Descendant by Nichole Giles
Jelly Bean Press © 2013
Kindle Edition
YA Romance
Reviewed by Leah
I remember downloading this on a day when it was free. Thought: you know what, it looks decent so I'll give it a shot.
I wanted to like this. Really, I did. Alas, it was not meant to be.
Summary:
Abigail Johnson is considered Gifted, but it's more like a curse. A Healer who has never healed another person who also has visions of the past that somehow passes for Sight, she's a bit of a mess. That doesn't change when she moves to Jackson, Wyoming. Suddenly, it seems as if destiny has led her directly to this place and time, where Gifted wander around in groups, and the local heartthrob has eyes only for her.
But Jackson isn't safe for everyone, and Abby especially has a few new problems to work out. Along with Kye--the boy she feels she's known forever, yet only a day--she must take on a mission from the Fairy Queen. A mission that reveals the past, layer by layer, and threatens the future with each passing second.
Initial Thoughts:
I really had no initial thoughts for this one. I got it for free without doing more than skimming the blurb--or maybe that instalove wouldn't have hit me so hard--and just decided that it was time to read it. For the beginning, I got through it without too much eye-rolling, but then it declined and by the end, I was swearing a lot more than I should have been.
Writing Style:
I have to start with this one, because I feel it will set the premise for the rest of the not-so-good review. In a single word: immature. None of the characters were fleshed out, at all. Everyone was a one dimensional caricature of something that existed before. Though nothing was worse than the absolute lack of detail concerning the villains. They were there because they needed to be, but they had no motives or thoughts or codes of their own beyond the basest forms of depravity that the author could give them. More or less, they are the shadows in the night that your mind forms into a bogey man … but is still a shadow; meaning it lacks any substantiality. This, for me, was the most unforgivable aspect of the book. It was bad enough having walk-in secondary characters, but to have shadows for villains was unacceptable.
Plot & Setting:
I liked the general idea of the plot. Where Abby slowly discovers what the visions mean and has to deal with those as they come while revealing the past to herself and others. That aspect of it was cool and intriguing.
Yet, it had no bearing on the actual plot. In fact, the story itself was all over the place. I understand that these two teenagers are out to save the world … but they need several distractions from that very thing. And instead of making sure they lay low and stay safe after getting the things they need, they expose themselves at every opportunity to danger. It was maddening. While, at other times, we waste pages and pages on their lackluster (more obsessive than endearing) love story while they flounce around NYC like a couple of dumb tourists. It was maddening.
As far as the setting goes, I don't even feel like going into it. Suffice it to say: lack of descriptions. Though I'm usually okay with this--and it didn't really bother me this time--I still have to chalk this up to my less-than-acceptable reading experience.
Characters:
Oi vey. I hated them all. (Here there be SPOILERS. You are FOREWARNED.)
Abby was the innocent. She was naive, ignorant, and an emotionally stunted pain in the ass. She is very much the definition of TSTL (Too Stupid To Live). There were so many times in which I was praying for the villains to kill her. (Except they would have to be competent in order to do anything at all. More on them later.) Abby was the number one reason I began to loathe this book.
Kye wasn't much better. Like Abby, he is nothing more than a caricature of his role. He's made out to be the gorgeous, noble princeling-type who happens to have a heart of gold that allows him to communicate with animals. Gag me. Mister Perfect meets I Wish I Had A Brain. For some reason, he has skills and equipment that no teenager would normally have and he works for the Fairy Queen. He saves the world constantly and knows that nobody will ever know about it. But he's okay with that because he's good for the sake of being good. Again: gag me. He was unrealistic, ridiculous, and almost as innocent as Abby--though there were some innuendoes dropped by other characters to make him seem like a "player". (Please, this baby boy doesn't know the meaning of the word.)
All Side Characters were walk-ins only. They served their purposes to very minimal degrees and were asked to exit the stage immediately so that the main leads could have more time to make kissy faces, disturbingly quick declarations, and realize all their potential as true loves. Nothing else mattered in this book at all. Especially other characters.
All the Villains were in the same boat. As previously stated, they were stick figures and place holders. Meant to do and say despicable things to Abby, but without ever actually succeeding in doing anything at all. They were incompetent, ignorant, and useless. And the main bad guy was just so ridiculous that reading his dialogue made me want to gouge my eyes out. It was truly horrendous at the end there.
