God in the 21st century, with conflicts and nuances (Joan of Arcadia did this very well); a villainous zealot of the Science Religion insists that only the quantifiable is real, pitted against saints on a mission from God. It could have been epic and thought-provoking. Instead -- in addition to profane language, gratuitous violence, and constant sexual undercurrents -- readers get a muddled plot that fails to clearly establish who the characters are and what drives them, let alone the nature of the mission for which they've been recruited.

And while Abbey Watkins' illustrations are beautifully creepy, the editing is sloppy, resulting in an incoherent narrative with notable typos. Things may get clearer in the remaining volumes of the trilogy.

Book Details

  • Author: Tonya Hurley
  • Illustrator: Abbey Watkins
  • Genre: Fantasy
  • Topics: Magic and Fantasy
  • Book type: Fiction
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster
  • Publication date: September 25, 2012
  • Publisher's recommended age(s): 14 - 17
  • Number of pages: 416
  • Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
  • Last updated: July 12, 2017

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