Fractured Light (Fractured Light #1)
By Rachel McClellan
Released: Feburary 8, 2012
Publisher: Sweetwater Books
Hardcover, 304 pages
I’m dying, I thought. This was unexpected and not at all how I envisioned my death. I was supposed to die gardening in a flowerbed as a hundred-year-old woman, not as a seventeen-year-old trapped in a lake beneath inches of ice.
Llona Reese is used to living on the run. After the Vykens killed her parents, she knew they would eventually come for her too. She can’t take any chances. But when she starts to make friends for the first time in her life, she gets careless and lets her guard down. Big mistake.
As an Aura, Llona can manipulate light and harness its energy. But if she wants to survive, Llona will have to defy the Auran Council and learn to use her power as a weapon against the Vyken whose sole desire is to take her light. Now she’s caught in something even bigger than she can understand, with a power she can’t wield, and no one she can trust, except, just maybe, a mysterious stranger.
In this breathtaking and romantic adventure, Rachel McClellan delivers a truly mesmerizing story that will keep you guessing to the very end. --Goodreads
3 Stars
Review
With all of the paranormals out ready to be judged by reviewers and readers, it is extremely difficult to create an original masterpiece that readers can enjoy. When I first decided to try Fractured Light, I honestly didn't have high hopes for it. It seemed to be like every other paranormal that hit the market, but there was something that was intriguing about the the whole light manipulation. It's true that the whole superpower thing was more of the reason I wanted to try this book out, rather than its content.
From the very start, we are whisked off to the stereotypical land of a girl who is abnormal and the creepy stalker guy who seems to know everything about her. Hm... Where have we not seen this before? This is a rhetorical question, so I let me answer this for you: every frikkin' paranormal. This was probably the part of the book that was the rockiest in terms of unoriginal content and somewhat oddball character introductions. Christian, the creepy stalker guy, has one of the more dashing entrances in the novel, yet it tops the list of awkward moments in history probably.
However, as things gradually move along, Fractured Light is able to keep the reader engaged with its somewhat formulaic paranormal plot with girl having powers learning how to control them. Meanwhile, a sinister enemy enters the midst ready to destroy everything the girl, Llona, is fighting for. Along with some chummy friends who are clueless and an enemy who can disguise himself as anyone, Llona and Christian have a lot of butt kicking to work on to receive the happy ending they deserve. The work and effort that they put in was cute and it made the romance seem more natural and appealing because the insta-love thing that paranormal books obsess over should really be executed in disgrace.
The strongest aspect of this book would have to be all of the characters. Of course they are all generic, but each of their quirks and idiosyncrasies are what make them stand out among the whole light shebang and the romance tagging along. Characters that one would normally find dislikable turned out to be the ones I rooted for, such as Christian's grumpy father and Llona's irresponsible uncle, Jake. My only complaint was the image that Llona portrayed of them was so negative. All she could say about any one person was something wrong with them in appearance or personality. Annoyance with a person's personality is understandable, but being nitpicky over how a person looks is just downright irritating. Yes, I understand he is not as hot as this guy, but that does not make him less cool. The characterization of pretty people being the more focal people in the book made it seem as if only pretty people deserved attention at some points.
In spite of its predictability, Fractured Light was a promising start to a series literally bombarding the light channels (ha ha, I know... it's so bad). The most important thing to pull off for a book is to keep the reader engaged and excited to read the book. Fractured Light excels at this task, making it one of those fun pleasure reads, rather than book that a reader seriously plans to delve and completely immerse one's self in. Regardless of the number of faults that I am being a little aggressive on, I cannot deny that this book was beast when it came to the flashy (this is my last light joke) action and adorably sweet romance.
This sounds like a really interesting (and illuminating? Haha! Couldn't help myself!) read. I really like the concept and will be sure I check it out!
ReplyDeleteJesse @ Pretty In Fiction
Ah! The light puns shall never end! Hope it will brighten your day!
ReplyDeleteLOL (fail...)
Angie