January 21, 2012

Review of Hunger (Riders of the Apocalypse #1) by Jackie Morse Kessler

“Thou art the Black Rider. Go thee out unto the world.”

Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she’s been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Traveling the world on her steed gives Lisa freedom from her troubles at home—her constant battle with hunger, and her struggle to hide it from the people who care about her. But being Famine forces her to go places where hunger is a painful part of everyday life, and to face the horrifying effects of her phenomenal power. Can Lisa find a way to harness that power—and the courage to fight her own inner demons?

A wildly original approach to the issue of eating disorders, Hunger is about the struggle to find balance in a world of extremes, and uses fantastic tropes to explore a difficult topic that touches the lives of many teens.

“If you have ever looked in the mirror and hated what you saw, this book is for you” … Upon opening the book, and seeing that message I was already hooked.

The premise of this book is what initially caught my attention.  Actually, the premise of all the books in this series is what caught my attention. Troubled teens being turned into the Riders of the Apocalypse? Sounded like a pretty cool idea to me.
Jackie Morse Kessler opens the eyes of the reader into the world of eating disorders, providing us with the insight of what an individual with an eating disorder thinks of themselves, feels about themselves, and their thoughts on how others perceive them.

Told in the first person point of view of the main character, Lisabeth Lewis, Kessler does a fantastic job of capturing the readers attention with her unique way of story telling.  I loved reading about how Lisabeth has to deal with the realization that she has been chosen as Famine, one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.