 |
| This cover is absolutely gorgeous! I love the sparkles on her face! |
Author: Tiffany Daune
Page count: ebook: 278 pages
Publishing date: July 2014
Publisher: Jester Ink Press
My Review: 3/5 stars!
Blurb:
Halen knows the sparks igniting under her fingertips are dangerous. She has spent her entire life trying to quell the tingly feelings that make her destroy things, but now that she is back in Rockaway Beach, where she watched her father drown, the flames have become impossible to tame.
Halen is trying to hold on, but when she is thrust into a mysterious new world, the underwater realm of Elosia, she unravels the secrets of her past and can't help but ignite. As she explores Elosia, she realizes her life has been a lie. And when those who have deceived her come to her for help, Halen must choose—walk away or unleash the magick that could destroy them all.
Before I say anything, I have to talk about my love for sirens and underwater creatures in general. I love the idea of them- the mystical aura they create. Sirens, mermaids, and other underwater creatures haven't gotten much of the hype like vampires and werewolves have, so that's pretty awesome. I'm sick and tired of the paranormal hype that some "creatures" are getting. Obviously I was excited to read something rather new in the paranormal genre. An underwater world...c'mon, you know it's awesome.
But was this book awesome? Well, it wasn't terrible. Still, it wasn't great. While the plot was really interesting and unique, it wasn't exactly well executed. There were too many slow parts, too many chapters that didn't have much depth. It took away from the overall plot. The romance was also something that I didn't particularly enjoy, but I'll get to that later in the review.
For now, I need to talk about the characters. Halen, the main character of this series, has extraordinary powers. Or, she should. I can't get over the fact that all characters in this book talked constantly about how powerful she was. The thing is that Halen didn't show off much of her powers and when she did it wasn't anything that "powerful". I wasn't impressed. Despite her lack of amazing powers, I didn't hate Halen. However, I didn't like her either. She was really annoying and whiny. Every chapter she whined and complained about something silly. She couldn't get over the fact that she's a pawn in a war that she has to stop and would constantly whine and whine and whine about it. As the reader, I feel like I couldn't connect with her character because she was so annoying all the time. It took away from her personality. I didn't care for any of the other characters, either, which is sad because I know that they were major players in this book and will continue to be throughout this series. They felt bland. Boring. I couldn't get myself to really care about what happened to them.
The only character I thoroughly enjoyed was Asair. He's dynamic, intriguing, smart, alluring, and menacing. There are so many different layers to his personality. I LOVE that about characters. I love seeing that there's more to a character than what meets the eye. Asair is probably my favorite character in this book and, if I read the next book, he will probably be as well. Despite being evil, I'm rooting for him to have a happy ending.
Now, the romance. I wasn't a fan at all. The budding romance between Halen and Dax was practically instant and not realistic. There was no chemistry between them AT ALL. I could tell that the author desperately wanted the reader to see a beautiful romance between two completely different characters, but I couldn't. All I could see was that Halen kissed Dax only a few days (one? two?) after meeting. There is no possible way that you can fall in love with someone that quickly. They don't even know each other! It just wasn't a realistic romance and so I couldn't root for them to be together.
I know it must seem like I hated this book, but that's really not the case. I promise! When the chapters weren't slow or boring, the story was really good! Like I said before, the plot is really intricate. I mean, it's not The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer intricate but it's more than just "find Asair, kill him, and save the world". There's a psychological aspect to the plot, and there is also some mystery. Thankfully the romance takes a back seat to this. Otherwise, my rating would be a lot lower.
To be honest, I did enjoy the world building. When the reader is first introduced to the other realms, it got a little confusing. However, the author does a good job of explaining everything in a slow and steady way. It's not all forced on the reader at once, but it's not too little of information that it wasn't enough. I felt that it was a good balance.
I also enjoyed the guardian bit in this book. It's sort of a balance of light and dark, both the protector and the siren holding on to each other so that they don't teeter off the edge. It's very interesting and I think it gave this title a rawer edge, bringing in the psychological factor I mentioned earlier.
Anyways, I thought this book was okay. Like I said, it's not perfect. I saw a lot of grammatical errors. Some involved punctuation problems; others with dialogue. It could be that the format for the ebook made it that way, but I don't think that's the case. I personally think this book needs to be edited more. Despite this, I enjoyed the overall story. Not the romance. Not the characters. But the overall plot even if slow chapters made it less powerful.
OVERALL THOUGHTS?
I recommend this book to readers who enjoy sirens/underwater worlds. If you're looking for a strong romance or characters to connect with, this book might not be for you. But if you're looking for a villain that you could fall in love with, great world-building, and a dynamic guardianship/relationship, this might work out for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment