emmanovella

A NEW "BOOK THIEF"?!

15/3/2018

Well... if getting a new John Green* last year was exciting, Markus Zusak sure knows how to up the game.

Obviously, nothing will ever replace The Book Thief, but I have high hopes for anything that comes from its author so you can imagine my delight when I received an email from Waterstones informing me that after over a decade of work on it, Bridge of Clay is finally ready for publication... ON MY BIRTHDAY!

The UK cover. Release date October 11 2018

The breathtaking story of five brothers who bring each other up in a world run by their own rules. As the Dunbar boys love and fight and learn to reckon with the adult world, they discover the moving secret behind their father’s disappearance.

At the center of the Dunbar family is Clay, a boy who will build a bridge—for his family, for his past, for greatness, for his sins, for a miracle.

The question is, how far is Clay willing to go? And how much can he overcome?

Okay. First of all can we talk about the fact that it's taken Zusak over a decade to write this? And then can we talk about the fact he first got his idea at 19. You know, 23 years ago (if my math is right... it's probably not).

As an aspiring author I am both inspired and horrified at this information. Inspired that he persevered with his story and kept going with it (even after long breaks when it wasn't working) but horrified that I might not be able to tell the stories I have in my head now for more than double the time I've spent on this earth... *shudders*

Anyway! I've only read Zusak's most famous work though I do own I Am the Messenger which is on my "21 @ 21" list so I should be getting to it before this new book.
I'll admit that if this was any other author the synopsis wouldn't necessarily grab me but I felt similar about The Book Thief and loved it so I will definitely be giving this a try!

Who else is excited about this announcement?

I believe the US release day is two days before the UK (UGH) making release date the 9th (which was my due date so at least the dates are consistent in some fashion)

I can't decide if I love or hate the US cover. On the one hand it's got a nice colour scheme and I believe the title font somewhat resembles that of the tenth anniversary edition of The Book Thief but when I inspect it closer I sometimes feel I don't like the images and would rather it be water colour splashes or just plain white. Either way, I can't decide which cover I prefer because I'm equally indecisive about my thoughts on the UK cover.

Which do you prefer and are you planning to purchase this straight away or are you going to wait for reviews? Perhaps the hype around it means you'll never pick it up? Let me know in the comments!

*Speaking of John Green... is it just me that thinks the covers are somewhat similar? (After putting the pictures together they don't look that similar but I definitely got the vibes at first haha)