Overall Opinion:
I can't even. I'm so happy to be done with this and moving on to another book. Either the books in YA are getting worse and worse, or I'm just outgrowing them more and more. One way or the other, I still don't think this book would make anyone's cut. But that's just my opinion. You know, the only one that matters to me.
But Jackson isn't safe for everyone, and Abby especially has a few new problems to work out. Along with Kye--the boy she feels she's known forever, yet only a day--she must take on a mission from the Fairy Queen. A mission that reveals the past, layer by layer, and threatens the future with each passing second.
Initial Thoughts:
I really had no initial thoughts for this one. I got it for free without doing more than skimming the blurb--or maybe that instalove wouldn't have hit me so hard--and just decided that it was time to read it. For the beginning, I got through it without too much eye-rolling, but then it declined and by the end, I was swearing a lot more than I should have been.
Writing Style:
I have to start with this one, because I feel it will set the premise for the rest of the not-so-good review. In a single word: immature. None of the characters were fleshed out, at all. Everyone was a one dimensional caricature of something that existed before. Though nothing was worse than the absolute lack of detail concerning the villains. They were there because they needed to be, but they had no motives or thoughts or codes of their own beyond the basest forms of depravity that the author could give them. More or less, they are the shadows in the night that your mind forms into a bogey man … but is still a shadow; meaning it lacks any substantiality. This, for me, was the most unforgivable aspect of the book. It was bad enough having walk-in secondary characters, but to have shadows for villains was unacceptable.
Plot & Setting:
I liked the general idea of the plot. Where Abby slowly discovers what the visions mean and has to deal with those as they come while revealing the past to herself and others. That aspect of it was cool and intriguing.
Yet, it had no bearing on the actual plot. In fact, the story itself was all over the place. I understand that these two teenagers are out to save the world … but they need several distractions from that very thing. And instead of making sure they lay low and stay safe after getting the things they need, they expose themselves at every opportunity to danger. It was maddening. While, at other times, we waste pages and pages on their lackluster (more obsessive than endearing) love story while they flounce around NYC like a couple of dumb tourists. It was maddening.
As far as the setting goes, I don't even feel like going into it. Suffice it to say: lack of descriptions. Though I'm usually okay with this--and it didn't really bother me this time--I still have to chalk this up to my less-than-acceptable reading experience.
Characters:
Oi vey. I hated them all. (Here there be SPOILERS. You are FOREWARNED.)
Abby was the innocent. She was naive, ignorant, and an emotionally stunted pain in the ass. She is very much the definition of TSTL (Too Stupid To Live). There were so many times in which I was praying for the villains to kill her. (Except they would have to be competent in order to do anything at all. More on them later.) Abby was the number one reason I began to loathe this book.
Kye wasn't much better. Like Abby, he is nothing more than a caricature of his role. He's made out to be the gorgeous, noble princeling-type who happens to have a heart of gold that allows him to communicate with animals. Gag me. Mister Perfect meets I Wish I Had A Brain. For some reason, he has skills and equipment that no teenager would normally have and he works for the Fairy Queen. He saves the world constantly and knows that nobody will ever know about it. But he's okay with that because he's good for the sake of being good. Again: gag me. He was unrealistic, ridiculous, and almost as innocent as Abby--though there were some innuendoes dropped by other characters to make him seem like a "player". (Please, this baby boy doesn't know the meaning of the word.)
All Side Characters were walk-ins only. They served their purposes to very minimal degrees and were asked to exit the stage immediately so that the main leads could have more time to make kissy faces, disturbingly quick declarations, and realize all their potential as true loves. Nothing else mattered in this book at all. Especially other characters.
All the Villains were in the same boat. As previously stated, they were stick figures and place holders. Meant to do and say despicable things to Abby, but without ever actually succeeding in doing anything at all. They were incompetent, ignorant, and useless. And the main bad guy was just so ridiculous that reading his dialogue made me want to gouge my eyes out. It was truly horrendous at the end there.
Overall Opinion:
I can't even. I'm so happy to be done with this and moving on to another book. Either the books in YA are getting worse and worse, or I'm just outgrowing them more and more. One way or the other, I still don't think this book would make anyone's cut. But that's just my opinion. You know, the only one that matters to me.
