Author: Alyson Noel
Release Date: May 22nd, 2012,
Hardcover
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Group: Young Adult
Literature
Rating:★★
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.
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.
*************************************************************
I was so excited to read this book. The whole concept sounded really interesting and intriguing. I know that some readers have their problem with Alyson Noel's other series, The Immortals, but I have always enjoyed them. I didn't think they were that bad and actually liked them. I have even met Alyson Noel and she is really nice. That is why I feel just so terrible about not liking this book. Maybe I had too high expectations going into this book.
The beginning starts out very confusing. I had to reread the first couple chapters just to understand what was going on. The first thing that bothered was the character's names. For example, the main character's name is Daire. How do you even pronounce that? Also her mother's name is Jennika. That was just really distracting, but I did get used to it after a while. The first thing we learn about Daire is that she is having these dreams, visions, and seeing these glowing people. It is all because she is a Seeker, which we learn when she goes to visit her grandmother.
I had some problems with her grandmother and the whole back history of being a Seeker. My first problem was some of the things that her grandmother would say were just unbelievably cheesy. There is actually a point in the book where her grandmother says, "With great power comes great responsibility." Really? That is just the most ridiculous thing to say. I am not reading about Peter Parker! I want to understand this backstory of being a Seeker but it was never addressed. I didn't understand why she was seeing these glowing people, why she was having these dreams about Dace and Cade, or why the Raven was her Spirit animal. I felt like all of this needed to be explained. Especially about the different worlds. Later in the book Daire travels to the Middle-World and I didn't understand anything. What is the Middle-World? I just with the author would have explained this better.
The first half of the book is so slow. I wasn't even interested into the story until halfway through the story with Daire goes to her new High School in Enchantment, New Mexico. That is when she first meets Cade and Dace for real, not counting the small encounters she had with them at the Rabbit Hole. I felt like maybe the story would get better and be more interesting but it didn't. If anything, I started to become even more confused.
I did enjoy the ending and will probably read the next the book. I am interested to see where these characters will go and I have some interest in Cade and Dace to keep reading the series. I just hope that the writing style will get better.
The beginning starts out very confusing. I had to reread the first couple chapters just to understand what was going on. The first thing that bothered was the character's names. For example, the main character's name is Daire. How do you even pronounce that? Also her mother's name is Jennika. That was just really distracting, but I did get used to it after a while. The first thing we learn about Daire is that she is having these dreams, visions, and seeing these glowing people. It is all because she is a Seeker, which we learn when she goes to visit her grandmother.
I had some problems with her grandmother and the whole back history of being a Seeker. My first problem was some of the things that her grandmother would say were just unbelievably cheesy. There is actually a point in the book where her grandmother says, "With great power comes great responsibility." Really? That is just the most ridiculous thing to say. I am not reading about Peter Parker! I want to understand this backstory of being a Seeker but it was never addressed. I didn't understand why she was seeing these glowing people, why she was having these dreams about Dace and Cade, or why the Raven was her Spirit animal. I felt like all of this needed to be explained. Especially about the different worlds. Later in the book Daire travels to the Middle-World and I didn't understand anything. What is the Middle-World? I just with the author would have explained this better.
The first half of the book is so slow. I wasn't even interested into the story until halfway through the story with Daire goes to her new High School in Enchantment, New Mexico. That is when she first meets Cade and Dace for real, not counting the small encounters she had with them at the Rabbit Hole. I felt like maybe the story would get better and be more interesting but it didn't. If anything, I started to become even more confused.
I did enjoy the ending and will probably read the next the book. I am interested to see where these characters will go and I have some interest in Cade and Dace to keep reading the series. I just hope that the writing style will get better.
Plot: ★★★
Characters: ★★
Writing:★★
Ending: ★★★
Cover: ★★★★★
Thanks for this review! How you felt about this book is quite similar to how I felt about The Immortals series. I think the thing I disliked most about the Immortals series was when the author described what 'Immortals' were. Just didn't work for me and I worried that this book would be the same in describing Seekers. Like you said, I thought it might be a bit cheesy. Once my list shortens a bit though I might borrow this from a library and see how far I can get.
ReplyDeleteI've read several reviews of this book, and they all say the same thing about the beginning seeming confusing.
ReplyDelete