Blurb from Goodreads:
Seventeen-year-old Dylan Kennedy always knew something was different about him, but until his mother abandoned him in the middle of Oregon with grandparents he’s never met, he had no idea what.
When Dylan sees a girl in white in the woods behind his grandparents’ farm, he knows he’s seen her before... in his dreams. He’s felt her fear. Heard her insistence that only he can save her world from an evil lord who uses magic and fear to feed his greed for power.
Unable to shake the unearthly pull to Kera, Dylan takes her hand. Either he’s completely insane or he’s about to have the adventure of his life, because where they’re going is full of creatures he’s only read about in horror stories. Worse, the human blood in his veins has Dylan marked for death...
Title: The Marked Son (Keepers of Life Book One)
Author: Shea Berkley
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Publication Date: August 2, 2011
The Cover Contessa's Review:
I want to thank Entangled Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book to read and give an honest review. I will be participating in the blog tour for the second book and have also read that one, so I needed this one first! Receiving this book for free has in no way influenced my opinion or review.
So, when I first read the blurb for this book (many moons
ago), I was very intrigued. But I kind of forgot about it. Then the email from
Entangled came asking if I wanted to be part of the blog tour for the second
book. Well, this one jumped right back out at me, I mean look at that cover,
and I wanted it ASAP. And I'm so glad I dove right in, because I could not put
this one down!
Let's start with Dylan. When the book first started, I was a
little skeptical. It didn't really grab my attention right away. But I knew the
premise and really wanted to see what it was about. And then I got past the
first two chapters and POW I was sucked right in. Dylan is totally awesome.
He's snarky and funny. He's good looking and makes me want to just reach
through the page and grab him! I loved how Berkley described him throughout the
book. He comes off as a bit insecure at first, but then you start to understand
that he has spent his life moving around and not being able to really connect
with anyone. He's only connected with the girl in his dreams, and she's a dream
after all, right? And he completely determined and passionate about everything
he does, despite his unusual upbringing.
Kera, well, she is just awesome. I loved her and everything
about her. She's smart and curious and knows exactly what she wants. And she's
not afraid to go after it. I love how she tries her hardest to protect Dylan.
Everything she does is to preserve him, even if it means she gets hurt in the
process.
And Dylan's friends, OMGosh, they are the perfect compliment
to Dylan. Considering he has never had any friends, these guys kind of latch on
to him and never question who he is or what he needs to do. As a matter of
fact, they accept him for what he is, without worrying about all the
"strangeness" that goes on while they are with him. There were so
many great characters in this book, I can't name them all or tell you about
each one of them. You have to pick up this book and get to know them for
yourself!
The plot line of this book is great. At first, you really
don't know that it's going to be a fantasy, and then BOOM, you are sucked into
a world you didn't even know existed. And you are sucked into the magic and
creatures who are totally beyond anything you would ever know or understand.
And it's fast past and has you turning every single page wondering what will
happen next. This is the third fae series that I have read and I have to say
that it is by far my favorite so far.
One of my favorite things about this book is Shea's use of
humor. Just when you think it will only be action and drama, the characters get
snarky with each other. I just loved it. It broke the seriousness of the book
in such a great way. Just when I thought my heart would jump from my chest, I
started laughing. I just loved it.
Shea's writing flows well and really helps describe the
world so well. I love the characters and the different creatures that are
introduced and explained. Shea creates a realistic world. Shea pulls you
through her book without stopping.
I did have two small issues with this book. The first was
how readily Dylan's friends and family accept the fae world and it's
creatures/inhabitants. They didn't even question it but just said it was cool
and moved on. I found this to be a bit unrealistic. I almost felt there needed
to be some kind of conflict between Dylan and his new friends to make it seem
like they questioned the motives just a bit. My second is that Kera's portions
of the book are told in third person. I kind of found this odd since Dylan's
was first person. I would have liked to see things from her perspective instead
of outside her perspective.
All in all this was a really enjoyable book. Actually, I was
not expecting to like it quite as much as I did. But I did and I was totally
anxious to move on to the second book and see what happens to the characters.
One thing I'm glad for, Berkley didn't leave us with a complete cliffhanger at
the end!
4 Fist Bumps
I'm an author of YA fantasy novels, which means I'm the luckiest person alive 'cause I get to spend my day playing with my characters. Some are totally cool, others aren't so nice, but they all bring something to the party.Goodreads/Website/Facebook/Twitter
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