Synopsis: Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She’s struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve’s violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California’s redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her. But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn’t go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school—being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger—Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood…and she’s one of them. To make matters worse, Eve has resurfaced to haunt Ash, and she’s got some strange abilities of her own. With a war between the gods looming over campus, Ash must master the new fire smoldering within before she clashes with her sister one more time… And when warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm. -Goodreads

Review: Let me start off by saying that this books definitely deserves the hype it has been getting. On concept alone, this is a book that so many fantasy/mythology/YA buffs have just been waiting for, even if we didn’t know it. It took a little longer than I liked to get rolling, but once it did it was definitely an interesting read.

The characters were likeable enough, and I loved the diversity of the group but I sometimes wanted a little more background information or thought process. Ashline never seemed to question much of what was happening to her either in the super power or love interest department. It all just sort of happened, and that was that. If it was me I’d be bombarding everyone with ‘why’s, so I found her mild acceptance a little hard to get my head around.

One odd thing I noticed… At times the writing seemed a little uneven. In one chapter you could find the phrase “Precipice of Madness” and then not too much later a character refers to a police officer as “Officer Dopey”, without batting an eyelash. It was a typically written YA novel with random splashes of trying to be a bit too ‘prettily worded’, if that makes any sense. Note to author: Most of us aren’t in it for the prose, just the kick-ass story and epic polynesianess, but the effort is still appreciated.

There seem to be a lot of mixed reviews on this one and honestly, I’m not sure where I fall. Some people love, love, love it. And others think Karsten Knight was trying to hard to write just an awesome teen book that people will like just because it’s like other awesome teen books (What, was he supposed to be aiming for mediocre and not interesting to anyone). While I don’t think this will be the next big thing, I do think it’s a fun, exciting, coming of age in a world of awesome book, and definitely worth a read.

It comes out tomorrow so be sure to pick it up, or order your copy!

ARC received through the Simon & Shuster Galley Grab program.

Rating

Second Opinions
@ Good Choice Reading
@ Book Loving Mommy
@ The Book Addict