Review: A Must Read For YA Fiction Lovers Everywhere
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 1, 2011
First of all, let me say, I just finished this book 5 minutes ago and WOW! It was absolutely brilliant from the first word to the last and I am now eagerly anticipating the next book. I cannot wait to see what happens next.The Legacy of Kilkenny is a beautiful story of friendship, family, love and honour.Want to know what I mean? Well then read on. But I must warn you, I will not give you all the goods. You'll have to buy the book yourself for that.Abel Casey is an ordinary boy, with an ordinary family and an ordinary life. He goes to Piedsville High School and is best friends with Shane.He lives at home with his mom and dad. He also has an older sister Allie, who he calls Cat.Sounds pretty gosh darn ordinary so far. Am I right? I know I am.Then one day at school, Abel meets the stunning looking new girl, Prudence Phelan. No way would she be interested in him, she is far to hot for the likes of Abe. Right?!Abe and Pru become friends and she feels the time is right to share with him why she came to town - to reveal his destiny as the Great Wolf, he will become leader of all the Packs.How does Abe take the news that he is actually a werewolf? Well I will leave it to you to read that for yourself.Pru's main assignment right now is to take care of Abe, teach him, train him, have him hone his skills so that he can one day become the Great Wolf. But, she says, this comes at a price. Abe must die - or at least convince his family he has died.As Abe starts his training, he starts to have some of the ablities of the weres. He has a heightened sense of hearing for one, also his sense of smell is better than ever. But he hasn't shifted, and he is not totally convinced he will become the Great Wolf that they have been waiting for. He also doesn't want to convince his family he is dead. He knows it will break their hearts, and he doesn't want to be the one to do that to them.Will he be able to convince the Pack that he doesn't need to die and he can actually protect his family? Well, that I can't tell you.Life is going pretty well for Abe. He has some pretty awesome new friends, Pru's parents, General Phelan and Dolly, are also pretty cool.But Pru isn't interested in him in a boyfriend/girlfriend way. She has her eyes and her heart set on Oakley, who is tasked with watching out for her while she watches over Abe.Just when it seems that things are going well, enter Arien - the vampire. He latches on to Allie, and that is NOT a good thing. He is using her to get closer to the Pack to see if he can find any information on the whereabouts of the Great Wolf.Arien tells Abe and Pru that he will infect Allie with the HVV - Human Vampiric Virus- if they don't tell him who he is looking for.Will Arien infect Allie? Will she turn into a vampire?Will Abe finally shift? Will he find love? Who's to say what will happen?!All I can really say is, the characters in this book are some of my favourites in recent times. I realy love Abel and his easy going attitude to life. I love me some Oakley with his strong but sensual wolfish features. I like Pru because she is a level headed, sassy girl who will fight for what she thinks is right rather than let you walk all over her.Devyn Dawson is a great author. Her words had me entranced from the moment I started reading, and even now, they linger with me - making me wonder what will happen in the second book.I read a lot of YA fiction, and I find that sometimes, the theme of many books can be pretty samey. What is the point of reading yet another book about a vampire? Or yet another book about a werewolf? They might be questions that some people ask themselves, but not me.Personally, I like nothing more than diving into a new book head first. I love to meet new characters and enjoy different authors ways of portaying things, even if they can be similar.For me, the first thing I look for is cover art. I know the old saying about don't judge a book by it's cover, but for me, that just isn't true. I know you may say that I am maybe missing out on a great story that lurks within the walls of a more mediocre cover, and yes that may be true. But, I like my cover art. I offer no apologies for this.I think you will agree with me that the cover art for this book is something that makes you stop, look, read the blurb, and then buy it. That's exactly what I did. And I for one am glad that I did.The Legacy of Kilkenny goes straight on my Favourite Books pile.And Devyn Dawson, goes straight up there with my favourite authors.This book had me laughing, wanting to punch someone in the face, laughing some more, and crying - at least twice!So I say, go buy this book, curl up on the sofa with a hot cup of cocoa and settle in for an amazing journey that will stay with you even after the words on the page are over.