Thirteen year old Rory was happily believing that the world was a completely normal place until the magician Hex played a trick on him that opened his eyes to Mannahatta. Now, he sees strange things everywhere he looks – cockroaches riding on rats, people made of paper mache, as well as people and animals that no one else can see. Rory soon learns that he is a Light – a person who can see the truth, and can make others see the truth of what is really there. Hex is excited about the fact that Rory is a Light – most Lights don’t live more than a few years, so Rory is the oldest one to be found in a Very Long Time. But is Hex just trying to manipulate Rory and take advantage of what he is in order to get what he wants?

Mannahatta, the world that Rory can now see, is a world parallel to the real Manhattan. It’s comprised of gods and other spirits – the gods being people in our own world who, after their death, return to Mannahatta because of something they were remembered for in our world. The gods in Mannahatta don’t die, they just fade away when people in our world stop remembering them. Except recently, someone has been murdering these gods.

Will Rory’s ability to see the truth help figure out who is murdering these gods? And does he really want to help Hex in his plot?

Starting this, I was not completely sure whether I would enjoy it or not… but it turns out that I completely loved it. I think this may be one of my favourite young adults/childrens books that I have read in a while. It was imaginative, and it was quite different. Had all of the things I consider necessary in a really good book: magic, girls kicking butt, and boys prancing about in early 19th century clothing. (But make no mistake, this isn’t a book about girls kicking butt, it’s about boys kicking butt, but there were a couple of awesome female characters.)

The characters were all great. Rory was a little concerning at first – he seemed to sound more like a adult than a young teen, but considering his father left his family when he was super young, and he had to take care of his younger sister since their mother works ALL THE TIME… he had to grow up quickly, so the fact that he sounded quite a bit older than he’s supposed to be seemed a bit more understandable.

The supporting characters were fabulous – especially some of the people who inhabit Mannahatta. I most particularly loved the Rattle Watch. They are definitely people I would like to have on my side in trouble. As for other characters in Mannahatta, well, I was a little upset about the fact that my favourite character ended up being the assassin. He was so much fun, and he reminded me of Draco from Cassie Claire’s Draco Trilogy.

Definitely looking forward to more books about Mannahatta. There’s so many questions I have unanswered about this – especially since Rory saw his father in Mannahatta. I’m dying to know what happened to him.