Review: Didn't quite live up to the first book for me, but still a very enjoyable read.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 20, 2014
3.5/5 Stars***NOTE: This review may contain spoilers for book #1 in the series - Colour Wielders.***I was really excited to read this book because I absolutely ADORED the first book in the series. I really enjoyed this one too, but it didn't quite live up to the first book for me. Still a great read, but I found myself frustrated with a few details.The negatives:Arik and Quinn.This was what was frustrating me. I really loved Quinn and Arik together in the first book and was more than a little shocked at the cliffhanger ending from book #1. I was dying to know what Arik was up to - I didn't really think he was suddenly siding with his mother, but I couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Well, that whole situation was settled just a little too quickly and easily for me - Quinn was furious with Arik (you'd think she'd have a little more faith) and then just forgave him in an instant. It just felt a little whiplashy to me. Then, just when you thought that Arik and Quinn were going to head off together to battle evil, Quinn is cursed and she suddenly hates Arik. This was actually kind of an interesting twist, but I just felt like it got dragged out too long. And I couldn't figure out why Arik kept thinking that if he could just get Quinn to sleep with him, she'd suddenly remember everything and love him again (thank goodness that's not how the conflict was actually resolved - I would have been really frustrated then).What I loved:Arik.While the relationship between Quinn and Arik bugged me a bit in this book, Arik just got better and better as far as I was concerned. I loved seeing how he dealt with his transformation from bad guy that nobody trusts to good guy that everyone's rooting for. Arik wasn't used to being liked and respected. Of course, he didn't lose his edge - he was still a bit rough around the edges. And his devotion to Quinn was admirable (like I said, I wished that he hadn't been so focused on the sex aspect of the relationship, but I could forgive him for that).The soul touch.One aspect of Arik and Quinn's relationship that I did really love was the soul touch and how it made them experience each other's emotions. This made things especially dicey when Quinn hated Arik - he could feel all of that fear and hatred coming off of her and she was just plain confused by the hurt and anger that Arik was feeling. I loved that their heightened emotions played off of each other and sometimes got out of control. Poor Arik tried desperately to keep his feelings reigned in because he didn't want to cause Quinn pain, but sometimes he just couldn't do it!The magykal realm.I loved that we got to see a lot more of the magykal realm in this book. There were some really fun characters too (like Quinn's dog bodyguards). This book gave us more magyk, more magykal creatures and more of the threat to both the magykal realm and the human world. Loved it!!While I wasn't quite as in love with this book as I was with the first it was still a really enjoyable read. I read the book in pretty much one sitting, so I obviously wasn't too tortured. :-) Still, I'm eager to see the magykal prophecy storyline get more underway in the next book - can't wait for book #3! I give this one 3.5/5 stars.***Disclosure: This book was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own***