Heartbeat
A touching story about two best friends who are forced to say goodbye. Winner Young Adult of the Year Thrillers and More.

She wakes up in a burning city.
On the first day, the monsters discover her.
On the second day, she learns to defend herself.
On the third day, a dog saves her life.
And that changes everything.
Hell City. The last stop.
ISBN:9789463967211 – NURÂ 285
Number of pages:Â 178
Publication date: March 2020
Hell City
What if you wake up in a city full of fire? What will this hell have in store for you? This story is about Allie waking up in hell. As the cover tells, she will have to pull herself together and go to war. So she goes into this battle but fortunately not completely alone. Every day a battle and every day she learns more of the city she has ended up in. But is there any point in ending up in hell? Will this go on forever? This book is beautifully crafted. The cover, the layout and the drawings of the monsters Allie will fight.
For me, this was the first book I read by Joanne Carlton but I don't think it will be the last. The style of writing and the shape of the story is very good. It is written visually so I could relate to it very well. From me this book could have been much thicker. It is asking for more.
Above expectations
A book that for the first few chapters makes you wonder what on earth it is about, but then you are swept along on an unstoppable rollercoaster. A unique book that cannot be compared to anything else. Recommended for young and old
Recommended
A strong story written in few words. This novella is a must-read.
Allie awakens in a house unknown to her; it is on fire. Strangely, the flames do not seem to bother her. Allie appears to have awakened in Hell City. It seems she is alone. She goes to investigate and, while walking through the deserted city, encounters a hideous monster. Does Allie dare confront it?
Hell City contains an imaginative story about a brave girl who must deal with the demons of her past. For young readers, the monsters featured in the book can be quite scary. Each of the monsters is also shown as an illustration in the book, which adds to the overall experience, but immediately makes it even scarier for young readers. The frightening story starts out somewhat peculiar and for a long time I did not know what to think of the story. The alienating world in which the first part of the story takes place struck me as somewhat improbable. Allie has to endure a lot of pain every day and suffers wounds you would never normally survive. But nothing in Hell City is what it seems....
You hardly get to know anything about the character Allie in the first part of the book, which can make it quite difficult to really sympathize with her as a reader. Later in the second part of the story everything falls into place and what you read earlier suddenly becomes crystal clear. Without giving too much away, the story is ultimately mostly about a personal struggle against bullying. The symbolism in the first part is nicely conceived, but the power behind it all becomes clear only at the end of the story. As a result, the story did not rise in value for me until late.
I have read several of Joanne Carlton's books, so my expectations for Hell City were very high. Hell City is the novella debut of author Joanne Carlton. She also has several successful children's books and thrillers to her credit. Joanne has a pleasant and detailed writing style. You won't find any unnecessary words in her sentences, which makes for a smooth read. She also possesses an incredible amount of imagination, which is reflected well in this story. All in all, in my opinion, this book is not the best book by this author, but then again my expectations were ridiculously high. Hell City is still a serious recommendation for fans of young-adult fantasy books.
She awakens in a burning city. On the first day, the monsters discover her. On the second day, she learns to defend herself. On the third day, a dog saves her life. And that changes everything. Hell City. The final stop.
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We read the story of Hell City from a girl's point of view, she thinks her name is Allie. You read throughout the story what she is thinking and feeling, which allows you to empathize with her character very well. Everything is incredibly vague and mysterious in the beginning. Where is she and what is she doing here? Has she died? Is this really hell? Right from the first chapter, you have a huge number of questions. She fights various monsters and the tension builds a little more and more. You actually understand very little of it and you are regularly left with a feeling of: huh, WHAT!
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The structure of the story is chronological toward the end. As you get further into the story, more and more puzzle pieces fall into place. The ending was really tremendously strong and even though I was in the right direction, it was still surprising. You get a clear explanation and everything ends up being logical and sort of explainable. It is a story without dialogues mainly written from the narrator's point of view. I actually haven't really read a story like this before, but it definitely tastes like more!
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I found Joanne Carlton's writing style exciting, mysterious, original and incredibly evocative. She writes things out in minute detail so that you see everything vividly before you as well. For some readers, this may be a story with a little too much dotting, but because of that, the world was clearly outlined. For the number of pages this novella is, only 147, Joanne Carlton has really put together a good and cool story. At any rate, it definitely brought me a lot of reading pleasure.
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Fun fact: In the book you will also find some illustrations, these were created by tattoo artist Thomas Philip Acid. Really a very cool addition to the story and gives it that extra something.
Joanne Carlton has been writing in a variety of genres for as long as she can remember. She initially penned in Dutch under the author name Sandra J. Paul, until she decided to pursue her longstanding dream of publishing English-language books and short stories.Â
This book was reviewed by several book bloggers. Here you can find the overview of all participants.
Would you like to discover more Hamley Books titles in the same genre? Happy reading!
Update 16/11: Stock of slightly damaged books REPLACED HIGHLY. Dismiss