Official Review: Immortown by Lily Markova

[ALynnPowers]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Immortown" by Lily Markova.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Lily Markova’s debut young adult novel, Immortown, is a relatively fast-paced, quick read with lots of supernatural and paranormal elements woven into the story. Freya Auror, a young actress who hates crowds, is silently suffering after her brother committed suicide last year. She takes a break from filming to visit his grave in Levengsled, the artistic/suicide capital of the world, for the first time since his death. Trying to make her way back to her hotel, she ends up lost and entering Immortown.

Immortown is a strange place, indeed. The residents’ main hobbies usually involve binge drinking and/or homicide. However, no one dies, and no one who enters Immortown ever leaves. A certain resident, Kai, seems to be the leader of the town, though he is way too young and is certainly no type of authoritative figure. He’s an artist, and everything he paints has a nasty habit of coming true.

To be honest, I was a little wary as I made my way through this novel. In the first few paragraphs, I was sucked in immediately by the amazing imagery and the way that the author is able to incorporate all of the senses into the story. I could actually feel like I was there. Then weird stuff happened, questions were unanswered, and it was hard to follow for a bit. I started to doubt my own sanity; it was just that weird. Then around the 40-50% mark, everything just clicked, all the pieces started to fall into place, weirdness from earlier on suddenly became not weird at all, and my fascination shifted to the point that I just couldn’t put the book down. What I originally thought was a mess of a plot turned out to be a very well-planned story with just enough information and suspense, and maybe a bit of quirkiness (I mean that in a good way), to bring everything together into this satisfying tale.

A unique feature of this story is the point of view. Immortown is written in plain prose that appears to be the standard first-person POV, though it quickly becomes obvious that the story is told as if Freya is speaking directly to Kai. Occasionally, the story shifts so that Kai is addressing Freya, but the shift is extremely natural and not awkward or difficult to follow at all.

I feel like there is so much in this story that I could talk about. The multiple themes that pop up throughout the book are more than enough to stimulate discussion about a variety of topics; suicide, loss of a loved one, familial love, and mental illness are merely a few that are prominent. Though I found myself chuckling on occasion, I wouldn’t call this a “happy” book – it’s quite dark and depressing at times – but it’s definitely thought-provoking and the kind of story that sticks with you long after you’ve read it.

I give this book a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. The writing is not flawless; however, the minor errors that popped up here and there didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book. I came close to taking off a point near the beginning due to the story being difficult to follow, but the advancement of the plot and the excellent story-telling skills of the author changed my decision for me. I would recommend Immortown to those who love young adult books filled with suspense and paranormal worlds. Plus, there’s a ghost named Dude; how can you go wrong with that?

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Immortown
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Like ALynnPowers's review? Post a comment saying so!

[PashaRu]

Thanks for a well-written review. Sounds like a unique and interesting story. Funny how it was weird and confusing in the beginning but then it all fell into place and ended up being a good book. I might like this one.

[Lily Markova]

A. Lynn, I'm happy that you enjoyed Immortown and happy that you understood it.
I love stories that make you say: "Wait, what? Why would anyone create something absurd like that?" and then, when you're deep enough into the story:"Hey! It all makes sense now!", so I thought I should try to write one. I'm glad you made it through the confusing part.
I couldn't dream of a more profound review, thank you!

Lily Markova

[bluemel4]

Wonderfully well written review. Thank you for the warning about the confusing parts being cleared up half way through. I am going to add this to my to-read list. It sounds like a fascinating premise.

[BColeman]

Great review! This book sounds very interesting. I'm gonna check it out.

[ALynnPowers]

I really should have mentioned that I love the cover of this book.