49) Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison

The Blurb -

Death

Some people will do anything to avoid it. Even trade their immortal souls for endless existence.

Wraiths

Secretly, inexorably, they are infiltrating our world, sucking the essence out of unsuspecting victims with their hideous parody of a kiss.

Segue

Adam Thorne founded the Institute to study and destroy his monster of a brother, but the key to its success is held in the pale, slender hand of a woman on the run. There is something hauntingly different about Talia O’Brien, her unknowing sensuality, her uncanny way of slipping into Shadow.

Twilight

This is the place between life and what comes after - a dark forest of fantasy, filled with beauty, peril, mystery. And Talia is about to open the door.

Review -

To start things off I have to say the cover of this book confused me a little. When I first saw this book my first thought was 'Oooo a new Young Adult paranormal'. However after the prologue and the first few chapters I realised this wasn't for the younger reader but was aimed at your normal everyday adult fantasy lover. This left me a little disappointed but as the story got more and more interesting I couldn't stop reading.

Now I am not a huge fan of faery but the concept of the 'shadow' and 'wraiths' that dominated this book really kept me reading. This is not your normal faery tale and even though this does get very dark it wasn't too over the top . The plot was a little confusing at times but I managed to keep up with things as the story unfolded.

As for the characters, well, I didn't feel like I got to know them as much as I would have liked to. Things were fast and furious and although the two main characters, Talia and Adam, were ever present their background stories seemed to be a blur between all the action. However on saying that I do get the impression that this could develop into a series. So as a reader I believe I will get the chance to get to know them better sometime in the future.

All in all this wasn't a bad debut. The author has obviously put alot of thought into coming up with something different and new. I can't think of any other author I can compare this to because it has a unique feel to it. All I can tell you is that if you like a little faery and aren't scared of the shadows then you may just want to give this a try.