Tagged: immortals

Forbidden by Amy Miles

Forbidden by Amy Miles(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Roseline Enescue didn’t ask to become an Immortal, to have all of the guests at her wedding slaughtered, or be forced into marriage with a man whose lust for blood would one day ignite the vampire legend. Willing to risk everything for a chance at a normal life, Roseline escapes to America. Terrified her husband Vladimir will find her, Roseline enrolls as a senior in Chicago’s elite Rosewood Prep school. Mingling with humans is the last place he would look for her. But her transition into the human world isn’t easy. Mortal men flock after her while cutthroat girls plot her demise. Yet Roseline remains relatively unfazed by the petty hysteria until she falters into the arms of Gabriel Marston, reluctant MVP quarterback, unwilling ladies man, and sensitive artist in hiding. Troubled by the bond that pulls her towards the mortal boy, Roseline tries to ignore him, but Gabriel is persistent. As their lives entwine, Roseline begins to realize that Gabriel is much more than he appears. His ability to toss a football the entire length of the field and grind concrete into dust pales in comparison to the glowing blue cross tattoo that mysteriously appears on his forearms. Despite the forbidden bond between them, Roseline can’t help wondering what Gabriel is: He’s not human. He’s not Immortal. So just what is he?

[Full disclosure: I requested and received this ebook through NetGalley as part of the ‘Beautifully Unnatural’ four book package.]

I thought the premise of this book sounded a little dumb, to be honest.  An immortal who just wants to be a teenager?  Meh.

And yet, after all the effort Amy Miles went to in order to develop her characters, I kind of get it.  Roseline was never allowed to be a child.  She was raised for marriage into another wealthy family from birth and was a child bride on her wedding day.  Add to that the fact she watched her entire family die before her eyes and that the blood of dead younger sister made her immortal and you’ve got a basic recipe for stunted growth.  Not to mention all the myriad tortures Dracula inflicts on her.  I think anyone would turn out with a lack of trust, not to mention an odd mix of maturity (because she had to deal with torture and politics) and immaturity (a response to being forced into said torture and politics).

From all this, you can definitely guess that Roseline is a pretty memorable character.  I still don’t quite buy the whole 300-year-old immortal falling for a teenage boy, but I’m willing to give Amy Miles a little leeway here after she semi-justified Roseline’s immaturity.  Gabriel is not bad in the beginning and I like how he actually develops into a character rather than just your typical love interest.  He won’t abandon Roseline, no matter how much she pushes him away in order to protect him.  Compared to other love interests, he also knows how to act and lie, which make him a far more compelling character than your usual guileless but oddly heroic male.

Even if the characterization was iffy in spots, the plot was not.  Even when it was ‘slow’ (i.e. there were no major events happening), there was still an element of tension throughout the novel that kept your attention.  I generally liked Roseline as a character so I was very invested in what happened to her, especially when she got the word that Dracula was going to go on a killing spree unless she returned to him.  She has trouble adjusting to high school life in America but she does find a lot of things to be happy about at the same time: Gabriel, finally being allowed to be herself and (again) the whole not being tortured thing.  Anyone would act a little irrationally after being denied freedom for centuries and then being given it back.

So overall, Forbidden at least had a solid plot and generally well-developed characters.  The world-building was okay and I expect we’ll see a little bit more of an explanation in the other two books of the trilogy.  For something I picked up as guilty pleasure, I actually found myself enjoying it on a more intellectual level.  And that’s why I’ll be reading the next book to find out what happens.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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Immortal by Gene Doucette

Immortal by Gene Doucette(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

“I don’t know how old I am.My earliest memory is something along the lines of fire good, ice bad, so I think I predate written history, but I don’t know by how much. I like to brag that I’ve been there from the beginning, and while this may very well be true, I generally just say it to pick up girls.”

–Adam the Immortal

Surviving sixty thousand years takes cunning and more than a little luck. But in the twenty-first century, Adam confronts new dangers—someone has found out what he is, a demon is after him, and he has run out of places to hide.Worst of all, he has had entirely too much to drink.

Immortal is a first person confessional penned by a man who is immortal, but not invincible. In an artful blending of sci-fi, adventure, fantasy, and humor, IMMORTAL introduces us to a world with vampires, demons and other “magical” creatures, yet a world without actual magic.

At the center of the book is Adam.

“I have been in quite a few tight situations in my long life. One of the first things I learned was if there is going to be a mob panic, don’t be standing between the mob and wherever it is they all want to go. The second thing I learned was, don’t try to run through fire.”

–Adam the Immortal

Adam is a sixty thousand year old man. (Approximately.) He doesn’t age or get sick, but is otherwise entirely capable of being killed.His survival has hinged on an innate ability to adapt, his wits, and a fairly large dollop of luck. He makes for an excellent guide through history . . . when he’s sober.

Immortal is a contemporary fantasy for non-fantasy readers and fantasy enthusiasts alike.

[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

What I’ve always wondered at is if there really are immortals, how will they live in today’s society where you need an ID to do almost anything?  At what point do mortals discover their existence?  Well, Gene Doucette certainly deals with that in Immortal.

