Chime

 

Title:

Chime

Author:
Franny Billingsley


About the Author (Goodreads):
While Billingsley's first novel, Well Wished (1997), was warmly received by critics, a year ago she was a virtual unknown within a publishing climate that regarded fantasy as a specialty genre. Today, her name is on the lips of booksellers and reviewers throughout the country.

Franny Billingsley was not always a writer. She graduated from Boston University law-school in 1979, and worked for 5 years as a lawyer — a profession which she “despised.” In 1983, Billingsley visited her sister in Barcelona, Spain where she was “entranced by a lifestyle in which people did not make a lot of money yet lived richly and artfully.” Realizing that she needed to change her life, Billingsley quit her job and moved to Spain with all of her favorite children's books. “Books like A Wrinkle in Time, Harriet the Spy, and The Narnia Chronicles seemed like the perfect antidote to hideously wearisome legal documents,” remembers Billingsley, who began writing children's books while living in Spain.

When Billingsley returned to the United States, she took a job as the children's book-buyer at 57th Street Books, a major independent bookseller on the South Side of Chicago. “I worked at the bookstore for twelve years and I loved it because it helped me get back to the things that matter to me: people, ideas, and imagination. I wrote throughout this period. My early books were simply awful, but I did not let rejections and criticism stop me from writing. I worked hard at learning how to write and finding my strengths. It was not until I began writing fantasy that I found my voice. I believe that, ultimately, talent is less important to writing a good book than is determination.”

Franny Billingsley lives in Chicago with her family and currently writes children's books full-time.

Book Summary (Goodreads):
Before Briony's stepmother died, she made sure Briony blamed herself for all the family's hardships. Now Briony has worn her guilt for so long it's become a second skin. She often escapes to the swamp, where she tells stories to the Old Ones, the spirits who haunt the marshes. But only witches can see the Old Ones, and in her village, witches are sentenced to death. Briony lives in fear her secret will be found out, even as she believes she deserves the worst kind of punishment.

Then Eldric comes along with his golden lion eyes and mane of tawny hair. He's as natural as the sun, and treats her as if she's extraordinary. And everything starts to change. As many secrets as Briony has been holding, there are secrets even she doesn't know. they race against time to unravel their pasts in order to save their lives—and their futures.

I'd Recommend to:
Literally no one   

My rating:
2/5

My Thoughts:

Libba Bray was one of my favorite authors growing up and she wrote glowing reviews on the cover of this book so I thought it would be a good one. I was super disappointed to learn it was not. 

The first 2/3rds of the book had me wanting to quit and stop reading, but my "gifted and talented"ness requires me to finish something through once I've started it (unlike my grandmother who loves to leave things in my "Continue Watching" tab on Netflix) so I kept going, hoping it would get better. 

The final 1/3 was actually great and if the entire book was more like the last bit, it could've been a 5/5. However, because it was the final bit, I can't really talk about it without spoiling the whole thing. Is the first half/two-thirds of dreadfulness worth the ending? Probably not. Save yourself the time and pick a different book. 

After the story there was a Q&A section where the author said it took her over 6 years and several complete plot/setting shifts to write this novel, so that's probably why the last chunk was significantly different/better than the first bit.