Genre:
YA / Coming of Age / Paranormal
Description:
“Braedyn is a
normal girl just trying to survive high school with her two devoted
friends, Royal and Cassie. Together they're doing a pretty good job
of shrugging off the slings and arrows cast their way by the popular
crowd when a new boy, Lucas, moves into the house next door. Suddenly
Braedyn finds herself falling in love for the first time.
But as her sixteenth birthday approaches, Braedyn discovers humankind is at war with the Lilitu, an ancient race of enticing demons that prey on human souls. Her father is a member of the Guard fighting against the Lilitu - and so are the new neighbors, including her crush, Lucas.
As her world starts to unravel at the seams, Braedyn learns the right answers aren't always clear or easy. And as for ’good‘ and ’evil‘ - it all depends on how we choose to act.
But as her sixteenth birthday approaches, Braedyn discovers humankind is at war with the Lilitu, an ancient race of enticing demons that prey on human souls. Her father is a member of the Guard fighting against the Lilitu - and so are the new neighbors, including her crush, Lucas.
As her world starts to unravel at the seams, Braedyn learns the right answers aren't always clear or easy. And as for ’good‘ and ’evil‘ - it all depends on how we choose to act.
Inspired by the
ancient Mesopotamian myths of Lilith and her offspring, Thrall
explores first love, strong friendships, and taking on adult
responsibilities against the backdrop of powerful supernatural forces
and life-and-death stakes.”
Author:
“Jennifer
is a film and television writer, author, and graphic novelist. She
has written for Twentieth Television, Intrepid Pictures, and Archaia
Studios Press. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son.”
This is the
first book in her The Daughters
Of Lilith trilogy.
To learn
more about Ms. Quintenz, visit her website.
Appraisal:
Braedyn’s
life is turned upside down and sideways in this creative coming of
age story. The Guard, a Special Forces group of human soldiers,
thinks they have found a way to combat a coming war with the Lilitu,
who are trying to break down the wall between the two worlds to take
over earth. As Braedyn’s birthday approaches, she learns she is not
who she thinks she was all these years growing up and neither is her
father. This story examines nature verses nurture in an interesting
thought provoking way as we experience life through Braedyn’s eyes.
I found the
story compelling and my suspension of disbelief was easy to achieve.
Ms. Quintenz did an excellent job conveying the high school tension
between certain cliques in and out of school. Her characters were
well rounded and the situations they found themselves in were
realistic for the most part. This story has the potential for being
an intriguing series. I hope the sequels will spend more time with
Karayan. She had a disturbing upbringing and I hope that Braedyn can
help her work through issues caused by that. There is potential for a
mutually beneficial relationship between these two I would love to
see explored.
There was a
lot of high stakes action as the winter solstice moves closer and the
Lilitu converge on the town turning young men into Thralls to build
an army to battle the Guard on this side of the Wall. When a new unit
of Guards and spotters converge, chaos ensues and Braendyn is put to
the test to prove whose side she is really on. Will Braedyn’s
humanity be enough to over-power her genetics? Only time will tell
in this original, action-packed series.
FYI:
Added for
Reprise review: Winner in the Young Adult category for 2014 Readers'
Choice Awards at BigAl’s Books and Pals. Original review ran August
19, 2013.
Format/Typo
Issues:
There are a
few proofing issues, not enough to significantly impact my reading
enjoyment.
Approximate
word count: 95-100,000 words
Rating:
***** Five stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
No comments:
Post a Comment