The Bursting Bookshelf

Hey everyone! Have you read my review of Fated? If not, click here. As you can tell, I liked the book, having read it a while back. To read it was one thing, but to hear part of the audiobook brought a whole new dimension to the story, bringing it alive with the great voice acting, as heard in the clip below. I don't know about you guys, but I think I may have to pick this one up!


Check it out: Amazon USA Amazon Canada



What did you think?

Lately strange things have been happening to Daire Santos. Animals follow her, crows mock her, and glowing people appear out of nowhere. Worried that Daire is having a nervous breakdown, her mother packs her off to stay in the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico with a grandmother she’s never met.

There she crosses paths with Dace, a gorgeous guy with unearthly blue eyes who she’s encountered before...but only in her dreams. And she’ll get to know her grandmother—a woman who recognizes Daire’s bizarre episodes for what they are. A call to her true destiny as a Soul Seeker, one who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead. Her grandmother immediately begins teaching her to harness her powers—but it’s an art that must be mastered quickly. Because Dace’s brother is an evil shape-shifter who’s out to steal her powers. Now Daire must embrace her fate as a Soul Seeker and find out if Dace is one guy she’s meant to be with...or if he’s allied with the enemy she’s destined to destroy.

Review:
Alyson Noel is a name most readers can put a book to; the Immortals Series. With such a recognizable name, it was easy to decide to read this book. In the beginning, it was a little bit rough due to characters, but as the story got rolling, it only got better.

Symbolism-wise, the cover was stellar. It modeled both situations Daire was put into, along with some of the emotions she felt. Without going into too much detail, there were scenes featuring large groups of crows, as the cover portrays. The model representing Daire shows emotions like fear, suspicion, and a twinge of bravery; all of these emotions were utilized at some time or other during the story. The cover is also quite a bit different than that of the Immortals Series, while still featuring the simplicity readers have come to expect from the covers of her books.

The characters in the book are where I experience some difficulty; they didn't seem natural. Some of their relationships had very odd dynamics, while some of them were simply too stereotypical. Paloma fell on the stereotypical side; she was too predictable and didn't catch my emotions all that much. Daire came off as bragging to me, and ungrateful. She didn't often see the other side of the story (ie. with her mom), was too melodramatic and was just not that enjoyable to have narrate the story. All of that being said, I also didn't care for how she interacted with other; she fell instantly for a boy and she wasn't very kind towards her mother. As the book progressed, I was able to put my dislikes for the characters to focus on the quickly developing plot.

There are some things I liked about this book's plot, but a few that I did not. My favorite things about the plot were how quickly the action started, there weren't many slow spots throughout the entirety of the story. The speed of the plot was the book's best feature, I couldn't put it down once I had started it. It grabbed me with the promise of unique ideas and kept me whilst delivering on that promise. One of my least favorite aspects of the plot was how quickly Daire fell in love with someone, they had just met and they were already in love. The writing was great; it featured the necessary description of a book of this nature, fueling the imagination with powerful imagery.

With all read and done, I will be returning to the series to see what will happen in Daire's future. I'd recommend this book to people who want a different take on a paranormal theme, along with a quick, light read. I give Fated a 3.5/5.