Review: Nicely drawn teens with scary powers and hormones
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 8, 2012
Continuing where Darwin's Children left off, Natasha Larry's Unnatural Law deepens the characters of the curious fairy/angels, while adding an interesting twist to evolution and the existence of superhero teenagers. The timing is pleasing, with slow revelations leading up to the twist, though an uncertain sense of coincidence lessens its force--most likely book 3 will reveal how such coincidences are orchestrated behind the scenes.The writing is aimed at teenagers and I had a little trouble with some of the words, but that's probably just me. I expected a technopath to fear rather than love technology, so I was surprised when the local genius appeared on the scene. And, given all the superhero powers, phrases like "Jaycie's eyes almost popped out of the her head" conjured entirely the wrong image for me. The storyline probably does owe something to X-Men but, as one of the teenaged characters says, It "does differ enough to stand on its own." Paranormal creatures add an extra dimension of mystery and danger, and Jaycie's surge of power and subsequent loss is nicely portrayed. The teens explore their uncertain skills with very plausible spurts of over and under-confidence, making them quite likeable and believable characters.Reader who enjoyed book 1 should certainly enjoy this sequel. The storyline moves forward pleasingly with a good sense of timing, the mythology is nicely but not excessively expanded, and the possibilities for the future as the tale evolves are sufficiently intriguing that I'll probably look out for book three.Disclosure: I received a free ecopy of this novel from the author in exchange for my honest review. I'm just sorry it took me so long to get to it.