Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Review: Starling


Starling (Starling #1)
by Lesley Livingston
Published August 28th 2012
by HarperTeen
Summary from Goodreads:
Mason Starling is a champion fencer on the Gosforth Academy team, but she's never had to fight for her life. Not until the night a ferocious, otherworldly storm rips through Manhattan, trapping Mason and her teammates inside the school. Mason is besieged by nightmarish creatures more terrifying than the thunder and lightning as the raging tempest also brings a dangerous stranger into her life: a young man who remembers nothing but his name--the Fennrys Wolf. 

His arrival tears Mason's world apart, even as she feels an undeniable connection to him. Together, they seek to unravel the secrets of Fenn's identity as strange and supernatural forces gather around them. When they discover Mason's family--with its dark allegiance to ancient Norse gods--is at the heart of the mystery, Fennrys and Mason are suddenly faced with a terrifying future.

Thoughts:
The beginning and the ending of Starling certainly blew me away! I have never encountered such an electrifying cliffhanger ending with the exception of Cinder and Insurgent so far this year. The action starts right at the beginning since out of nowhere a strange storm entrapped Mason and her friends in the gym and beasts attacked them. A mysterious gorgeous guy came to the rescue and immediately sparks flew between Mason and the amnesiac hero who only remembers his name; The Fennrys Wolf.

I would have dearly loved to give this book a solid 5 stars just for the beginning and ending but there are certain aspects of this book that really bothered me. For one, Mason was supposed to have this huge crush on the popular jock/teammate; Calum in the beginning but then totally changed her attention to Fenn. Is it because of the way Fenn appeared? I mean..he did made a grand entrance what with no clothes and all. But it just shows how fickle Mason is.

The mythology elements incorporated into the story can also be overwhelming at times. I keep wondering that there must be some reason why Mason's family have this weird obsession of making Ragnarok (doomsday) a reality. It's like being evil without a purpose. Sure they're evil but why are they like that in the first place? Revenge? Greed? I don't get it. They're already rich beyond belief so why would they want to destroy everything?

Calum's family is also a bit shadowy. There are supposed to be guarding against evil but what are they really doing? More like having meetings and talking about it. And Mason was supposed to be this awesome fencing champion but she turned out to be a total disappointment in my opinion. Not only she froze a few times when monsters are attacking her left and right but she was also so traumatised by the whole thing that afterwards she lose miserably in a fencing competition. Bummer!

I'm hoping that these questions and a lot more will be answered in the next book. And that ending especially left me gaping. I certainly did not see that one coming. It really caught me by surprise and now I'm so anticipating the continuation of the series.


Verdict: 4 stars.
Available on: Amazon

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