The girl knows she’s different. She doesn’t age. She has no family. She has visions of a past life, but no clear clues as to what she is, or where she comes from. But there is a face in her dreams – a light that breaks through the darkness. She knows his name is Gabriel.
On her way home from work, the girl encounters an injured stranger whose name is Jonah. Soon, she will understand that Jonah belongs to a generation of Vampires that serve even darker forces. Jonah and the few like him, are fighting with help from an unlikely ally – a rogue Angel, named Gabriel.
In the crossfire between good and evil, love and hate, and life and death, the girl learns her name: Lailah. But when the lines between black and white begin to blur, where in the spectrum will she find her place? And with whom?
Gabriel and Jonah both want to protect her. But Lailah will have to fight her own battle to find out who she truly is.
***
Lailah starts out really well. Cessie (because that's what she's called in the first place) is thrown into action in the very first chapter. It grabs your attention. And then the mystery starts. At first it gets a little bit too confusing. But then the book sort itself out really quickly, which is a relief, because I'm close to giving it a two out of five on Goodreads because of this confusing thing. Unfortunately it lacks the dramatic moment of big reveals. A lot of things are expected. Cessie's heritage and Gabriel's secret. But it doesn't make the book any less enjoyable.
Awesome things that I really, REALLY appreciate:
1) Jonah: Jonah is a relatively transparent character in the book. Usually I like an air of mystery. But this time, he stands out. Even more so than Gabriel. Unlike Gabriel, Jonah has quite a sparkling personality. Of course I'm not counting the sort-of psychotic Vampire moments. But he's can definitely joke around, which can never be said for Gabriel. I'm actually a little surprised that the book reveals quite some of his redemption-worthy side, even though he's a Vampire. I like that though, because I really believe that everyone can have their own redemption, given the right circumstances.
2) The mix between Vampires and Angels: To be honest, I wasn't completely confident about this book when I read the word "Vampire" in the summary. Besides Blood of Eden, I don't have much fun with vampires. But this mix is something a little bit different. The great light and the complete darkness, a big contrast. Should I add a "supposed" before "great" and "complete". While there are pure evil in the book, there's no pure light yet. Apparently everyone can fall, even the greatest beings. I think this makes the story more complex, when not everything is clearly cut.
What I like but don't love:
1) Cessie. Aka Lailah. She's a good character with great potential and a mysterious past. No memories other than some glimpses of her past. A creature of light and darkness. She can be the greatest redemption or destruction. I'm positive that she will be a legend of sorts. The only thing that I'm not really satisfied is that there's little struggle for her. For all we know, she possesses something dangerous. And with something destructive lurking inside her, isn't there a lot of struggles and battles for her to wage and take part in? But there's little. I'm a little disappointed, because her character development will be even better with those struggles.
2) Gabriel. Oh yes, the mysterious angel. Don't get me wrong. He's a good guy. But the way the author portrays him is kind of weird. What I mean is that the way his character behaves doesn't make me think of him as an mysterious guy with his secret. Sure, I know that he has his secrets. But what I feel is that he acts more like a hypocrite than just a mysterious guy. I know I sounded harsh. But for some reason his attitude bugs me. He's still a nice character though, because he clearly cares about Cessie/Lailah and the Vampires he rescued. I hope I will see more of his character development in the next book.
There are some flaws in the book, but generally this book is surprisingly enjoyable, and I'd like to see what will happen next.
Rating: 7.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment