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Saturday, May 15, 2010

DNF Review : Rising Shadow by Jacquelyn Wheeler


Title : Rising Shadow
Author : Jacqueline Wheeler
Publisher : Self-Published
Genre : Young Adult
ISBN : 978-0982516010
Series : #1 The Soterians Series
Release Date : September 10, 2009
Rating : 1/5 - Couldn't get into it.

Synopsis from Amazon : 

Ashlyn Woods just transferred to one of the most beautiful campuses on the west coast, where she can't wait where she can't wait to start her life over as a college student.  But her plans take an unexpected turn when she discovers that she is a Soterian : a person who develops amazing powers when the balance of good and evil shifts to far in evil's favor.
 
Soon she and the other Soterians are studying martial arts and learning to use their powers to prevent California from being plunged into chaos.  But they discover that they're up against a much more dangerous enemy than they expected.

And when Ashlyn meets Kai, a devastatingly gorgeous guitar player, she realizes she must sacrifice more than she ever imagined.

Review

Ashlyn Woods really does seem just as average as the synopsis to this book implies.  In fact, she felt far too average for me to even begin to like her.  I found myself putting this book down more often than I actually was reading it.  I actually had to stop reading this one completely when I realized that after I reached my 50 page rule I was still not thrilled with it.

While there was an undertone of something paranormal lurking under the surface, I found that I couldn't get really enjoy it because of the constant talk of politics.  I know that this was part of the story, but I'm not really into politics, so this was a major turn off for me.  I also didn't really like that when Ashlyn met her roommates, it was like they had known each other there entire lives.  I felt like there needed to be a little more development between these characters.

Overall I can't say much for this book because I didn't finish it.  I don't particularly like giving out reviews of books that I haven't finished, but in all honesty it is still an opinion, and it may help someone in the future.  I just hope that there are readers out there that will find this book to be something they enjoy, and will share their opinions as well.

Where did I get this book?

I received by copy for participating in a traveling tour with Other Shelf Tours.

Amazon Affiliates

Clicking on title links in this post will redirect you to Amazon.com. If you happen to make a purchase after clicking these links I will receive a small percentage of the profits

4 comments:

Anna said...

Sorry you didn't enjoy this one. I think it's nice when a character is average enough for the average person to relate to him/her, but there has to be something extraordinary to make them worth reading about.

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Jacquelyn Wheeler said...

Hi Jenni, thanks for the review. Rising Shadow definitely isn't for everyone, and I'm sorry it didn't hold your interest. Ashlyn and Rebecca go through a pretty strong metamorphosis as they discover their powers and learn to use them, but I know that the setup in the beginning happens too gradually for some readers, and that the more adult-world oriented themes like politics aren't going to appeal to some YA readers. So to your followers, I'd say this book is ideally for those of you who are interested in exploring the greyer shades of good and evil and enjoy reading about characters who have powers like flying, invisibility, and healing against a backdrop of real-world places and themes. You can check out other reviews of the book on Goodreads, or just read the free PDF of Rising Shadow on my web site www.soterians.com to see if it's your thing.

Cheers,
Jacquelyn

Jenni @ Falling Off The Shelf said...

Anna - Thanks for stopping by. I'm sorry I didn't like this one either, I hate writing negative reviews. I may give this one another try later on.

Jacquelyn - Thank you for stopping by, and I'm sorry I couldn't give you a better review. I'm glad you understand though.

Anonymous said...

I have problems reading about politics in books too, they're usually so difficult to understand (or take a long time to understand) and make me want to skim or skip those parts in books. Though when done well it can be interesting, I guess it all depends on the author for me. I'm sad to hear this book was a DNF, it sucks when that happens. D: