By: Kami Garcia
Published By: Simon & Schuster
Released : 10th October 2013
Details: Paperback from publisher for review, 305 Pages
RATING : 4.25 TEAM JARED STARS!
Blurb: Goodreads
When Kennedy finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn't know that evil forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into her house and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon - a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.
Now Kennedy has to take her mother's place in the Legion if she wants to uncover the truth and stay alive. Along with new Legion members Priest and Alara, the teens race to find the only weapon that might be able to destroy the demon - battling the deadly spirits he controls every step of the way.
Suspense, romance, and the paranormal meet in this chilling urban fantasy, the first book in a new series from Kami Garcia, bestselling co-author of the Beautiful Creatures novels.
BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:
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| US Cover |
I liked Kami’s story about seventeen year old Kennedy who finds her life whiplashed, doing a 180 degree flip in a totally different direction with not much time to process.
This book starts off well, we get introduced very quickly to the handsome Lockhart twins, Jared and Lukas, followed by Priest and Alara.
Priest is the character that I got the most depth from. He is a great sidekick. He has some great lines and he is the genius of the group. I loved the way his mind was ten steps ahead already inventing something MacGyver style. Give the boy some duct tape, some aerosol cans, throw in a calculator and watch him work .
He held up the remains of an automatic weapon complete with protruding bolts, crude soldering marks, and duct tape wrapped around the handle. The tape must’ve been his trademark.
Jared and Lukas have issues between them. I immediately had my team guy in Jared. Lukas I noticed likes to give Kennedy things she needs. Jared gives her the looks and he is protective and deeper in his actions with Kennedy. He gives up his bed, he will tend her wounds.
Jared Lockhart stared back at me, still wearing his green army jacket.
I must have been in serious shock last night because I didn’t remember him being this gorgeous. Intense blue eyes and full lips, balanced by a roughness that came from a fight or two, kept him from looking like your average pretty boy.
“Priest said your area of expertise is combat and weapons?”
He examined the excessive amount of tape crisscrossing the bandage. “It’s definitely not first aid.”
Jared stared at me, his hand still curled around my wrist. “It’s a black dove,” he said quietly. “The priests chose it because black doves are rare and small in number, like the Legion. And a dove is the only bird the devil can’t transform into, which means a demon can’t either.”
I was not sure if we were getting a JKL sandwich at one stage. Jared, Kennedy and Lukas. Notice the ‘K’ in the middle of that alphabet line up. Lukas doesn’t seem to be as deep as Jared with his feelings for Kennedy. He seems more pissed at his brother.
This teenaged group of five make up the new Legion , by relative association.
The shiz goes down and they must fill the places and find a way to bring Andras the demon, down.
I found this story line to be a fusion of Supernatural with a nod, I thought, to Jared Padalecki with Jared’s character name and moments that reminded me of The Mortal Instruments, throwing in a nod to the Da Vinci Code.
I thought it was a strong start to Kami’s story, but I would have liked it to have been more difficult finding each piece of the weapon needed to bring down Andras.
I really enjoyed Kami’s scenes before each piece was found. She really threw in the creepy/ horror into her scenes.
I would have liked the reader to have been given more twists and a sense of difficulty with finding the pieces to the weapon. They were all very close in distance to each other. I mean this is the weapon when pieced together would apparently bring down a top demon.
I would have thought they would have been hopping planes, trains and automobiles to get to these pieces spread far and wide.
For safety precautions, of course.
No need, all within close distances.
The clues were kinda coded a bit too easy, I thought, considering the end result of this weapon, or too easy to decipher for this new group of Legions.
Kennedy is totally clueless about Legions even existing, yet they don’t make a wrong turn.
I really love the five characters, but I found the twins just didn’t even bat an eyelid at Alara, who I think is a rather cool chick, and beautiful, and she is loaded, compared to them. There wasn’t any acknowledgements, in that guy way, towards Alara, but they sure noticed Kennedy.
The girl was beautiful -- with long wavy hair, perfectly smooth caramel-colored skin, and dark almond-shaped eyes.
I think I needed more character development with Jared and Lukas. I certainly could tell the two twins apart with their mannerisms, but I felt like the romantic side that was a possible, JKL sandwich , happened without really trying.
Or was it never a triangle just a definite JK?
“I’m not the one. I never was.”
Jared’s cheek brushed mine, as he whispered in my ear. “You’re the only one.”
Jared’s heart beat against my unmarked skin. “Half the time you won’t even look at me.”
His fingers slid down the back of my neck. “And the other half, I can’t stop thinking about you.”
Visually, Kami will really get under your skin with her creepy moments with Vengeance Spirits. She does a really good job of writing those scenes. I was seeing some old movie moments from some horrors with asylums and poltergeists etc. It added that extra creepy.
The ending was really good, I didn’t see that coming. This I liked.
This was a fast paced, energetic ride with a side order of shock value and a boy that I want to read more about.
I am looking forward to book # 2 and seeing where Kami takes me.
Bring. It. On.
Michelle
Is this YA? I am totally digging the cover art, it is very UF like you said and it looks like adult UF instead of YA. Am I to assume there's no clear love triangle but more of a love crush? If that's the case then I think I'll like it. So far I've been fortunate with my YA reads because of the lack of that annoying love triangle.
ReplyDeleteLovely review and even lovelier book. Adding this to my TBR
Yes Matey! Hmmm...well, it's a bit complicated, but I would possibly assume there is just the one lad, with the other getting his feelings possibly stomped on. But you have to read to understand. I actually don't mind love triangles because they make me think and ponder. Even though I have a clear winner in my mind, it does give the angst etc. :) Mich
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