Lately strange things have been happening to Daire Santos. Animals follow her, crows mock her, and glowing people appear out of nowhere. Worried that Daire is having a nervous breakdown, her mother packs her off to stay in the dusty plains of Enchantment, New Mexico with a grandmother she’s never met.
There she crosses paths with Dace, a gorgeous guy with unearthly blue eyes who she’s encountered before…but only in her dreams. And she’ll get to know her grandmother—a woman who recognizes Daire’s bizarre episodes for what they are. A call to her true destiny as a Soul Seeker, one who can navigate between the worlds of the living and the dead. Her grandmother immediately begins teaching her to harness her powers—but it’s an art that must be mastered quickly. Because Dace’s brother is an evil shape-shifter who’s out to steal her powers. Now Daire must embrace her fate as a Soul Seeker and find out if Dace is one guy she’s meant to be with…or if he’s allied with the enemy she’s destined to destroy.
Going into Fated, I had never read anything that Alyson Noel had written (I know, it’s blasphemous for a young adult reviewer to not have read any of the Immortals series!)…and I am confused as to how I managed to go this long without being exposed to her excellent writing.
Fated is a story that is based on the idea that certain individuals have the ability to protect the human world from those who are desperate to harvest souls and use them for darker purposes. Not only does Noel do an excellent job of creating this story world–I’m especially partial to the list of Daire’s ancestors in the cave–but she does a wonderful job at characterizing Daire, her mother, and creating an the enigma that is Dace.
I’ve read some reviews where some readers don’t particularly like Daire and say she has a negative outlook on things. I have to say that while I agree with this, I think that this part of Daire is something that will be excised as her journey to becoming a Soul Seeker continues. In fact, I almost feel that Daire needed to have such a powerful personality and just strong beliefs for it to be possible for the cave test to BREAK her. Therefore, I have to love Daire for her ability to throw her negativity away in order to serve her greater purpose and save her grandmother.
I do understand where the pacing issues for people come in, because let’s face it: Fated is the first in a new series and Noel seems to be setting up a much larger story than the one that started in this first Soul Seekers novel. While it takes a little while for the story to pick up, once it did I was completely enthralled with Daire’s experiences.
I also really appreciated Noel putting the love story on the back burner and providing us with vivid descriptions of the Upper and Lower worlds. Overall, I have to go against some of the other reviews and give this one 4 Bards. I loved the narrative, and I’m really excited to read the second installment: Echo.
Moving! 