(In the event the Chapters-Indigo website elects to delete my rating, I mention here that I gave this book 2 out of 5 stars/leaves.)
(I will also state that I have trouble understanding *why* Chapters-Indigo insist on treating us like children: it refused to post my review until I removed certain so-called 'objectionable' words... Are you *serious*? I'm considering removing my reviews and posting them elsewhere, honestly.)
All in all I found this book to be disappointing. I do think this author has potential, but I do not think this was fully realized in this novel. Let me detail the reasons why.
Good points: The character building was well quite well done. The main character was quite likeable (which is not always the case in YA fiction), as were the secondary characters. The world building was relatively well done (until the end of the novel at least) although perhaps a bit on the simplistic side (i.e. we are told that there are angels, demi-angels and so on, as well as a few more details, and that is mostly it other than the fact that the main character has some divine mission to fulfill).
Bad points: While not *badly* written per se, I have read YA novels that made a more sophisticated use of language (I will also say that there were one or two grammatical mistakes). I couldn't help but feel that the writing felt just a little too 'simplified'. I can't help but feel that younger readers need not imply a general lack of vocabulary (which may be why part of me cringes whenever a reviewer states that a "teenager wouldn't speak that way!" in a YA novel). I will heartily admit that I am not a teenager, nor have I been one in a while. OTOH I do not see why writing for teens and young adults should be equated with 'dumbing down' a text. It has been a while, but I had a pretty good vocabulary and linguistic capacity when I was in the YA demographic. (Of course, this is JMHO and your mileage may vary.)
The biggest problem with this novel however and the main aspect which brought this novel down as a whole for me, was the fact that *nothing* was resolved by the end. I can accept an underlying arc in a series of novels. It does seem to me however that this needs to be done in such a way that certain fundamental and more immediate story elements get resolved within each installment -otherwise this tends to leave the reader with the feeling that things have been intentionally left hanging so as to rope them into reading the next book. I speak of the difference between having an underlying continuing story and having the end of the story essentially truncated. Unfortunately, the end of this novel fell into the latter category, IMHO.
Spoiler space...
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Nothing much is explained regarding why the main character needed to save some boy. Nothing much is explained as to why he turned out to be supernatural as well (I'm trying not to give *too* much away here). Nothing much is explained regarding why the main character's mother could tell her so little about her supernatural nature. Nothing much is explained about the origins of or the war between angels (Or is angels vs. demons? This wasn't clear either). Nothing is explained regarding why the main character's mother is attacked. Nothing much is explained as to why angels would decide to procreate with humans and how this fits into the overall scheme of things. Any consequences of defying the so-called 'purpose' of her life (i.e. I speak of the main character here) is also not explained at all. No explanation whatsoever is provided regarding the fact that the main character seems to have an unexpected level of angelic power at the end of the novel.
Er. Do you begin to see my point?
There were also some overused cliches of YA literature: in particular, the 'evil/insert your insult here' girlfriend of the guy the main character was crushing on. I really don't see why novels aimed at youth and which will be read by many young women can't feature female characters who are actually mature enough to realize that not everything in life is related to one's ovaries. It seems to me that women, no matter their age, are as complex and multihued as any male segment of the population and are occasionally quite capable of (i) forming and maintaining friendships with other women despite having fully functional males in the room, (ii) working through biological imperatives to realize that certain labels can be infinitely hurtful and damaging to another worman. While this novel used the trope of the 'nasty girlfriend' less than others, the fact is that it was there. And it ANNOYS me.
So overall this was enjoyable, but not memorable. I do understand where the author was going with this (i.e. the power of self-determination is perhaps one somewhat 'crude' way for me to describe it), but I did not think this novel was successful, in large part because of its failure to resolve basic and key issues in the story. So: a two star rating.
