Review: Exciting fantasy story!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 10, 2012
OMG, I freaking loved this story!!! After reading a ton of post-apocolypse books for dystopian challenge month, I was so over the same old same old of these stories that all seem to copy from the same mold. When I saw Initiation had werewolves and vampires, I was SO excited for something different. And boy, did this deliver!!!!Rachel was a great character, she had been trained her whole life to fight the vampires and werewolves, and at 16 she was finally going to face them. With a drunk for a father and a lot of self-loathing, she just hopes to survive alongside her friends in the fight. Only she didn't expect that the vendetta of one of their leaders would find her being sent Upwards alone, instead of with her fellow warriors. She's left to fend for herself, and she discovers something she never expected when a pack of young werewolves saves her life from a vampire. She finds herself drawn to the gorgeous and sexy werewolf Jason, who is immediately protective of her as they take her back to their camp. She meets the young shapeshifters' father, the alpha. He had sent Jason and his sisters to bring back one of the warriors so he could expose something to the humans that he knew would change everything. Suddenly Rachel isn't sure who is friend and who is foe, and she finds herself falling hard for Jason.Jason and Rachel have SERIOUS chemistry, I was just dying every time they were able to get close. It did seem rushed, but I chalked that up to his animal instincts and his alpha male need to claim Rachel as his. Jason is so possessive of her so quickly, I couldn't help but love the animalistic way he just wanted her. HOT!! I loved it, I was so enthralled with their whirlwind romance and I couldn't wait to see where it would lead. Then Royce had to go and TOTALLY throw a curveball, and the game changed for Rachel big time. Someone she never would have suspected has turned his back on her kind, and it could mean the end of the world as they know it. She gets to return home and see those that she left behind, and she finds that she meant more to all of them than she had ever realized. Suddenly she's conflicted and torn (not me, though, because all I could think about was that hunk Jason!!!), but she knows she has to get back to the one boy she's given her heart to. She feels the pull to be with him, but to what end??The premise for the story was cool and creepy, and the vampires will surely be a major force to contend with in the rest of the series. The humans underestimated them and didn't realize one of their own had a hand in helping their cause, so it will be a serious fight when the time comes; and I can't wait to see where exactly the werewolves fit in, whether or not they are who they seem!There were parts of this story that were a bit much, I have to admit. Rachel is so lacking in the self-confidence, and I do wish she didn't put herself down quite so much. On the flip side, when she suddenly starts having every guy her age falling head over heels for her, I kind of laughed. Yeah, I love her character, but it was a little hard to swallow when 3 guys were professing their love to her back-to-back. I wish we could have seen more of what made her a warrior, too. We didn't see much before she went Upwards, and the fight scenes weren't written with as much detail as I would have liked in order to feel like I was actually seeing her in action. She was bad-ass, but I pretty much had to just buy that she was instead of seeing it for myself. Again, still love her character, but I would have liked more!!I must admit, there is a MAJOR twist at the end of this book that just shattered me. It's not even a cliffhanger, really, it's more of a completely new story being written into the last section of this book, and it just killed me. I can only hope that the sequel brings me more of what I fell in love with in this book, PLEASE!!