We join 15-year old Nicholas Hallow on his race to save the world. Although battered by his previous encounter with the forces of evil, the shadowy leader of the Sentinel forces assigns Nicholas with the task of finding the other half of his prophecy before a dark scheme comes to fruition. Untrained and afraid, Nicholas sets out with his (badass) aged guardian and a strange cat to find a girl who's expert at not being found.
I received this book as an ARC from the author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I discovered this book on NetGalley back in 2015; although the cover featured both my favorite color and animal, blue + kitty! It was the quote that got my attention. It reminded me of a classic that I read in HS, and the feelings of nostalgia led me to request the book. I read it almost immediately, but I refrained from posting the review as I felt that something was missing.
Fast forward to 2019; I am now re-reading this book after reading the first installation. All I can say is Eureka! I've found what was missing. I liked this story very much; the plot was excellent and well developed. Every situation was plausible, despite the magic, demons, and talking cat. Yup, I said talking cat and plausible in the same sentence. For example, the main character suffers an injury early on in the novel that he must learn to work around as the story progresses. Even though it proves to be a hurdle that he must be ever vigilant about, he presses onward through the pain. The mystery expertly revealed; I thought I knew what was going on right up until the plot twist on the last page. Granted, it wasn't a mind-jarring twist; it still gave me that "gasp moment." So, now onto what was missing.
I felt that I couldn't give this book a solid 4, perhaps a 4.5. It topped out at a 3.5 (rounded up to 4 as the story is great). As a stand-alone novel, I felt that the characters weren't given their due. I didn’t feel like I knew the characters even after completing the book. However, after reading Sentinel (Book 1) and re-reading Ruins, I am invested in the characters. Not having read the first book in the series, I was missing the "meat" of the story. Even Isabel's awesomeness didn’t come across clearly due to the holes. I won't dwell on this single downfall though as this is a great story for all urban fantasy fans. Just be sure to commit to the entire series. I am currently reading Splinter (Book 3) as I must find out how the story resolves and will do a full review on the trilogy once I’ve finished the read through.
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