FROM THYSHELF - Ripped Apart

I've been sick for the past days which is why I haven't been writing a lot. But the good side is that finally I had the time to just lie down and read. I got this novel from Netgalley which is a great site for book bloggers and avid readers to get the low down on the latest books and get advanced reading copies from.

So here is what I thought about Shelly Dickson Carr's Ripped:

Ripped tells the story of a teenage girl named Katie Lennox. On a trip to Madam Tussaud's exhibit of a nineteenth century mystery, Katie discovers a time portal in the London Stone which transports her to the past; the time where the murders happen. Katie then learns that the London Stone can grant you your wish and change your past but she also learns that changing the past means changing the future as well.

Set in the Victorian era, Ripped is based on the old gripping tale of a mysterious murderer dubbed as Jack the Ripper. Jack the Ripper is one of England's most famous urban legends. However, the legends are based on historical facts. The story of Jack the Ripper sprung from the countless murders that transpired in the late nineteenth century. Brutal murders of young women whose throats were slit and innards eviscerated and ripped from their bodies thus the term "ripper."

I do like novels where history or art is one of the main facets. I like it when authors used historical facts as basis to their wild stories because it somehow adds a realistic effect to the story. It makes you think that what if that actually happened in real life(although most of the time, authors would note that the story is purely fictional). Though this particular novel used a very dark part of history.

I also like the reference to Harry Potter such as Gringgots, Diagon Alley, Madam Malkin's etc. Well as both were set in London and Harry Potter settings were almost Victorian, it wasn't hard to connect both stories (or the author might be a Potterhead too).

Though, thrilling as the story may be, I could not help but think how a teenage girl could achieve something like that. Solve murders and rewrite history? And a really terrifying one at that. That's one big task for a teenager of the 21st century. Although maybe that's how the character was really suppose to be; brave and mature for her age. Still, for me it was not a strong point of the story.

The reference to other authors and literary heroes such as Sir Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Agatha Christie is another thing I liked about this movie. It was very well thought of, very well researched and very well written.

I'd recommend this novel to young adults who love mystery novels that make them sleepless at night. Also, I'd recommend this to history buffs as well. This book is filled with history trivia and other bits and pieces.






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