Chase the Dark (Steel & Stone, book 1)by Annette Marie
Genre: Young Adult Urban Fantasy
Edition Reviewed: Ebook
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle
Goodreads: Chase the Dark (1)
Piper Griffiths wants one thing in life: To become a Consul, a keeper of the peace between humans and daemons. There are precisely three obstacles in her way.
The first is Lyre. Incubus. Hotter than hell and with a wicked streak to match. His greatest mission in life is to get Piper into bed and otherwise annoy the crap out of her. The second is Ash. Draconian. Powerful. Dangerous. He knows too much and reveals nothing. Also, disturbingly attractive — and scary. Did she mention scary?
The third is the Sahar Stone. Top secret magical weapon of mass destruction. Previously hidden in her Consulate until thieves broke in, went on a murder spree, and disappeared with the weapon.
And they left Piper to take the fall for their crimes.
Now she’s on the run, her dreams of becoming a Consul shattered and every daemon in the city gunning to kill her. She’s dead on her own, but there’s no one she can trust — no one except two entirely untrustworthy daemons... See problems one and two.
Review:
Wow. Just wow. You know that magical hungry feeling you get when you're reading a great book that's hitting all the right spots? Chase the Dark was that book. I hadn't read a decent Urban Fantasy in Young Adult for a really long while. Almost a full year. During that full year YA leading ladies haven't been this good either. The words I've been using to describe them has been “whiny and characterless”.
Piper is amazing and a far cry from either of those two words. She's so well developed, not to mention flawed and realistic. She might be training to become a Consul, but she has along way to go. Piper knows it and she's aware of her strengths. It's also enjoyable having a non-magical lead who needs that magic to interact in the world. (Though I have a feeling it won't stay that way.) She has some hot headed moments where her emotions take over, but I couldn't blame her. In fact, there was only one moment when I wanted to smack her upside the head, but I understood where she was coming from.
Lyre and Ash are both amazing reads. They both start out as stereotypes at first glance. Lyre the pervy over flirty incubus. It starts off a little much with the sexual innuendos, but once the flow of the writing settles in it's pretty fun. Ash was setup to be the bad ass jerk character. But he's not. He's complicated and super caring. He's still bad ass, but he's an actual person—err, draconians. (Yeah, dragons. ^_^)
There's no insta-love and while there's a clear setup for a love triangle Chase the Dark simply flirts with the idea. Lyre and Ash are such amazing characters that I know this is going to be one of those series that I adore the build up of said love triangle. It's going to tear me apart emotionally at some point! Yeah! (And maybe give me a bromance between Lyre and Ash! Or something more . . . ?)
Another thing I've missed from Young Adult Urban Fantasy titles is unique worlds. Well this one is very unique. Apparently humans used bombs, biological warfare and weapons of mass destruction for three years to kill each other. Until daemons decided it was worth sacrificing the secret of their existence to kill military types to end the war. Even wiping out the weapons. Most major cities where wiped out and daemons become part of society. Consuls and Consulates came to be to house demons, mediate, witnesses, be judge, jury, and executioner. Consuls are haeman—human and daemon beings—who act as a buffer between daemons and humans.
See cool world!
Chase the Dark is well written and for a self pub the grammar errors were down to a minimum. Just some jumbled wording here and there. Nothing noticeable. Though there was this awkward moment when a room was described to be the size of a swimming pool. Swimming pools come in a lot of sizes . There were one or to other weirdly non-describing comments like that. But again nothing too noticeable. In fact, most readers aren't going to notice. It's me being nit picking.
The writing had wit and just the write snark. Clever pacing kept the adrenaline going. Each character had a unique voice and Annette Marie does a wonderful job making them stand out. Some of the side characters such as Piper's Uncle, father, and mother don't get enough page time to become developed. Basically they are the obligated stereotypes and do exactly what you expect them to do. That's OK. Because I enjoyed other aspects especially meeting and interacting with other daemons. It tickles me seeing the Underworld—hell—and Upperworld—heaven—daemons and knowing that there's not much difference between the two except what realm they're from. There aren't any angels to be found here.
Hopefully the long winded-ness of my review helps to convey how much I truly enjoyed this book. Unfortunately this is one of those times where I just can't seem to convey with words how awesome this book was. If you've been missing well written and realized Young Adult Urban Fantasy this is your book. Piper is a strong lead in not only fighting capabilities, but strong in the character development department. The male leads are great and interact well with Piper. No awkward insta-love and it's only the buildup for the foundation of a love triangle—and I have some niggling theory burning in the back of my head. In the end the rush and overall plot are the main focus. The main characters are well realized and I genuinely want to know what happens next. Thank goodness I already own the next 3 books!
Sexual Content: Talk about sex, humor, and some minor dark themes. There is some sexual predator moments, nothing scary. More like a warning and a reality check.
4/5- Great! Really enjoyed it.
| Previous book(s) in series: | ||
| Reviewed on BW: | Amazon: | Goodreads: |
| Chase the Dark (1) Bind the Soul (2) Yield the Night (3) Reap the Shadows (4) Unleash the Storm (5) | Chase the Dark (1) Bind the Soul (2) Yield the Night (3) Reap the Shadows (4) Unleash the Storm (5) | Chase the Dark (1) Bind the Soul (2) Yield the Night (3) Reap the Shadows (4) Unleash the Storm (5) |
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