Saturday, February 16, 2013

Review: Indigo Awakening (The Hunter #1) by Jordan Dane

Title: Indigo Awakening 
Author: Jordan Dane
Publisher:  Harlequin Teen
Release Date: December 18, 2012
Pages: 304, Paperback
Goodreads Rating: 3.54 stars
My Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Summary from Goodreads: Voices told Lucas Darby to run. Voices no one else can hear. He’s warned his sister not to look for him, but Rayne refuses to let her troubled brother vanish on the streets of LA. In her desperate search, she meets Gabriel Stewart, a runaway with mysterious powers and far too many secrets. Rayne can’t explain her crazy need to trust the strange yet compelling boy—to touch him—to protect him even though he scares her.

A fanatical church secretly hunts psychic kids—gifted “Indigo” teens feared to be the next evolution of mankind—for reasons only “the Believers” know. Now Rayne’s only hope is Gabe, who is haunted by an awakening power—a force darker than either of them imagine—that could doom them all.


MY TAKE

I struggled with whether to give this book 3 or 3.5 stars. I actually felt that the book started out really promising, but it lost some momentum for me in the second half.  

The story revolves around a group of teenagers and kids with telepathic powers (Indigo Children) who are hiding from a religious sect that they call "The Believers." Lucas has just escaped from a mental institution that is run by this religious sect and he finds himself drawn to the Indigo Children, especially to a girl named Kendra. But, the Believers know that Lucas is special and they are not about to let him go. Meanwhile, Lucas' sister, Rayne, is searching desperately for him when she meets a strange boy named Gabriel who has dangerous powers of his own.

The story is told from multiple points of view, which sometimes bothers me, but (in my opinion) was okay in this book. The book never stays on the secondary characters' points of view for too long, so I didn't get frustrated with being pulled out of the main story. Overall, I enjoyed the story and the plot moved along well. Rayne and Gabriel did have an instant connection that could have bordered on insta-love, but I thought that the author did a good job of giving reasons for their initial attraction and I felt that they grew closer due to the extremity of their circumstances, which seemed realistic to me. I connected to both Rayne and Gabriel and I was invested in what happened to them.

On the other hand, I didn't feel that same connection with Lucas and Kendra. I just didn't feel that the author spent enough time developing Lucas and Kendra's story (or the story of the other Indigo kids, with the possible exception of Rafe and Benny). Lucas and Kendra were supposedly pulled to each other through the psychic connection that they felt, but I didn't quite buy it. These two characters were never fleshed out enough for me to care about them.

Still, I enjoyed the book's many interesting turns and I am intrigued to find out what will happen in the next book. A good read, but not a great one.

By the way, I won this book from Goodreads First Reads, but that did not affect my review in any way.  3.5/5 stars