Book Review: Mystic by Alyson Noel

When a mad prophet and his beautiful daughter arrive in Enchantment determined to destroy all the Richters by the end of the week, Daire knows she has to stop them.  Cade and her beloved Dace are so deeply connected that if one dies, the other will follow. 

But Dace has been missing for days, and his soul is in danger. 

Relying on the help of her friends, a Mystic with dubious motives, and powers she can’t always trust, Daire sets out to find Dace, restore his soul, and end this deadly new threat before the final countdown begins-all while keeping the Richters from claiming total world domination.  But will it prove enough to win the most important fight of her life? 

Release Date: May 7, 2013

Have you been following The Soul Seekers series?  You can always catch up by checking out my reviews of the previous two books, Fated and Echo. 

Okay, I was completely flabbergasted at the end of Echo, and I was at a loss as to how Noel could possibly top such a “complete” story with such a catastrophic ending.  

She proved me wrong in spades. Mystic opens in the upperworld, a part of the spirit world that hadn’t been described or visited in the previous two novels.  Daire doesn’t spend a whole lot of time there, and the reader is only exposed to a small portion of the world, but I think that in the case of the upperworld (a.k.a Heaven) less is more.  It leaves more to the imagination and keeps it wrapped in a shroud of mystery. Especially since the readers have been so exquisitely and intimately acquainted with the lowerworld. 

While Cade is still an evil presence in this novel, there is a more dire villain that Daire and Dace have to face upon the impending New Years celebration–and let me tell you, they creep me out much more than Cade and his band of demons. 

I really feel like Noel’s development of Daire and Dace really shines in this third installment.  Not only do readers get to see Daire grow more independent as a young woman, but we get to see her truly and officially stop fighting her destiny as a seeker.  Yes, a lot of her reasoning for abandoning any sort of rebellion was based on love, but not necessarily just her love for Dace–but the immense love that she feels for her grandmother and her family legacy. 

Dace grows as well, and we will finally see him not be the squeaky clean all “white energy” brother.  He does have a portion of darkness in him now, and it really balances out his character and makes me like him more since he is now more “real” in that he will have to fight the darkness in him like a lot of literary characters. 

The plot development is positively divine in Mystic, and I am more excited than ever for the finale in this series. Much like Echo, the plot is going, going, going like Speedy Gonzalez, and just around every plot twist is another mystery to be unraveled. 

If you haven’t started the Soul Seekers series, go pick up some copies now.  You won’t regret it, I promise!

4.5 Bards

Waiting on Wednesday

Every week Breaking the Spine hosts the bookish meme for book bloggers to share what books they are waiting on to be released!  This week I’m waiting on: 

Release Date: May 7, 2013

Since arriving in Enchantment, New Mexico, everything in Daire Santos life has changed. And not all for the better. While she’s come to accept and embrace her new powers as a Soul Seeker, Daire struggles with the responsibility she holds navigating between the worlds of the living and the dead. And with the fate of her boyfriend Dace in the balance, Daire must put aside her personal feelings and focus on defeating Cade, whose evil plans threaten everyone she loves and the world as she knows it.

Book Review: Echo by Alyson Noel

Daire Santos just saved her grandmother’s life—and her soul. But at a cost. The Richters, a dark family of sorcerers, have been let loose in the Lowerworld, and Daire and her boyfriend, Dace, must once again work together to find them before they upset the balance between good and evil, and destroy not only their small town in New Mexico, but the entire world.

As Daire and Dace’s relationship deepens, Dace’s evil brother Cade grows stronger than ever, building his power and forcing Daire to confront the horrifying prophecy that has brought them all together. One that will leave Daire no choice but to claim her true destiny as Seeker, but only by making an unthinkable sacrifice for the greater good of all

Release Date: November 13, 2012

First thing I noticed about this novel was the looming synopsis.  Not going to lie, I went in assuming that this novel was going to be the rise of darkness (a la The Empire Strikes Back) and the break down of our heroes. Boy, was I right.

Picking up not too long after the events of Fated, Echo starts off with a bang considering our heroes, Daire and Dace, are still finding the underworld to be rotting away with the disappearance of Cade.

Noel included a point of view split in Echo that differed from the straight foward first person Daire POV of Fated, and the chapters tended to rotate between Daire and Dace.  While I did enjoy getting inside of Dace’s mind some, I can say that sometimes the voices of the two blended together and I had to double check at the beginning of the chapter in order to decipher which “I” was speaking.  Toward the end, Noel also includes the point of view of certain secondary characters like Paloma, and the newly introduced character Phyre (pronounced Fire)…which lends some interesting insight into the ambiguous ending and what could possibly be in store for the third installment, Mystic.

If some of you thought that Fated was a little slow on the uptake, then you will be satisfied by the speed of the plot in Echo.  It starts and seemingly never stops. Not only do we learn more about the upperworld, the lowerworld, and how it is all connected, but we get to see how Cade’s plans effect the spirit animals as well. 

The ending really leaves a lot of things open for interpretation, and left me with my mouth wide open in shock. What happens you ask? Go pick up a copy of Echo and check it out!

Then come back here and discuss with me! I need to debate possibilities with people!

Overall I am still really invested in what is happening to these characters, so I am giving Echo 4 Bards.

Waiting on Wednesday!

Every week Breaking the Spine hosts a book meme where all of us book bloggers can get together and share the books we are desperately waiting to be released! 

This week I’m waiting on…

Release Date: November 13, 2012

Daire Santos just saved her grandmother’s life—and her soul. But at a cost. The Richters, a dark family of sorcerers, have been let loose in the Lowerworld, and Daire and her boyfriend, Dace, must once again work together to find them before they upset the balance between good and evil, and destroy not only their small town in New Mexico, but the entire world. 

As Daire and Dace’s relationship deepens, Dace’s evil brother Cade grows stronger than ever, building his power and forcing Daire to confront the horrifying prophecy that has brought them all together. One that will leave Daire no choice but to claim her true destiny as Seeker, but only by making an unthinkable sacrifice for the greater good of all.

Book Review: Fated by Alyson Noel

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.

Now Reading: Fated by Alyson Noel

 

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.