Review: Manifest by Artist Arthur

Manifest by Artist Arthur

When fifteen-year-old Krystal Bentley moves to Lincoln, Connecticut, her mom's hometown, she assumes her biggest drama will be adjusting to the burbs after living in New York City.

But Lincoln is nothing like Krystal imagined. The weirdness begins when Ricky Watson starts confiding in her. He's cute, funny, a good listener—and everything she'd ever want—except that he was killed nearly a year ago. Krystal's ghost-whispering talents soon lead other "freaks" to her door—Sasha, a rich girl who can literally disappear, and Jake, who moves objects with his mind. All three share a distinctive birthmark in the shape of an M and, fittingly, call themselves the Mystyx. They set out to learn what really happened to Ricky, only to realize that they aren't the only ones with mysterious powers. But if Krystal succeeds in finding out the truth about Ricky's death, will she lose him for good?

Review:

Going into Manifest I had no idea, at all, what to expect. Luckily, Manifest turned out to be so much more than what I was expecting- it was mysterious, exciting, and creepy. I can't wait for the sequel to be released!

To begin with Krystal was a little annoying and I couldn't really understand the way she was acting. As the novel progressed I began to understand her even more and she turned out to be a really great main character. Krystal can see, hear, and talk to ghosts. A talent that she fears will make people think she's crazy if they find out. On top of that she is dealing with both friend and family trouble. Her parents were recently divorced and she was forced to leave her dad to move in with her mom and her new husband Gerald. At school Krystal doesn't really have any friends and her mom and Gerald fear she is becoming depressed. I felt for Krystal because on top of starting at a new school and missing her dad, ghosts were asking for her help.

The main ghost in the novel, Ricky, is a sweet guy and really helps Krystal step out of her shell. He was killed and wants Krystal to help release his friends from blame and to uncover who the real killer is. There were a variety of characters in Manifest and I liked watching Krystal change her perspective on some of them and realize she may have been wrong about them at first. The other two main characters, Sasha and Jake, fellow Mystyx were interesting and unique characters. I liked how they banded together to do what was right and didn't care what anyone else thought.

On top of the ghost angle, there was a huge mystery that Krystal was trying to solve. Ricky's death was just one part of the puzzle and I loved watching Krystal uncover clues. Things began getting really creepy and some of the things Krystal uncovered were really disturbing. A lot of the events and clues were tied together and by the end there was a lot of excitement and suspense.

The idea behind Manifest was really original, and I liked learning about the background on the Mystyx and watching Krystal, Jake, and Sasha solve the mystery. At times it was a bit predictable, but the ending held a lot of surprises and was a huge cliffhanger. This is a mysterious and unique paranormal read and I'm looking forward to checking out more by Artist Arthur in the future.

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

August 1, 2010/Kimani Tru/256 Pages/Young Adult/Book One

Source: Publicist and BEA 2010