Tagged: helena
Eternal Neverland: Steps Before the Fall by Natasha Rogue
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Helena K. Sharpe was raised by a man who had sympathy for supernatural creatures, for the vampires his bloodline hunted for centuries. She was too young to understand how he tried to help them, but she knew it was important. Her father made her promise never to hunt them and she would do anything to keep that promise.
Until he is murdered by the very things he dedicated so much of his life to.
Orphaned and alone, Helena takes to the street, afraid for whatever’s left of her life. Without her family, she doesn’t know how–or even if–she can go on. Until a vagrant takes her under his wing and gives her a purpose. Revenge.
For six years she learns about the monsters, studies their habits, until, at 15 years old, she feels she’s ready to find the ones responsible for her parent’s death. All she has to do is become one of them. She’s cute, young, innocent…
They’ll never see her coming.
[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
I really had high expectations for this book when I started it because of the blurb. A girl who has trained for years to hunt vampires becoming a vampire to seek vengeance for her family’s murder? That sounds pretty darn cool, especially when she’s only 15 years old.
The problem was that the main character, Helena, was totally uninteresting in addition to being unsympathetic. Things start out pretty good with her becoming a vampire, albeit with two sires. Then she gets into the heart of a vampire coven and starts adjusting to vampire life, learning to go by the name Kitt because apparently vampires can read minds if they know your real name. I could get past that weird world-building if Kitt was actually interesting, but she’s not. Throughout the novel she’s supposed to be this master Machiavellian manipulator but all I really saw was a smart mouthed 15-year-old who screwed up pretty much every single thing she tried to do. And yet every single man in this book is attracted to her. Yep, I can totally see all of these decades old vampires being attracted to a naive if beautiful fifteen year old who seems intent on manipulating them all (unsuccessfully). It just makes absolutely no sense and Kitt never really gets past her initial awfulness. In fact, she seems to get worse as the book goes on.
As you’ve probably guessed, the world-building was pretty weak when you take a good look at it. I can believe fantasy stories where knowing someone’s ‘true’ name gives you power over them, but just their first name? That doesn’t really make any sense and Natasha Rogue never really explains it adequately. The vampire hierarchy within the city, however, was actually pretty good. I like the idea of different covens having different territories but ultimately being interested in keeping the general peace in the city for fear of discovery. However, it’s not really explained why/how Kitt suddenly breaks the peace. She does a bunch of really, really stupid stuff but why David (one of her sires) never lets her go to Charlie (another of her sires who actually wants to take care of her) is just left out. So it somehow starts a war between the covens and other factions get involved. It had a lot of potential but never really lived up to the promise in the blurb.
While the world-building was weak and the characters were generally intolerable, the strength of Rogue’s novel was in the plotting and the pacing. Even though the plot doesn’t always make sense it is fairly interesting in the beginning and the whole novel is actually well paced to keep readers turning the pages. She can do suspenseful scenes fairly well and her writing style isn’t actually all that bad but the different elements of the plot like the world-building and characters really did sink this novel. It was a big disappointment and yet I have to say that I didn’t actually ‘hate’ the book. The little intrigues were well written and with a little work, the characters could have been fantastic. To be honest, it just felt like the whole book didn’t reach its potential. Disappointing to be sure, but not a completely unenjoyable book.
I give this book 2/5 stars.
The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky by David Litwack
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
After centuries of religiously motivated war, the world has been split in two. Now the Blessed Lands are ruled by pure faith, while in the Republic, reason is the guiding light—two different realms, kept apart and at peace by a treaty and an ocean.
Children of the Republic, Helena and Jason were inseparable in their youth, until fate sent them down different paths. Grief and duty sidetracked Helena’s plans, and Jason came to detest the hollowness of his ambitions.
These two damaged souls are reunited when a tiny boat from the Blessed Lands crashes onto the rocks near Helena’s home after an impossible journey across the forbidden ocean. On board is a single passenger, a nine-year-old girl named Kailani, who calls herself “the Daughter of the Sea and the Sky.” A new and perilous purpose binds Jason and Helena together again, as they vow to protect the lost innocent from the wrath of the authorities, no matter the risk to their future and freedom.
But is the mysterious child simply a troubled little girl longing to return home? Or is she a powerful prophet sent to unravel the fabric of a godless Republic, as the outlaw leader of an illegal religious sect would have them believe? Whatever the answer, it will change them all forever… and perhaps their world as well.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook as part of the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]
What I find interesting is that in David Litwack’s world of religious extremes (blind faith on one hand and clinging to reason on the other hand), one little girl finds a way to bring both together toward a common goal. Both sides clearly are committing atrocities and are scarily dystopian toward their citizens, so by the end of the book there’s still quite a long way to go but things are getting better. And that’s really the beauty of the world-building in this book: it mirrors our own society in a lot of ways, particularly with the current events going on in the Middle East. Finding common ground is a start, both in the real world and in fiction, and David Litwack portrays a slow transition both for society and the main characters in a realistic way.
The characters were quite interesting in their own ways. Helena is dealing with the death of her father alone because her mother ran away to bury her head in the woods at a farm for artists. Jason is struggling because he’s never been given the opportunities of Helena, having worked a job after school for so long to pay for university and get a decent job. Then everything changes when Helena and Jason help a girl whose boat crashed on the reefs and she claims to be the daughter of the sea and the sky who must be forgiven by the wind. The character of Kailani is interesting but I feel like it had a little more potential because of the way the book ended. Maybe a clue or something about whether or not she truly is a prophet.
David Litwack’s writing keeps improving with each book, but the narrative of this one seemed a bit off. His actual writing was nice; lots of descriptions, easy flow, etc. But the story itself felt like it was building up toward something that was changed in the climax, leaving readers a little disappointed. Maybe it’s something personal, but I kind of wanted more at the end of the book. More of an explanation for Kailani, more of the circumstances surrounding her journey explained, etc. I try not to be too thrown by surprise endings, but this one did affect my overall opinion of the rest of the book.
In short, if you’re looking for a good science fiction/fantasy mash-up book, look no further. The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky wasn’t necessarily the book I’m the best suited for but I still found a lot about it to love.
I give this book 4/5 stars.