Review: The Wish List by Eoin Colfer

Title: The Wish List
Author: Eoin Colfer
Publication: July 1st 2004 by Scholastic Inc.
Genre: Young Adult ~ Paranormal
Format: Paperback, 256 pages
Cover Rating: 4/5
Overall Rating: 5/5

   

Eoin Colfer has made millions of fans around the world with his much-loved character, Artemis Fowl, the star of his hugely best-selling series. Now, in a beautifully written novel that is already breaking records in his native Ireland, Colfer introduces readers to a lovable but troubled heroine, who has been given the opportunity for a special kind of redemption.

Meg Finn is in trouble-unearthly trouble. Cast out of her home by her stepfather after her mother's death, Meg is a wanderer, a troublemaker. But after her latest stunt, finding a place to sleep is the least of her worries. Belch, her partner in crime, has gotten her involved in the attempted robbery of an elderly man, Lowrie McCall. And things go horribly wrong. After an accidental explosion, Meg's spirit is flung into limbo, and a race begins between the demonic and the divine to win her soul. Irreverent, hilarious, and touchingly hopeful, The Wish List takes readers on a journey of second chances, where joy is found in the most unexpected places.

~My Thoughts:

The Wish List is no Artemis Fowl but, damn it, if I didn't love it!
For a long time now I've had a dislike to heaven/hell - angel/demon books. I can't quite explain why but from all paranormal books I dislike books about that certain topic the least. However, Eoin Colfer shows with The Wish List how you write a truly great book in this topic. It was fun, very humoristic. I laughed a lot. But it was also very heart warming.

Eoin Colfer always creates amazing characters that I love. Meg Finn was one of them. Though I tend to read more books where the main characters are 16+, I really like Eoin's characters who tend to be more of the age of 12+. Meg was 14 in this book and I loved her. She had a lot to deal with in her life, like her mother dying, which left her all alone with her awful stepfather. When she gets involved in a attempted robbery of the elderly Lowrie McCall together with Belch things go wrong when an explosion occurs which causes for both Meg and Belch to die. As a spirit, Meg ends up in limbo, right in the middle between hell and heaven. To go to heaven she'll have to help Lowrie McCall to do all the things on his Wish List. But Belch is on her heels to stop her from doing the good deed she'll do if she helps Lowrie.


The Wish List is a very fast, light book but nevertheless amazing as I always expect from a Colfer book. Is it the best book of him? No, of course not. That honor (in my opinion) goes to Artemis Fowl but if you want to read something different by him, you should definitely try it. I'm sure no one will be able to put it down once they start this adventure!

Quote:

"What you must do is foil their plans. Whatever McCall asks Finn to do, you must see to it that she fails."
Belch nodded. Made sense. In a Spockish sort of a way.

About the author:

Eoin Colfer (pronounced Owen) was born in Wexford on the South-East coast of Ireland in 1965, where he and his four brothers were brought up by his father and mother, who were both educators.

He received his degree from Dublin University and began teaching primary school in Wexford. He has lived and worked all over the world, including Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Italy. After the publication of the Artemis Fowl novels, Eoin retired from teaching and now writes full time. He lives in Ireland with his wife and two children.

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