Rashika, The Book Owl

***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

Isn’t the title of this book just great? It’s even awesomer when the author drops it into some of the conversations in the book. But really, this book is amazing. It seems like it would either be full of dark humor or fluff and while it has both, Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies is surprisingly dark and wonderfully mysterious. I had to take several breaks throughout because there was so much tension and so much build-up to a really fucking great climax.

Aspen is a great main character and completely unlikeable when you are first introduced to him, but as we find out more about him and his family, we learn more about why he is this way and what made him this way. And of course, not all hope is lost even though Aspen makes some really bad decisions over the course of the novel.

There are some notable secondary characters present but it is Aspen’s relationship with his family members that is most interesting to me. We already know that this family really isn’t normal but as Aspen finds out more about their ritual, we find that nothing is what it seems and that there are even more hidden depths to this family than we first thought.

Ribar also really spends a lot of time making the Quick family truly unique instead of just magical. They aren’t just a family with a secret and magical powers, they have sob stories, differences amongst each other, and significant others who are scared of these powers. Magic does not always equal rainbows and unicorns but also, their magic is actually really cool and interesting and not at all generic.

Lies, secrets and all that fun stuff obviously makes the plot all the more exciting--to the point where there is no coming back. I mean, I put down the book during some really stressful moments but all I could think about was the book and how much I needed to know what would happen next and how this story would unravel.

And it really does unravel. There is nothing easy or clean about how this book concludes and it becomes clear towards the end that there really isn’t an easy solution to all the problems and perhaps a happy ending might not even be possible (but you’ll have to read to find out more about that ;).) I will say that the ending is fitting for the book and not at all disappointing. I would definitely not mind a sequel though.

Basically, if you love mystery and suspense with a dash of complicated families and magic, this book is for YOU. So go forth and devour.

Note that I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review