I am the Messenger

I am the messenger, is the story of Ed Kennedy (19) who works illegaly for a cab firm, has only three real friends and epitimses the phrases 'waste of space'. between a chainsmoking mother, a stingy friend with 40grand in the bank, a girl he loves to bits but 'likes him too much' for more, a quiet friend with a tattoo of jimmy hendrix, and 'the doorman' who smells like death, you would think Ed Kennedy would be last one chosen to be a hero or a saint.

After a failed bank robbery though, Ed Kennedy becomes the messenger, recieving messages of his next mission via aces. Through acts of kindness to those around him, Ed is being lead by the hand though a journey of self discovery and sometimes, of course is helped with the advice of pie eating hit-men.

This book is YA, and it knows its audience. It was a extremely easy read, but although the language is simple - the meaning isn't. Marcus Zusak shows his talent again with this novel, and although in my opinion it can;t compare to the book thief, it is still excellent.

When i first picked it up, i was hoping for the beautiful descriptive language of the book thief, but this wasn't the case. The language of the book doesn't reflect the writer but reflects the book and its character. I give it 8 stars, only because of part of the ending (the ending is excellent), where we discover who is behind the messages - slightly disappointed with that as i thought Ed's first guess near the end would have been a brilliant twist.