Elaine White's Life in Books

** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **

This book and I didn't get along.

The 'disembodied voice' was really strange for me. Not only was it vague and came out of nowhere. We had no notification of who or what this voice was until this point, because what the first chapter doesn't tell us is that the rest of the book until perhaps the last second or third chapter, is a flashback. You get the first chapter, then chapter two goes back a month and then we don't find out who the 'disembodied voice' is until near the very end.

I also think that even a fourteen year old would come up with a better nickname for the voice in her head than 'disembodied voice'.

There's a lot of fancy description that feels unnecessary, especially in the beginning. A lot of the book hints at things we don't understand and don't find out about much later. It feels like the author is trying to inject some mystery, but it comes off a little prosaic.

It feels wrong to have this be in the first person. It reads as if it would work better in third person.

I really didn't get on with the MC either, Aecia was the biggest problem for me. The story idea is fine, it's got potential, but using a 14-year old Aecia was the wrong move. She's shallow, insipid, selfish and inconsiderate, especially when it comes to how other people have suffered or sacrificed. She has a superiority complex and one minute is in love with Garok, after one kiss, and the next she's blaming him for all the wrongs of the world. She's very childish, even for a fourteen year old. I think this story would have worked better with an older character, possibly 16 or 17. I understand that the writer probably felt they couldn't do this, because a human living in a vampire world would be caught eventually. I believe Aecia was made 14, so that she could be young enough to start her period, which would be the starting point of her being in the most danger of discovery, but surely she could have just taken a few days off school every month to make it work for an older character?

Aecia is also single-minded, insufferable and does a lot of teen ranting. She's a big stupid, mistaking death for 'getting better', even with prior experience of making the same mistake. She's also annoying, rude, entitled. She's not likable or relatable as a female MC. And, in 3013, how does she know human slang like 'How's your father', and such? From what she tells us herself, she shouldn't know these things.

There are a few issues, like with continuity as her mother calls her Amica, which is the name of Aecia's imaginary friend, which is her diary. There's also the wrong use of 'died', which should be 'dyed', and 'incestuous', which I'm not even sure what should be in its place, but it's definitely the wrong word. I'm thinking it should be 'nosy'.

For me, the story really didn't go anywhere until around 70% of the book. There was a lot of wonder about what 'might' happen and what 'could' happen, but even when the story moved on, it wasn't as good as it could have been, mostly because of Aecia. The big mysteries of the story : who the disembodied voice is, whether Anne is good or bad etc, are all really obvious. I guessed right within a few pages of the 'mystery' being offered up. There was nothing that really came as a surprise.

The blood human farm sounds very much like Blake 3. It mentions Aecia's Uncle's brother, well before we even know he's got one. So when we find out who it is, it's not a surprise. There's really only one person of the right age that's possible for the role. Unfortunately, I've seen this story done better in books like Vampire World. I also have a real problem, with my copy, when it comes to the Italics. It seems like the italics can't produce an M or a 'we' combination.

Overall, this book wasn't one that I would probably have finished if I hadn't been given a copy by the author. I was also given Book 2, but unfortunately I won't be reading it. Sorry.