I usually only share stellar reviews, but I thought I’d share reviews of a series that I thought had so much potential — perhaps you’ll like it.
Kyra’s life is far from normal.
She’s been on the run for as long as she can remember and her father is the only stable thing in her life, but everything changes when the people pursuing them finally catch up.
Kyra is abducted by the handsome and mysterious, Will. He takes her to a secret compound where she is told the truth: She’s a Djinn, a genie-like creature with super powers and a love of dogs.
Kyra has to adjust to the Djinn and their rules, but her new life is far from perfect. Everyone is hiding something and the one person Kyra cares about most is forbidden to her.
There are secrets around every corner and more dangers than Kyra could ever imagine as she struggles to find herself and be with the one she loves.
Check it out on Goodreads.
My Review
It has an interesting premise: Djinn and the implied folklore about them. But it would’ve been better if their world was more fleshed out, their history better explained instead of “she learned their history”, and more emphasis placed on who the bad guys are and why they are a threat to “normal” Djinn.
The societal structure reminded me a lot of “Vampire Academy” and the Earth Kingdom in “Avatar: The Last Airbender” – but the rules weren’t clearly explained to Kyra who is entirely new to this way of life, which causes conflict that doesn’t build systematically and is over in a flash.
The problem(s) with this book: a serious lack of proofreading (missing words, misspelled words, missing apostrophes, etc.), lack of consistency (she tries to escape at gas station, yet later bemoans the fact that she didn’t try, etc.), lack of logic (too easily believes what they tell her to be the truth – negating a lifetime of beliefs in less than a chapter), the romance isn’t believable, some characters feel like they’re only there to move the plot forward, the main character doesn’t believe in regular showers – which means that after reading a couple of chapters I need to take a shower to feel clean (but that’s a personal thing and not a technical issue with the book).
But despite all of these issues, it is interesting. There’s something there that made me want to push through all the things that pulled me from the story and get to the end.
The ending is a bit abrupt, but I’ll see if the next book makes up for it.
Shelves: fantasy, mythology, folklore, upper young adult, college young adult, new adult, romance
Kyra knows a lot about herself:
She is a Djinn, a magical genie-creature.
She can move things with her mind, but only when she’s emotional.
She’s in love with Will, but he is forbidden to her.
But there are things Kyra doesn’t know:
Why are the Blooders after her?
What is her mother hiding?
Why is her best friend avoiding her?
The closer Kyra gets to the truth, the closer she gets to danger and devastation.
But nothing will stop her.
Check it out on Goodreads.
My Review
This picks up where the first book left off after the attack on the compound and the abduction of several Djinn.
An arranged marriage, duty before love, and various secrets makes this an interesting read.
But: again there’s a lack of consistency, proofreading (oh, the misspelled words!) and logic.
Kyra really grows as a character, Mia stays my favourite and Millie comes into her own. I’m not sure about Nate, Seth and Will, though… Kellan steals the attention by just being a more rounded character.
I liked the twist at the end.
Heartbreak and looking for escape.
Kyra has given up on everything. Alec betrayed her. Will is dead. Her and her father are imprisoned by the Djinn awaiting a sentence from High King Tibal who is even more ruthless than Ivan.
When a mysterious woman gives her the choice to start a rebellion for the Guardjinn, Kyra is less than interested in losing more people she cares about. Instead she chooses to escape with her parents to live her old life among the humans.
Bloodlust and civil war.
When Kyra realises Will might still be alive she snaps to her senses and heads halfway across the world in search of De Morte, the Blooder City.
Along the way, Kyra will truely begin to understand what it means to be a Bloodjinn; part Djinn and part Blooder. There is a darkness within her growing with every drop of blood she tastes, but Kyra needs more powers if she is going to save Will and start a civil war among the Djinn.
Check it out on Goodreads.
My Review
This one starts grodily with Kyra living in the same outfit for days (weeks?) without showering. Back to her unhygienic behaviour from book 1. Then there are ghosts, secret passages and adventure. Followed by a couple of chapters of blah… With her suddenly interested in Pyke and wanting to seduce him. WTF?! I was ready to stop reading at this point, but I’ve suffered through two books already and I really want to see how it all ends.
Then there are factual issues: in one chapter she says the first compound is in the Siberian desert and in the next they are going to Egypt. I don’t know much about Siberia, but I know that it isn’t in Egypt, or Africa for that matter: it’s part of Russia and more in Asia than Europe from what a quick look at Google maps told me. “…his face slimed…” is just an example of typos, misspelled words, missing words and grammar issues in this book.
This is the book that lured me in – the blurb, anyway. It is the reason I suffered through book one and two. (Yes, grammar and the other stuff above is prevalent in all three which leads to the question of whether the author’s beta readers, critique partners, developmental editor, line editor and proofreader had all been to the same party or just didn’t exist.) Nothing about the new threat discovered a third into this book was explored or properly explained, the original mission ended in a notebook (and stayed unresolved) and the ending is enough to irritate anyone.
Either it ends on the most annoying cliff hanger ever, or it is a sacrifice for the greater good, or – worse – it is suicide to avoid dealing with addiction.
Star rating:
Editing: 1 star
Premise: 5 stars
Irritation: 1 star
Trigger warning: addiction
Disappointing read: 1 star
Total = 2 stars
Shelves: books that should have a trigger warning, disappointing read, fantasy, folklore, mythology, romance, college young adult, new adult
Good points of the trilogy: gorgeous covers, great premise and lots of action/mystery.
Have you read this series? Are you interested in Djinn? Will you read these books?
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Really good reviews. I’m with you on “[wish the] world was more fleshed out, their history better explained instead of ‘she learned their history’”–yeah, agreed. It says something you did read all three books, though.
That’s why I have several beta readers — more eyes see issues that two sets (author and editor) can’t. Small things can ruin a great story.
It does say something that you read all three books. Too bad there were problems because it sounds like an interesting story line.
Indeed.