Review: very original and unique paranormal/fantasy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 7, 2013
Dangerous is the first book in Alycia Linwood's Element Preservers Series. The series includes the following installments:#1 Dangerous#2 Runaway#3 Divided#3.5 No One (novella from Adrian's point of view)#4 Restless#5 Untitled (January 2014)I thought Dangerous was a very original and unique paranormal/fantasy. As noted in the book synopsis, the story focuses on a group of young adults who attend the University of Magic, "a special university for those who have one of the four elements: fire, water, air and earth." Each character's lives are affected in some way by "magic disease, which surged as a result of bad mixing of elements, turns people into cold-hearted killers, who have a strong desire to take someone's element as they do not have their own." The characters either know someone with the disease, they are seeking out more information on the condition, or they are focused on finding a cure. Family secrets, social/political views on the disease, and conspiracy theories were interesting and kept me reading. I also enjoyed the characters and how their relationships with each other seemed to shift throughout the story. Overall, I liked this book, although I really wanted to like it more. The terminology is very simplistic, which is not necessarily a bad thing, and I felt the flow of the conversations/scenes/storyline affected by ability to fully lose myself in the book. (view spoiler) The ending leaves the reader with a cliffhanger that provides motivation to continue the series. I will likely continue the series.