Adam is probably one of my favourite characters I’ve read about in a long time.  Sure he’s a drunken lecher of the first degree, but after sixty thousand years, wouldn’t you be too?  He’s clever and street smart, which has kept him alive over the millennia and yet he still holds onto the romantic idea that he’s not the only immortal, that the redheaded beauty he keeps seeing will one day reveal herself to him.  If they all don’t get captured by scientists to be poked and prodded and exploited first.  I love The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and I have to say that quite honestly, Immortal does have the feel of the classic as Adam tries to sober up to run away from his many would-be captors.  I don’t compare classics like Douglas Adams’ book to contemporary works very easily, so you can be certain that I really do enjoy and recommend Immortal.

Even though not all that much is revealed about the origins of Adam’s immortality, I can still say that the world-building in this book was excellent.  Why?  Because there are very good reasons for his immortality being shrouded in mystery: humans were quite primitive at the time and he himself says that he wasn’t engaging in the kind of complex thought that is present today.  “Fire good, ice bad”, indeed.  We see flashbacks of his travels across the centuries, sometimes drunken and sometimes not as he encountered everything from demons to famous gangsters.  He’s certainly had a pretty cool life, but not in the “I’m immortal so I’ve met every famous figure ever” way.  No, sometimes he lived a pretty ordinary life and sometimes not, which makes his current political savvy believable as well as his street smarts.

As for the plot, it was surprisingly fast-paced when you consider that there were occasional interludes into the past.  Normally those slow the plot down unbearably, but not so in this case because Gene Doucette is a good writer.  I wanted to know more about Adam’s fascinating background not only because it was fascinating but because it was also relevant to where he is today: being hunted so that scientists can figure out how to recreate the conditions for his immortality.  Adam’s not too keen on being poked, prodded and possibly dissected so things get very, very interesting toward the end of the novel.  Particularly when we see our red-headed friend again.

So all in all, Immortal was a very enjoyable read and I would definitely recommend it to others.  Adam is a very memorable character and the world-building is so well done that even with the little knowledge you’re given, you remain fairly satisfied that you know most everything that is relevant to the story itself.  Of course I can’t wait to see that expanded in the next book, Hellenic Immortal.  I’ll definitely be watching and waiting to read the rest of Adam’s story.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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Other Side of Forever by Shannon Eckrich

Other Side of Forever by Shannon Eckrich(Cover picture courtesy of Avery Olive.)

Seventeen-year-old Allie Anderson’s telekinetic powers are anything but useful–she can’t bring her father back, can’t stop her mother’s downward spiral into alcohol, and can’t keep her from falling in love with Ethan Bradley. Loving Ethan is easy, but it comes with a hefty price: Ethan is prohibited by his people from interacting with mortals–because he isn’t mortal himself. When Allie and Ethan’s love is discovered, there’s someone who will do anything to keep them apart. If Allie can’t learn to control her powers and fight to save Ethan, this dark entity will make every attempt to stop her beating heart. And if that happens, not even the energy of an immortal can bring her back.

[Full disclosure: Shannon Eckrich sent me a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.]

Well, that wasn’t at all what I expected.  And considering I was expecting a typical YA book with a love triangle and a helpless heroine, that’s a good thing!

There was no love triangle.  I’m still trying to process this amazing fact.  I haven’t encountered a YA book without a love triangle in years, ever since the Twilight craze began.  Other Side of Forever also doesn’t end in the way you expect it to either.  Shannon Eckrich didn’t go for the stereotypical ending I would expect from a book with immortals.  Heck, even her characters didn’t fit into the archetypes they appeared to.

If I’m not being very articulate right now it’s because I’m still trying to process this new development.  Avoidance of clichés and stock characters?  I’m having a tough time with this.

The plot was fast-paced and took some pretty unpredictable twists, both Allie and Ethan were believable characters, there was no Insta-Love and the immortals in this book are unique.  If it had been my choice, I would not have stopped reading Other Side of Forever for anything: food, drink, etc.  It quite literally kept me on the edge of my computer chair, reading frantically to find out how thing would turn out.  Shannon Eckrich’s premise was also unique and Allie’s discovery of the secret world of immortals helped move the plot along as external forces tried to wrench her and Ethan apart.

The characters, oh the characters!  Allie was not a poor, helpless damsel in distress.  She was resourceful and strong, but not your stereotypical kick-butt heroine either.  She’s just an average girl who has some emotional scars from a pretty awful childhood.  Ethan was not your stereotypical bad-boy immortal jerk.  No, he was sweet and kind and never pressured Allie into anything or treated her badly at any point in the story.  Both characters were obviously well developed and their relationship didn’t go in the typical Insta-Love arc you find in YA.  There were roadblocks along the way and the characters overcame them instead of acting like immature idiots.  As you guys know, I’m not a big fan of romances.  But I absolutely loved this one.

I don’t care what type of books you normally read.  You need to read Other Side of Forever right now.  You’ll love it.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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