An ordinary girl is transformed into a superhero. Verity Chambers lost her eyesight in a car accident when she was twelve. Her parents decided that her sweet sixteen birthday present should be an eye transplant. Verity is at best ambiguous about the idea of become sighted again but her parents throw her into therapy until she learns to see. The trouble starts when she is given not a normal pair of eyes but the eyes of the last veil-seer. The veil-seer is the only one who can pierce the veil between the worlds and see the otherworldly creatures that walk beside mankind. Cassandra appears at the hospital when the bandages are removed and whisks Verity off to Haven. According to Cass, Haven is a sanctuary for half-breed children who fight the dangerous others. Verity soon learns that all is not as it seems at Haven. She meets Haydn who runs Haven's competition Helm and has a surprisingly similar mission statement. She stays at Haven in spite of Cass' increasing abuses and her own feelings of isolation because she is attracted to Kaydn, Haydn's brother. Things start to fall apart when Verity realizes that Cass and Kaydn are an item. However, she is still willing to stick things out until Kaydn betrays and almost kills her. At that point, Verity asks Haydn to take her home and she tries to go back to her family. Can Verity still have a normal life or will she be forced to go to Helm to protect those she loves? Gryffyn Phoenix's work is largely derivative. HAVEN AWAKENING reads like the Mortal Instrument series by Cassandra Clare. Gryffyn Phoenix's lines are clearer than those drawn in Mortal Instruments which ends up making Verity look foolish. Haven is clearly a bad place to be and the people there, especially Cass, are overtly abusive to Verity. Since there is a clear alternative to Helm, it is very unclear why Verity stays at Haven. She and Kaydn do not have anything more than a flirtation and she soon learns he is unavailable. Kaydn is also abusive to Verity long before he throws her into the pit. The plotline seems forced and it is hard to sympathize with Verity when she brings much of her troubles on herself. Combining Helm and Haven would make a better novel though it would be even closer to the original model. If you loved Mortal Instruments this is worth a read while waiting for Ms. Clare's next novel. - See more at: http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=17383#sthash.7qLvR2h5.dpuf
0 Comments
|
AuthorElizabeth Ramsay is English tutor and ESL Teacher. Archives
February 2018
Categories
All
|