Monday, June 18, 2012

Review: Fated by Alyson Noel (Soul Seekers 1)


Fated (Soul Seekers, #1)
THE DETAILS:
 Pages: 440
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy
Release Date: 01/06/2012
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
RRP $16.99
Received from publisher.

THE BLURB:
Strange things have been happening to Daire Santos. Animals follow her, crows mock her, glowing people appear from nowhere. Worried that Daire's having a breakdown, her mother sends her to stay with the grandmother she's never met, who lives on the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico. There Daire crosses paths with Dace, a gorgeous guy with unearthly blue eyes.

Her grandmother recognizes Daire's episodes for what they are – a call to her true destiny as a Soul Seeker, a person who can navigate between the living and the dead. Guided by her grandmother, Daire must be quick to learn how to harness her powers, because Dace's brother is an evil shape-shifter, out to steal them.

Daire must embrace her fate as a Soul Seeker and discover whether Dace is the guy she's meant to be with... or if he's allied with the enemy she's destined to destroy.

THE REVIEW:
 Like the few bloggers, who's reviews I've read, I also thought that 'Fated' was going to be a bit on the shallow side. I expected something along the lines of 'Evermore' which I didn't think was fantastic or overly smart, but was definitely a fun entertaining read. What I got when I read 'Fated' was a much longer, more well-written story that I did not expect.

The story begins before Daire Santos is even born. Something dreadful is coming... Next Chapter, fast forward to the present and we're on a movie set. A movie set! This nearly prevented me from reading the book, because I thought that a supernatural character is unrealistic enough, but what are the chances of that character being a celebrity? I'm glad that I went back and gave the book another chance, because the character does come down to earth quickly.

The next thing I noticed about this book when I started It was the writing. Either I wasn't paying attention when I read 'Evermore' or Noel's writing has improved. Everything was very well described. I thought that this was actually some of the best writing I had ever seen in YA fiction. I remember reading some parts and thinking that I could picture it quite clearly in my mind.

I also thought that the story-line, the mythology used and the character building all improved. The love story within this story didn't take up as much of the book as I expected it to. I've only read the one book in the 'The Immortals' series and like I said earlier, it was still entertaining, but 'Fated' seems like such a big step up from that. It does feel a little wrong to compare the two, but I thought it was necessary for other readers (like me) who judged 'Fated' before reading it, based on the other series.

There were some very diverse characters in this story. There was a blind girl who could perceive things that most people could not, Daire's mother Jennika was a teen mum and there was some handsome twins. An evil twin and a bad twin. I've read stories with a good brother and a bad brother in them, but not twins!

One thing I didn't like about the story was the big gaping "WHY?" that appeared in my head when I read about Paloma (Daire's grandmother) getting back in touch. Why did they lose contact? I'm hoping we will find this out in the next book in the series. There were a few other things that I thought were a little vague also. Nothing I could name off the top of my head, but there were times, when I thought "wait, what?" and found my self rereading the sentence or paragraph because I thought I missed something.

Overall, a pretty great story. I'm giving it 4.5/5 stars. It was definitely better than I expected and I can't wait to read the sequel! It wasn't without a few flaws though (hence 4.5/5 stars instead of 5/5). I definitely think people who like good YA Fantasy should check this out, whether they are a fan of paranormal romances or not...
The Next book in 'The Soul Seekers' series is called 'Echo' and will be released later this year (2012)

Your Favourite Blogger,
Natalie

1 comment:

TheBookSlayer said...

I'm so glad I read your review of Fated. When I first saw this book I immediately added it to my tbr list. However, between then and now I've seen quite a lot of reviews rating on the lower side. Thanks for helping me see the book in a different light and giving me hope once again! :)