Welcome to The Cover Contessa's stop on the Souless blog tour!
Alexia manipulated time to save the man of her dreams, and lost her best friend to red-eyed wraiths. Still grieving, she struggles to reconcile her loss with what was gained: her impending marriage. But when her wedding is destroyed by the Soulless—who then steal the only protection her people have—she’s forced to unleash her true power.And risk losing everything.
Title: Souless (Maiden of Time #2)
Author: Crystal Collier
Publisher: Raybourne Publishing
Publication Date:October 13, 2014
Crystal's Review:
I received an e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
As always, I’ll try to keep this spoiler free:
What I love most about the Maiden of Time series is its plot ingenuity and unconventional characters. The Passionate and the Soulless are something that I, at least, have never seen before. The complexity of their story is finally beginning to reveal itself to us in Soulless.
In Soulless we’re introduced to other “nations’ or “factions” of Passionate, which Kiran is desperately trying to reunite in order to win this war with the Soulless that our dear, freaky Bellezza started. Each of those factions know about Alexia and her ability to stop time and they each want her power, presumably for their own agendas. It is imperative that Alexia and Kiran are married and bonded within the laws of the Passionate (on a moonless night) as soon as possible, before someone else bonds her against her will to obtain use of her power. This proves to be difficult as Kiran (aggravatingly, given the circumstances) wants to give Alexia the “wedding that she deserves”. Their plans are foiled, not surprisingly, by the Soulless. They are attacked and Kiran’s powerful medallion is stolen. This may not have happened if the two of them could have kept their hands off each other. The “needs” and “desires” were so overdone that I
seriously wanted to lock them in a room so they could get it over with, laws or no laws. Now a very powerful medallion is in the wrong hands and Kiran’s strength and ability to protect Alexia and the rest of the Passionate is compromised.
Once the moonless night passes, they must wait until the next new moon to attempt another wedding. In that time, Kiran leaves Alexia with an old, and trusted friend to keep her safe while he sets off to retrieve his medallion and continue his quest to reunite the Passionate. It’s here that Alexia learns the true nature of her power and what it means to be The Maiden of Time. She struggles with her newfound knowledge and all it implicates. We get to see her evolve her powers, but she still struggles with her own self worth. She has all the right pieces to be a strong, female heroine, but her simpering and self-depreciation kills it. I, myself, struggle to like her.
New characters are introduced with twisting pasts, and old characters are reintroduced in a new light. Loyalties and formed and battles are fought. Mistakes are made and lives are lost. There is no shortage of action in this book, and there’s a very nice little plot twist towards the end – and I love a good plot twist. Collier can certainly nail an ending.
It’s a good read, but you’ll need a strong stomach to deal with the unfulfilled passions of a “young” couple.
I’m looking forward to the third and final book. Collier is an author to watch as her writing evolves and grows. I’ll happily pick up anything she puts out there.
Crystal is a Young Adult Author who's been accused of an obsession with cheese. She answers that anyone who accuses her merely of "obsession" is grossly misinformed. Cheese is the best food on the planet. Cheese makes the world go round. Cheese=happiness.
Self proclaimed #cheese addict, #youngadult author, #homeschooling mom, and composer who may or may not own a pet zombie. And a broken teleportation device.
Crystal is a Young Adult Author who's been accused of an obsession with cheese. She answers that anyone who accuses her merely of "obsession" is grossly misinformed. Cheese is the best food on the planet. Cheese makes the world go round. Cheese=happiness.
Self proclaimed #cheese addict, #youngadult author, #homeschooling mom, and composer who may or may not own a pet zombie. And a broken teleportation device.
Excellent write up.
ReplyDeleteps = http://www.pinterest.com/bhwrn1/
DeleteYour Pin link isn't working.