Book 2 in the Remnants series
Genre: Dystopian (Young Adult)
After finishing this book, I tried getting my thoughts together on all that I thought about it...and I couldn't. I'd keep thinking about the book, get confused or divided within myself about this or that, and not really come up with a solid opinion. So here I am...a few months later with a fresher perspective on it, writing a review.
I have to put out there that firstly, I'm not a big fan of dystopian anything. It's just not my jam, but anywho...that aside.
To me, these books almost feel like historical fiction, because in them, society has progressed so far that it kinda digressed and went back in time :S so...it almost feels like more historical fiction than dystopian (just my personal opinion), which suits me just fine.
PLOT:
I really enjoyed it and the complexities involved, including all the different characters. I loved that there was a merry band of Remnants and their Knight's, instead of just a couple striking out on an adventure.
It flowed well, and the suspense always kept things fresh and moving at a good pace. This was one of those plots were it JUST WORKED. It kept going. It sang. It was beautiful & intricately woven.
ROMANCE:
A brief kiss here, and a more passionate one there. With one character in particular there is always an underlying sensual pull, but he isn't flat-out perv. (more on that in the next part)
Character chit-chat & confusion (SPOILER WARNING)
I love Ronan & Dri's (Andriana's) chemistry, both as friends and romantic interests. It was kinda sad how they were separate for a good portion of the book, so nothing could occur between the two, but such is the advancement of the book's plot.
Keallach...okay, this guy could pretty much be labeled as 'Mr. Confusion in the ranks'. I both love and hate him (well done Lisa, you've created a villain your readers don't just hate, they love) so it's a grrr and yay moment all at the same time.
Keallach is bad, yes? He locked his brother up in prison and usurped the thrown and ordered the death of his parents. Then he buddied up with a Sheolite creepy guy named Sethos, who is just plain bad, no conflict there.
But as a reader, I jumped between, 'Keallach is bad, plain bad trying to look good' & 'Keallach seems like he is definitely under Sethos' spell and he's merely misguided & blind'. So I never quite came to a serious conclusion about Keallach's true motives, because he flops between seeming good & evil. The multiple personalities he switches between make me think he's probably bad (emotionally unstable people who flop from kind to exasperated in seconds, for no valid reasons...just no)
And...can we talk about body control for a minute? Mind control be one thing, but Keallach controlled Dri's body more than once- both times to make her kiss him (quite passionately the second time...#whoa) So...what's to say he would make her do other things against her will with his ability to control her body? That was a little strange. Especially after the body control stuff, I was more prone to think he was just straight-up, bad guy.
However, I can't pre-judge his character as a whole, until everything comes to a head in book 3, 'Season of Glory' coming out this winter.
What did you think of Keallach?
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CONCLUSION
This is one of those books where I'm hesitant to come to any big conclusions, until I've read the third book in the series. Generally I can come up with an opinion simply based off one book, but then there are times when I have to read the entire series first, before I can say exactly what I thought about the books collectively. So...until Season of Glory comes out, I'll still be in a bit of a limbo, regarding Season of Fire. Not in limbo over the plot, cause the plot & the characters were a-okay, but Keallach was just plain weird at times and I wanted to know if he was good or bad- not waffling in between, ya know?
Still, even given the strangeness of certain aspects of the story and its characters, I enjoyed this book & it kept me reading and wondering what would happen next. I would suggest it for readers 16+
So I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Have you read Season of Fire? If so, what were your thoughts? Join the conversation below :)
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