Review: Can't wait to read the sequel to Atancia!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 6, 2014
Wren Figueiro's young adult novel, Atancia, is a captivating read, with a successful blend of fantasy and paranormal romance. There are also elements of intense young-love sexual tension and suspense between the two main characters.Atancia's coming of age as a freshman college student brings her both sorrow and frightening revelations. She loses the hardworking and kindly elderly woman who raised Atancia when her mother left her behind. She also starts dating for the first time, a young businessman named Ben who takes an oddly protective interest in her. Most importantly, she learns that, like her mother, she is not human.Wren did a splendid job of creating a fantasy group of humanoids called the Durand who draw energy from one another and the world around them, without fangs or claws or rotting flesh. It was so refreshing to read an original spin on a fantasy society of beings that can blend within our human world without the fantasy characters' constant fear of sunlight or going postal under the moonlight, or being prone to a lot of blood-splattering violence.This is a well-written feel-good story, with characters that are genuinely interesting, likeable and believable. Her first-person prose drew me right in to her fantasy world. I was devastated when I came to the last page. I was not ready for my time with these characters to end, and thankfully she has a sequel novel that will pick up where book one ended.