THE STORY:
When fifteen-year-old
Nathanial moves to a sinister town that has been bruised by an ancient
evil, he finds himself one of those Chosen to fight the cycle of
darkness.
MY THOUGHTS:
The writing was clear and the premise was
interesting. I would have liked to see a bit more world building as I
found myself asking questions that were never resolved. I enjoyed the
themes in this one even if at times I wanted the main
characters to have a bit more agency.
This started out being a 5 star read because of the
premise but the closer I got to the end of the novel the more some of
the aspects began to bug me. One of my pet hates is the use of cryptic
messages from a mysterious being attempting
to guide a group into saving the world. I understand the need for
tension but to have someone speaking in riddles when there is so much at
stake is aggravating. Especially when there hasn’t been any established
rules that prevent the person from speaking plainly.
I didn’t mind Nathaniel as a character but as the
POV character I didn’t really believe in his portrayal as a “thinker.”
So often secondary characters dropped clues that he didn’t pick up and
it took him way too long to come to a conclusion
that was quite blatantly obvious. Nathaniel had almost no fight in him
and when certain events happen I was disappointed in his tame reaction. I
would have much preferred for Danny to be the POV character because he
had spunk and was a man of action.
As with most YA I didn’t care for the attempted
romance in this one. There just wasn’t any need for it as it neither
seemed organic nor did it really advance the plot in any way. Perhaps I
would have enjoyed it more if the love interest
hadn’t been such an unpleasant person as well.
THE RATING:
3.5/5
