Review: Fantastic, Intriguing Read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 4, 2012
*Received e-book through Read It and Reap program from the Shut Up and Read! Goodreads group from author for an honest reviewDangerous is told by the point-of-view of Ria Milanez, a privileged university student, who holds the element of fire. In this alternate world, magic has always been present, with people being gifted by the God of Magic with one element. The only caveat for this gift was that the elements remain "pure" and unmixed by not breeding with different elementals. As people broke this rule, magic disease carriers (those with no element) emerged, and they had the ability to infect others through sexual contact and kill others in order to steal their elements for themselves. Although the stolen element would fade with time, magic disease carriers could and most likely would continue killing to replenish their magic and this made them feared by the uninfected. Ria has grown up in an upper class family, one with a very pure elemental line, and with the belief that magic disease carriers should be feared and isolated from the general magic population. As she attends school, her beliefs are questioned and contested as she develops feelings for a water elemental, Michael, and when she encounters a famous magic disease carrier, Adrian.I thought Linwood was quite successful in creating an intriguing world with a distinctive concept. It was clever of her to use a prologue-type introduction to explain the details of it as it greatly helped set up my understanding of Ria's reactions since the plot starts quickly with the introductions of Michael and Adrian. Without that, I believe Ria would have been less likeable as she did have rather prejudicial dialogue. In addition, Linwood did a commendable job in character development. For example, she slowly flushed out the character of Adrian, whom I detested in the first half of the book, and revealed enough of his history and circumstances such that I eventually ended up sympathizing with him. Furthermore, I loved the complexities that arise as Ria's best friend, Paula, falls for the dangerous Adrian, while his interest lay with Ria. I enjoyed Ria's struggle to protect her friend, while resisting Adrian's advances. This becomes truly difficult as she begins to see Adrian in a different light versus that of just a magic disease carrier, and with the shocking twist that Linwood introduces in the middle of the book.Overall, Dangerous was an entertaining, fast read with an interesting concept with the magic disease carriers. I did become engrossed in this book (finished in two sittings) and felt that it had dynamic characters and a titillating cliffhanger ending to warrant reading the sequel, despite the grammatical errors. I would recommend this to young adult readers, who are fans of paranormal romances, such as the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent.