Review: Heaven by Christoph Marzi

Publisher:Mangschou (Norwegian publisher)
Pages: 360
Release: September 2011
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: Bought
Challenge: None this year, read it in 2011
Good to know: This book was first published in Germany in 2009 and last year it came out in Norwegian. The book was published in English February 2nd this year.

The night that Heaven lost her heart was cold and moonless. But the blade that sliced it out was warm with her dark blood... David Pettyfer is taking a shortcut over the dark rooftops of London's brooding houses, when he literally stumbles across Heaven: a strange, beautiful, distraught girl who says that bad men have stolen her heart. Yet she's still alive... And so begins David and Heaven's wild, exciting and mysterious adventure - to find Heaven's heart, and to discover the incredible truth about her origins. Part thriller, part love story and part fairy tale, this brilliantly original novel from a bestselling German author will take your breath away...

A Great Fantasy

Heaven has one of the best storylines I have encountered in a YA - novel. Nothing in this book is predictable, the surprises are many and the suspense is high.

Parts of London is covered with a nightsky without stars. It has been like this a long time and for David Pettyfer, who works in the bookstore The Owl and the Pussycat, this is normal. David's work consists of delivering books, often rare books, to customers in London. He likes to take a shortcut over the rooftops of London's brooding houses whilst on his way with a book. David has had a troubled past, but the job in the bookstore is a new beginning for him. One night, David runs into Heaven on a rooftop ...

Heaven, or Freema Mirrlees as she also is called, is an orphan. She tells David that some bad men have stolen her heart. David does not know what to believe, but he soons finds out that someone is after Heaven. He have to help keep Heaven hidden and at the same time figure out why the men are chasing her.

I have read a lot of YA - novels in the past years, a lot of them have a similar storyline. You know what's going to happen, who will fall in love with whom etc. In Heaven you cannot predict anything. Marzi have created a fantastic and thrilling story with a mystery that is slowly unveiled as you flip the pages. There are a lot of paranormal elements in the story too, like zombies and ghosts.

It is not hard to guess that Marzi loves the victorian era and the writers that lived in this time. Heaven is kind of like a love poem to the city of London and a lot of the characters in the story have been given names from characters in Dickens' stories. The book made me want to read a story by Dickens again.

Marzi is a musiclover and there is a lot of references to songlyrics in the novel. He also got the idea for the novel itself from a song, Chim Chim Cher-ee, as sung by Dick van Duke and Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins.

The language in the book is not that consistent. Marzi knows how to write poetically and the book is full of beautiful quotes and observartions. But, at the same time, there are a lot of repetitions and clichees here.

Heaven was an interesting character. It takes some time for the reader to get under her skin, but I liked that. Jeg was constantly wondering what had happened to her in the past, why her parents had died and why the men where out for her heart. Marzi kept me guessing until the final pages in the book.

This book is not a part of a series. Keep in mind that Heaven is not a book for the younger readers. There is a lot of swearing in the book, the characters are thinking abous sex and have dealt with alcohol and drugs.

If you love London, Dickens and Urban Fantasy you should pick up this book. It is great! And if you do not love London and Dickens, pick up the book anyway and read it.

(I do not have any quotes this time since I read this book in Norwegian)

Other reviews:
Lost Among the Shelves
Bloggers Heart Books
A Cupcake and a Latte

The English cover for the book: