Review: Loved it!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 13, 2012
I received a copy of The Athena Effect from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.  Ok that's out of the way let's get down to the book.  Wow...just yeah wow.  I gotta admit I put off reading this book til the last minute, not being a big fan of YA I always approach starting a new one with some trepidation.  I love being surprised!  I started reading this late last night when I went  to bed, no joking I was still reading when I saw the sun come up and forced myself to put it down and get some much needed sleep, needless to say I picked it right back up first thing this morning.I won't do a synopsis of the book, the description above is good enough.  I really loved reading about Cali, she had to be the most unique character I've read in ages.  Cali grew up so isolated, not meeting another person until she was 10yrs old, learning how to hunt and survive without any modern conveniences.  She was the perfect combination of innocence and self-reliance.  It was interesting to watch her experience everything for the first time that we take for granted, hot showers, fast food, carnivals and of course high school social dynamics.  At the same time she was taught to look after herself, when she meets Cal she faces down three men armed with her knife.Cal was the high school bad boy, an orphan as well living with his brother who is a biker, constant parties and a string of women hanging around.  Cal was the perfect match for Cali, they both shared the tragedy of losing their parents while still teenagers and the instability that comes with that, although Cal had it far better than Cali he at least had some family to look out for him.  He taught her about the world around her and she trusted him enough to explain to him the abilities she has.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching their relationship grow and watching the two of them evolve as they learned about each other's world.The novel was definitely more character driven than action driven, which was ok the characters were amazing to read about.  One thing I am very very grateful for is that even though the book is about teenagers there was none of the annoying teenage angst (thank you for that Derrolyn...no really thanks!), the relationship was realistic with none of the highschool bullshit I don't enjoy reading.  Make no mistake the action picks up about halfway through and keeps the pages turning and as I said I stayed up all night reading it.  I thoroughly enjoyed The Athena Effect and can't wait for the next in the series.