by Kelley Armstrong
Kindle Edition, 416 pages
Published April 8th 2014
by HarperCollins
ARC from Edelweiss
Goodreads | Amazon| B & N | TBD
In the Forest of the Dead, where the empire’s worst criminals are exiled, twin sisters Moria and Ashyn are charged with a dangerous task. For they are the Keeper and the Seeker, and each year they must quiet the enraged souls of the damned.
Only this year, the souls will not be quieted. Ambushed and separated by an ancient evil, the sisters’ journey to find each other sends them far from the only home they’ve ever known. Accompanied by a stubborn imperial guard and a dashing condemned thief, the girls cross a once-empty wasteland, now filled with reawakened monsters of legend, as they travel to warn the emperor. But a terrible secret awaits them at court—one that will alter the balance of their world forever.
Only this year, the souls will not be quieted. Ambushed and separated by an ancient evil, the sisters’ journey to find each other sends them far from the only home they’ve ever known. Accompanied by a stubborn imperial guard and a dashing condemned thief, the girls cross a once-empty wasteland, now filled with reawakened monsters of legend, as they travel to warn the emperor. But a terrible secret awaits them at court—one that will alter the balance of their world forever.
Spoilers ahead!
I enjoyed Kelley Armstrong's Darkness Rising series but her first YA series; Darkest Powers just bored me to death. And as much as I wanted to like her new YA series, I can't help but feel a little bit disappointed.
Despite its interesting characters and a unique world building, the book just felt flat quite early on. The plot dragged so much in the beginning that I was ready to call it quits not even halfway though the book. This is indeed surprising because eventhough I love the twin sisters sometimes I just think that one sister outshine the other too much. I get the feeling that the author wants us to fell in love with Moira so much to the point that Ashyn just appeared dull and useless most of the time. Even the males in this book are so enamoured with Moira despite her hostile personality.
The slow pacing reminds me so much of The Summoning and the first ten chapters is a tangled web of confusion in which Ashyn; the Seeker failed miserably in her first Seeking. As a Seeker, she was supposed to journey to the Forest of the Dead to find bodies of dead exiles, purify and bury them. But when mysterious shadows started killing her guards one by one and turned into zombies, the trek into the forest turned into a nightmare.
And when the shadows followed Ashyn and Moira to their village and everyone turned up dead, the story became such a chaotic mess. I would have love it if more explanation are given about the world building particularly about the exiles sent off to the Forest of the Dead, what is the deal with the Emperor and the kingdom and where the hell are the other Keepers and Seekers? And if the book was trimmed a little bit, I'm sure it will be more exciting instead of just pages upon pages of fillers.
I enjoyed Kelley Armstrong's Darkness Rising series but her first YA series; Darkest Powers just bored me to death. And as much as I wanted to like her new YA series, I can't help but feel a little bit disappointed.
Despite its interesting characters and a unique world building, the book just felt flat quite early on. The plot dragged so much in the beginning that I was ready to call it quits not even halfway though the book. This is indeed surprising because eventhough I love the twin sisters sometimes I just think that one sister outshine the other too much. I get the feeling that the author wants us to fell in love with Moira so much to the point that Ashyn just appeared dull and useless most of the time. Even the males in this book are so enamoured with Moira despite her hostile personality.
The slow pacing reminds me so much of The Summoning and the first ten chapters is a tangled web of confusion in which Ashyn; the Seeker failed miserably in her first Seeking. As a Seeker, she was supposed to journey to the Forest of the Dead to find bodies of dead exiles, purify and bury them. But when mysterious shadows started killing her guards one by one and turned into zombies, the trek into the forest turned into a nightmare.
And when the shadows followed Ashyn and Moira to their village and everyone turned up dead, the story became such a chaotic mess. I would have love it if more explanation are given about the world building particularly about the exiles sent off to the Forest of the Dead, what is the deal with the Emperor and the kingdom and where the hell are the other Keepers and Seekers? And if the book was trimmed a little bit, I'm sure it will be more exciting instead of just pages upon pages of fillers.
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