42. The Arrivals - Melissa Marr

2013, William Morrow

278 pgs.

SciFi for Adults (definitely not my usual genre!)

Finished 9/18/2013

Goodreads Rating:  3.32

My Rating: Liked it (3) 

TPPL

Setting: "The Wasteland" in another world, contemporary time, this planet has two moons and lots of monsters/demons/creatures - some reviews mention it's a cross between something and the Wizard of Oz....exactly!

1^st sentence/s: "Kitty saw the bullets tear into Mary's belly, watched the red stain cover the flowered dress that she'd just stitched up for her closest friend, and her first thought was that there was no way she could repair that kind of damage.  The dress was ruined."

My comments:  The only good thing about being home sick is that you get to read!  This scifi/dystopia novel is not a "usual" genre for me, but I did like it.  Once I put aside the reality part of my brain and got creative trying to visualize the setting, the creatures, and the characters, I got into it a lot more.  I'm SO glad, though,that it ended - it actually ended - with no apparent sequel in the works.

Goodreads Review:  The Arrivals is the second novel for adults by internationally bestselling author Melissa Marr.  Chloe walks into a bar and blows five years of sobriety. When she wakes, she finds herself in an unfamiliar world, The Wasteland. She discovers people from all times and places have also arrived there: Kitty and Jack, a brother and sister from the Wild West; Edgar, a prohibition bootlegger; Francis, a one-time hippie; Melody, a mentally unbalanced 1950s housewife; and Hector, a former carnival artist.  None know why they arrived there--or if there is way out of a world populated by monsters and filled with corruption.

Just as she did in Graveminder, Marr has created a vivid fantasy world that will enthrall. Melissa Marr's The Arrivals is a thoroughly original and wildly imagined tale about making choices in a life where death is unpredictable and often temporary.