Heaven by Christoph Marzi **Review & international giveaway** [Giveaway Ended]

Heaven by Christoph Marzi

Series: None
Pages: 416
Publisher: Hachette
Release date: 2nd February 2012
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Waterstones
Thank you to Hachette for my review copy 

Goodreads synopsis:

 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... 

I was really looking forward to reading this one, and it definitely didn't disappoint me. The novel eases you in gently and so subtly, that by the time the plot begins to get a little stranger, and darker things begin to unfold, you are already accustomed to the oddity of it all, without really having realised how you got there. In this way, I suppose, you could say that the experience you have as the reader is very similar to David's - but not only do we easily accept the strange events - we also fall in love with Heaven.
And what wonderful characters David and Heaven are! They are so tangible and believable that I almost instantly fell in love with both of them, and knew that I wanted a happy ending for them - and this was when the story had only just begun. By the time their fairytale love story blossoms, I was completely besotted and didn't want the novel to end!

It wasn't just the good characters that I loved though - I've always had a bit of a soft spot for a 'good' villain as well, and Marzi certainly provides this in the form of Mr Scrooge (or whatever other Dickens-inspired name he is currently going by) and his mysterious client (whom I shall leave unnamed - you'll have to find out who it is for yourselves). Mr Scrooge, along with the 'Raggedy Man' provide the perfect antagonists for our heroes - mysterious, and ultimately more dangerous in the calm manner of their malice. They helped to provide the level of excitement that the novel offers.

I also loved the style of the novel. Within the first few chapters, I found myself saying things like "this reminds me of Neverwhere", and "It's like Neil Gaiman, only better" (not that I dislike, Mr Gaiman though - he certainly has his own charm and appeal). I hadn't yet noticed the quotes on the front of my review copy - one of which provides the very fitting phrase 'Gaiman-esque'. This is certainly true. By now, I am able to happily report that it is like a more finely refined mixture of Gaiman's Neverwhere and Stardust - and it is so beautifully written that the world and the characters in it simply stroll from the pages.

The setting is another element of the novel that makes it so thrilling. That the book is recognisably set in contemporary London makes it so exciting - that it's so close to home means that as a British reader, I almost feel as though I could live inside the book. But it's also London like you've never seen it before - not just from a fantastical point of view, with the disappearance of a fragment of the night sky, but also from a different view point: London from the rooftops, and London from the point of view of 'stowaways' attempting to find their place in the world.

There is a huge list of the many wonderful things I could mention about this novel, but this would take a long time, and in all honesty, I wouldn't want to tell you too much. I'm hoping that I've interested you in this book enough that you will decide to go out and buy it - it is certainly a delight and treasure of a novel, and one that will be sticking with me for a long time to come.

I'm very excited to be able to announce that, courtesy of the wonderful people at Hachette, I have one paperback copy of Heaven to give away to one lucky follower! The giveaway is also international, so extra, huge thanks go out again to the publishers for this wonderful prize.
Before you get entering, I'd like to lay a few rules and guidelines down before we start:

• You must be a follower of Pen to Paper to enter. I will check that you are a follower if you are pulled out as a winner. I withhold the right to disqualify your entry if you are not a follower of the blog. This giveaway is for my wonderful followers - so make sure you become one of them :)
• I will need your GFC follower name put into the extra info box in the Rafflecopter. Make sure you put in your exact follower name, as I search for this to confirm your entry if you're pulled out as a winner.
• If you are chosen as a winner and I email you, you will have 48 hours to reply to the email. If I don't receive a reply in this time, I will have to draw another winner, and you will lose your prize - sorry but someone has to win!
• Please don't leave your email address in the comments. I have trouble with this every time I do a giveaway. I use Rafflecopter so that your email addresses are not available to anyone but me (and only then if you win). This is for your own safety :)
• There is one initial entry for following Pen to Paper and then there are extra entries possible for the giveaway after this. They are optional, but they could be the difference between someone else or you winning!
• The giveaway will end on February 20th at 23:59 EST.

Now all that's left to do is click that wonderful follower button and get yourselves entered! Good luck to all of you!

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