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Published: Oct. 10, 2010
Words: 42,258 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781458175298
Short description
Red Piccirilli is a runt, a dreamer, a naive boy with an imaginary friend and little else. But right before summer vacation starts he finds an albino girl trapped in a shed behind a local house. After Red frees her, the world he knew quickly unravels into something more mysterious—an unsteady reality where a man with silver teeth and buzz saw voice points him toward the true meaning of sacrifice.Extended description
In the first Division Mythos book, Before Leonora Wakes, Red Piccirilli is a runt, a dreamer, a naive boy with an imaginary friend and little else. But right before summer vacation starts he finds an albino girl trapped in a shed behind a local house. After Red frees her, the world he knew quickly unravels into something more mysterious—an unsteady reality where a man with silver teeth and buzz saw voice points him toward the true meaning of sacrifice. With his friendship tested, he fights for life to be as it once was, but he finds out that things can never be the same once the strange girl wakes.Tags
horror, coming of age, magic, dark fantasy, danger, teen, ya, folklore, thompson, mythos, piccirilli, lee, division mythosAvailable ebook reading formats
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Reviews
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Review by:
Rabid Fox
on July 24, 2012 :
I figured if I was going to dive into Lee Thompson's Division mythos, I needed to start at the very beginning, and that meant reading his novella, Before Leonora Wakes, a coming-of-age adventure focusing on the boyhood version of Red Piccirilli.
Set in 1960s Michigan, Red is a twelve-year-old boy whose only friend, Pig, is imaginary. Always up for adventures together, they see a strange man who not only appears to possess supernatural abilities, but can also see Pig, which frightens the imaginary sidekick. They follow the stranger to his home though, hoping to find out his secret, and wind up discovering there is a little girl trapped in a cage inside the stranger's shed. Despite the menace that radiates from the man, Pig convinces Red they need to rescue the girl. But they've already been warned by the stranger to stay away, and when a new friend of Red's named Amy goes missing, the stakes are raised even more.
Red is an immensely intriguing character, complemented by his relationships and decisions throughout the story. The quickly evolving relationship he has with his imaginary friend, Pig, was especially engrossing. At first, it's not quite clear if Pig is a ghost or pure concoction, but he certainly takes on a life of his own and exhibits his own motivations and desires as the story progresses. Red, in reaction to this, is faced with whether the friendship he has with Pig is as innocent and mutually beneficial as he always took for granted.
The rescue story really hearkened to those wonderful childhood stories of wanting to be the knight in shining armor who saves the damsel in distress. It's the kind of story that nearly every boy daydreams about at some point in their childhood, with the only real difference among us is the monster we must face. In Red's case, the monster is nothing like what he expected, and even when its true face is shown, he's still unsure of himself and his allegiances.
Before Leonora Wakes reminded me of Clive Barker's The Thief of Always in spots, as well as Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, two other magnificent coming-of-age tales with hefty doses of the supernatural. It's a little rough around in the edges in spots, like the moments Red spends at home with his parents, but the family dynamic itself is rough around the edges, so I'm unsure how much I can criticize that at all. What I will say is that for a hundred pages of magic and mystery, the story feels remarkably grand in scope and definitely had me eager to read more stories set in Lee's Division.
(reviewed long after purchase)
Review by:
delphyne
on April 03, 2011 :
Loved it! Before Leonora Wakes is a very imaginative, dark, coming of age story. Highly recommended.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)
Review by:
Glen Krisch
on Feb. 27, 2011 :
Wow, how was this written by a new author? As a follow-up, Thompson's debut novel will soon be out from Delirium. After reading Before Leonora Wakes, I'm waiting in line for his next release.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)