Author: Jacinta Maree

Genre: Science Fiction

Publication Date: 1st October 2015

Rating: 5/5

I was only a little surprised to find myself absolutely loving this book. The premise totally had me gripped from the get go- a girl who, in a world filled with people trying to suppress memories of countless past lives, has none.

Nadia is a brilliant heroine. Strong, brave, flawed, intelligent - all the things I look for in a teenaged protagonist. She took a little while for me to warm up to, but once I did I was absolutely all in. She is also the perfect foil to blacklisted criminal Diesel - who is absolutely my favourite male protagonist in eons. I am used to badass heroines with fairly non-descript, paint by numbers male counterparts / love interests. Not so with Diesel - he is as flawed as they come, with plenty of character development here to work with. 

The romantic elements, I felt, were handled brilliantly. As I have said in previous reviews of other books, I am absolutely sick of the run of the mill “first kiss leads to eternal love and happiness” versions of romance. It’s not a healthy way to see sex, love or relationships. Maree really fits the few romantic interactions between characters in with the tone of the novel - nothing is painless in this book and nothing is without its complications. 

The world building is strong, but with Soulless being such a fast paced read there are still lots of questions left needing answers. There were a couple of instances where it felt a little "and then this happened, and then this happened..." but I soon got over that and was swept along by Maree's writing. For those who find themselves often chanting “move it the hell along!” when reading first installments - this is for you. There are very few inconsistencies in tone, which is a great and pleasant surprise from a debut author.

The warning accompanying this, advising it for mature audiences only, is right on the money. One of my favourite things about Soulless was that it was DARK. Characters peak your interest right before they're brutally killed off. Loved ones turn on each other. Society has no care for individuals who are not part of the "Elite" overlords. It's brilliantly harsh and I absolutely love that. A book with this sort of subject matter couldn't very well do with being anything but painfully cruel.

Jordon Hastings dies a horrible death. Then, his afterlife as a Reaper begins.

The first chapter was difficult to get into and took me forever to read. By the next chapter, it picked up.  In the third, a character was introduced that reminded me of Obi Wan Kinobi. Then, I wanted to see where this would lead.

So I followed Jordon down the rabbit hole and watched him wander through the afterlife. And I do meaan wander. The afterlife unfolded before me and I learned about it right along with Jordon. But, there did not seem any purpose to the story until about halfway through. Then, the plot comes together and the previous wanderings begin to make sense and show their purpose. 

This book has two things going for it. The first is the world building. Jordon, the main character goes into the afterlife and sees where souls go. He also visits different underworld realms similar to in the first book. If you are at all curious about that sort of thing, how it all works would be interesting to you.

The second is the lack of romance. For some readers that's a negative aspect because they only read romance novels. However, if you're like my husband and looking for something other than romance, your options may be slim to zilch. In fact, this is the third book I have read since I started reviewing that was completely without a lick of romance. If you are tired of love stories and want to read something different, this may be the book for you.

This second installment of the series was more polished than the first. The writing was colorful and beautifully complex. My advice to the author would be to present the main conflict of the plot early on, preferably within the first or second chapter. It's difficult to maintain interest without it.

The Reapers Blog Tour!

The Reapers by Jacinta Maree

The Reapers by Jacinta Maree (My Demonic Ghost #2)

Publication date: September 17th 2013 Genres: Paranormal, Young AdultSynopsis: The day you die is meant to be the end, but for 18 year old Jordon Hastings, his death was only the beginning.

In a dark and twisted world, lost spirits known as Reapers remain behind after death to help collect the spirits from the realm…

Filled with a world of demon possession and the banishment of souls, My Demonic Ghost is a fresh take on the afterlife. Although we only see a sliver of that cleverly created world, religion is sidestepped for the most part.  There is a Creator and a hierarchy of souls and spirits, but since our view is limited to the story at hand, religion is not emphasized nor contradicted. Personally, being religious myself, I really liked this.  And can I just say I love that the most powerful spirit in this mythology is a woman?  I do!  Considering the plot, it seems a little ironic to me that her name is Miira.  The seemingly related name Mira comes from the Albanian word “mirë” meaning “good”.  It’s not clear to me whether that was intentional or not, but regardless I sure got a kick out of it. 

Having a main character as a demon seems riskier to me than say a werewolf or elf.  Some audiences may be put off by this.  However, this is not our average ghost story. It is modern and presented right off the bat as something that could happen to anyone. There’s this real sense of universal plausibility that is so compelling that it drives the main character forward.  This feeling is what identified me with the characters and the story. 

The ending was well-polished.  As the book progressed, there’s this journey that is seemingly predictable.  I won’t ruin it but I was glad to see the twist in events.  There was some overuse of metaphors, similes, and such.  I thought the story really spoke for itself and complex methods of descriptions were unnecessary.  Yes, we were taken to different circles of Hell.  So, some description is warranted, just not to that extent.  There were also distracting grammatical errors.  The book could benefit from another round of editing.  However, the story was so atypical I would definitely be up for another novel by this author.