Another
book review, two really, I’m hoping to stay strong and not only meet my reading
challenge goal of 2013 but exceed it. So
funny story here is that I read the description of Fractured Soul, on NetGalley before requesting it. Well normally I don’t request sequels and I
always double check them but apparently I overlooked that. When I went to add it to my goodreads pages
the day I went to start reading it is when I saw it listed as ‘book 2’ and
thought drats. Thankfully book 1, Fractured Light, was at a great price on
Amazon. So I bought it and started it
instead and no you get two book reviews for the price of one.
So
be warned spoilers will be in the 2nd half of this review for the
first book, I will clearly mark them for everyone. I’m doing them as two separate reviews and if
you don’t want any spoilers for book 1 then only read part 1 of the
review…making sense? I hope so. Now for you who don’t mind a few spoilers,
yes you crazy folks out that, enjoy the whole thing. Oh and thanks again to NetGalley, Cedar Fort
Inc., and of course the wonderful Author for bringing the books to life Rachel
McClellan.
~PART 1~
Fractured
Light
Llona
is a girl in her senior year of high
school. She is practically invisible,
just the way she likes it. Her motto,
just survive. Sounds like most people in
high school right? Wrong she doesn’t
care about high school so much as her life because she is different. She’s not human, she’s an Aura. She has a light inside of her, Light that
evil creatures of darkness, Vykens, want to kill her for. See not your typical teenage worries.
She
keeps her life isolated never making any friends accept for one, May, who is friends
with everyone but not particularly close to anyone just the kind of friend she
needs. Until a new guy starts to pay
attention to her and she feels maybe she
can have a normal life. Strange things
start to happen, things that startle and scare her, things that would normally
have caused her to uproot and move again but with her Uncle finally starting a
life and her new found friends she decides to stick it out.
Why
does all of this start happening and why is this mysterious stranger so
interested in her and seem to know her.
Is he interested in her or does he just want to be her friend? Can he be trusted? I really liked this book. I read it pretty quickly and was almost late
for work one day because I sat to read for 15 minutes and next thing I know I
had 8 minutes to get ready and be out the door some 45 minutes later. I like the internal conflict within
Llona. She as a being of light, wants to
help others but doing so goes against her desire to survive and be
invisible. Something else that maybe
just speaks to the giddy girl in me is the way that boys and matters of the
heart can sometimes totally seem more serious that life and death issues. Who can you trust? With your life and with your heart?
Now
you think being Light is difficult, more so when you are different. Light means peace and equality, no
competitions, no games, and definitely no fighting. It goes against their long years of
history. Then why does she enjoy sports
so much? Why does she have a desire to
learn to fight, to wield the Light inside of her to protect herself instead of
sitting around waiting to die. Does
light need to be peaceful or does it want to fight and everyone has just
forgotten how?
This
last part I really liked because it brought up other debates, is defending
yourself really fighting? The obvious
answer, to me anyways, would be NO. Then
again I know some people who feel violence, even self defense classes to be
continuing the cycle of violence.
Personally I feel if everyone learned to defend themselves and there
were no more ‘easy victims’ maybe the bullies of the world would back off and
lose power. That though is a topic for
another time. I did like that part as a
subplot though it gave me more to think about as well.
That
is where I leave you for the first part of this review. Now again I warn you from here on out there
will be spoilers for Fractured Light,
in PART 2 for Fractured Soul.
~PART 2~ Fractured Soul
Fractured Soul is book 2 in the series
by Rachel McClellan. Now I'm writing
this a few days after reading because it took some time to…calm myself
down. I'm one of those readers who gets
seriously into books. I get all up in
arms on the characters behalf, or for them, or anything that I feel is bad or
giddy like a school girl for good things.
People laugh at me while I read and I am okay with this. This book got me all worked up to say the
least and as much as I want to blurt out a major spoiler I won't. So I will simply say be prepared and I suggest have tissues available.
We
pick up with Llona and May arriving at Lucent Academy, the school for
Auras. A safe place for them to learn
the history of what they are, though May isn't an Aura they also have a few
people like her there to help her as well.
The school is a place for Auras to safely learn to use their abilities
and how to make things beautiful and such.
Llona is more interested in learning things she is way behind on, so she
can get out of there. Plus after her
attract keeping her Uncle safe seems like a good idea too. Though she learns that Light might make you
good by natures but teenage girls are still teenage girls and they can be
vicious. She fits in less in a school
full of people like her than at a normal school. Her reputation has proceeded her. Then again with her new found darkness, she
is different. Can she battle the
darkness surrounding her, inside her, or will it destroy her light?
Now
even though this book made me cry my eyes out it was a great read. Clearly I got invested in the characters and
the story. We have some wonderful new
characters to get to know as well as a new place. Some to like, some to hate, but that's the
fun. We also get to see through Llonas
eyes how things are for most Auras. She
realizes that not only did their kind stop fighting, but they stopped taking
care of themselves. Waited on by Lizens,
creatures she'd never before heard of, and finds there is yet again more she
did not know.
As
she is at Lucent Llona stumbles into something evil, that maybe even she isn't
strong enough to defeat. As with the
other book I really liked the characters and story but also the way McClellan
is able to weave in subplots that have larger and deeper meanings.
So
with that in mind, I highly recommend these book. Both I give 5 Light
Balls. Have some tissues ready and be
prepared to wait for the 3rd book, which you get a sneak peek of. So yes check them out. Fractured
Soul comes out February 12th.
Already read them? Tell me what
you thought (any discussion on major spoilers feel free to e-mail me or IM me
on Goodreads.com) I am always willing to discuss a good book.
Rating: 5 Light Balls
No comments:
Post a Comment