Helpful Score: 4
I liked this all right.....well, I wanted to like it all. I liked it but not enough of it to read the rest. It felt vague. Not enough explanation of the reality. I think it should have been two books instead of one....
Helpful Score: 3
The one overwhelming impression I leave this book with is CONFUSION. Oh, it's intrigued confusion, but confusion nonetheless. In Hunter's post-apocalyptic world, seraphs and demons fight each other, but a new species has arisen - neomages. They appear human but can control energies around them. This story centers around Thorn St. Croix, a stone neomage who cannot survive with other neomages because her strange powers cause her mind to be open to all those of her kind, and all their unfiltered thoughts would drive her insane. So she lives in hiding among humans as a jeweler. But when her ex-husband is captured by Dark Powers, she risks everything to find him, even if revelation of her true self would mean death.
As fascinating as the concepts of this world and its characters are, the story proceeded at an extremely slow, plodding pace, and this despite a great beginning that thoroughly captured my imagination, and occasional bouts of action. I also felt the story lacked focus, as the protagonist did not seem to have a clear direction to go. I understand that first books of a series can sometimes be slow because of all the necessary exposition, but I found myself putting this book down too often for lack of interest in the direction it was taking. There was also a tad too much description of the very similar preparations she takes every time she did a conjuring, although in itself the prose was well done. The battle scenes were also smooth, action-packed and well described. Overall, the book had enough good points that I will read the second of the series, which luckily I have on hand, and from there I can decide whether I will look for the rest of the books.
As fascinating as the concepts of this world and its characters are, the story proceeded at an extremely slow, plodding pace, and this despite a great beginning that thoroughly captured my imagination, and occasional bouts of action. I also felt the story lacked focus, as the protagonist did not seem to have a clear direction to go. I understand that first books of a series can sometimes be slow because of all the necessary exposition, but I found myself putting this book down too often for lack of interest in the direction it was taking. There was also a tad too much description of the very similar preparations she takes every time she did a conjuring, although in itself the prose was well done. The battle scenes were also smooth, action-packed and well described. Overall, the book had enough good points that I will read the second of the series, which luckily I have on hand, and from there I can decide whether I will look for the rest of the books.
Helpful Score: 3
Great story, so sorry when it ended and had to wait for the next one.
Wonderful imaginative magical story.
Wonderful imaginative magical story.
Helpful Score: 3
Thorn St. Croix is an unlicensed stone mage who is currently hiding in Mineral City where a huge iceberg is threatening the town. For their own protection, neomages are required to be in the Enclave (much like the reservations American Indians were forced into). However, Thorn escaped when her powers showed themselves and nearly drove her insane when she started hearing thousands of voices in her head. Now she is hiding in plain site, running a jewelry store and using her powers clandestinely. If she is discovered by humans, they will kill her. If she is discovered by seraphs (angels), they will kill her. If she is discovered by the demon-spawn, they will kill her. And lastly if she is discovered by a daywalker, it will kill her. As you can imagine, this constant threat of death isn't easy to live with.
Her ex-husband, Lucas is kidnapped and when a daywalker shows itself to her stepchild, Ciana, Thorn is immediately concerned and drawn to fight even if it means her life will be sacrificed. She draws on her friends Audric, Rupert, Jacey and Thaddeus to help her find Lucas and save Ciana's life.
This should be a 5 star read but it was way too religious for my taste. Part of Thorn's spellcasting involve quoting scripture and she does it repeatedly. I found myself skipping over all this stuff and just reading around all the religiousness of the book. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic time when the ice age has returned to North America. This just adds another problem to Thorn's existence as a stone mage needs to draw on stone for her survival and with it being buried under layers of ice for months and months prevents Thorn from recharging her amulets and herself leaving her weak and unable to fight.
I did enjoy this book and since I own [book:Seraphs|8845158][book:Host|9284840], plan to read the rest of the series unless it goes totally over the top religiously and prevents my enjoyment.
Her ex-husband, Lucas is kidnapped and when a daywalker shows itself to her stepchild, Ciana, Thorn is immediately concerned and drawn to fight even if it means her life will be sacrificed. She draws on her friends Audric, Rupert, Jacey and Thaddeus to help her find Lucas and save Ciana's life.
This should be a 5 star read but it was way too religious for my taste. Part of Thorn's spellcasting involve quoting scripture and she does it repeatedly. I found myself skipping over all this stuff and just reading around all the religiousness of the book. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic time when the ice age has returned to North America. This just adds another problem to Thorn's existence as a stone mage needs to draw on stone for her survival and with it being buried under layers of ice for months and months prevents Thorn from recharging her amulets and herself leaving her weak and unable to fight.
I did enjoy this book and since I own [book:Seraphs|8845158][book:Host|9284840], plan to read the rest of the series unless it goes totally over the top religiously and prevents my enjoyment.
Helpful Score: 1
I really did not think I would much like this book. But much to my surprise, I did. It is post apocolyptic story involving neo-mages, serephs, the darkness. To me it was slow in some parts but the action in particular the action towards the 2nd half of the book was really good and succeeded in capturing my imagination. I plan to read the next two books to make sure. : )
