Review: Lunarmorte by Sam Young

Welcome to my first book review! I've been wanting to begin reviewing some of the books I read for a while now, but I've never been able to find the time (we all know how that is, right?) But with this 4 day weekend, time suddenly presented itself! So, here's my very first review...

Lunarmorte: Sam Young

Page count: 298

Publisher: Vanguard Press

Publication Date: July 30, 2010

From Amazon.co.uk :

Amidst the magikal children of the ancient Greek gods lives a girl destined to bring their ancient war to an end. Caia Ribeiro has lived a life of isolation and mystery since the death of her parents and her separation from her lykan pack at the age of seven. Returning ten years later under the supervision of the pack's young leader, Lucien, Caia finds herself seduced by pack life and her enigmatic guardian. But when strange happenings lead to near exposure of their world, Caia begins to realize Lucien and the elders have been keeping unforgiveable secrets, leaving Caia to come to terms with the truth of her dark and unique heritage. Scarcely given time to adjust to her new reality, the war she believed stormed only on distant shores crashes on her doorstep, forcing Caia to put aside her conflict with Lucien in order to save them all from an old enemy and his relentless pursuit. Lunarmorte is the first book in a trilogy.

My review:

Pros:

I really enjoyed reading Lunarmorte. The plot, though not unique (it's about werewolves), is told in a way that doesn't leave the reader feeling like it's something they've read before. Caia is a great character that changes completely from the beginning of the book to the end and I rooted for her throughout the entire book. I really understood how she felt because her emotions were on the page - from anger to jealousy, happiness to rage...Caia expresses herself well.

The romance in the book will definitely have readers in the YA genre excited, with somewhat of a love triangle between Caia and two of her packmates: The loveable Sebastian, who genuinely cares for Caia and wants to be there for her; and Lucien, the young pack leader who struggles with his feelings for what he considers a child. These two hot-on-the-page wolves keep Caia spinning from one to the other all the way through the story. Since Lunarmorte is the first book in a trilogy, Caia's romantic interest has yet-to-be-determined, but my vote is for Lucien. He's sexy and powerful and the scenes between the two of them are riddled with sexual tension and tenderness all at once. Lucien cares greatly for Caia but has difficulty coming to terms with the attraction he has towards her...which makes for great reading!

The wolf pack is a great part of this story, too. Though I did find it a bit difficult trying to distinguish between all the names in the fairly large pool of characters, the main players in the pack are well written and held my interest. One of them plays a pivotal role in the plot's progression that was a twist I didn't see coming but that I really enjoyed.

Cons:

There aren't too many problems with Lunarmorte that I can point out - except that it ended and now I have to wait for the 2nd book!

One difficulty that took me a bit to adjust to was the difference in writing style from the US to the UK. Several words are spelled differently [favorite(US) vs. favourite (UK)] and different words altogether are used that posed a tiny problem getting into the story at the beginning. But once I adjusted I rarely noticed them any more.

The only thing I would have enjoyed more would have been an action-packed opening. I'm all for back story and setup, but I like to be dropped in the middle of action from the first page and then fed back story later on. This book did some set-up at the very beginning, but it was in no way discouraging for me. I simply read through it, and a couple pages in I got a feel for the story and was on my way to the end.

Rating:

Overall, I give Lunarmorte 3.5 stars. It was a highly entertaining read that kept me glued to the pages and eagerly anticipating the next installment. Well done, Ms. Young!