Legions by Karice Bolton

Synopsis

As the magical holiday season is disrupted with an afternoon of horror, it becomes apparent that the Legions have begun their uprising around the globe, and Ana does her best to stay strong even though her world has been shattered. It is up to Ana to find the strength within and not fall prey to the dark side as she begins her chase to reclaim what’s rightfully hers. 

Realizing that Ana’s visions alone are not enough to protect them, her family begins her training immediately before she is targeted once more. The Legions will not quit until they get what they want, and they have made it clear that mortals will not be spared, leaving Ana little time to figure out what it is the demons are after.

As Ana balances her time between chasing after her destiny and spending her time relearning how to fight demons, she learns something about her past that could change why she’s fighting for anything at all. Clues continue to unfold in the form of yellowed letters she finds from Athen buried within an old Tudor home; and her future is signaled in a lone, white rose left for only her to see giving her the strength to persevere. She is determined to not give up faith that she will have it all once more.

Review

I read and reviewed the first book in this trilogy, called Awakening, which was an interesting book with a pretty big romantic story line. The first book ended with a huge cliff hanger, so if you haven't read the first book and you don't want to be spoiled then you should wait to read this review until you read the first book. 

I enjoyed the idea of someone searching to find his soul mate and doing whatever it took to find that person, I mean what girl wouldn't want that to happen to her? So when the cliff hanger happened in the first book, I really wanted to see what was going to happen next. Now that I am done alluding to the cliff hanger, I'll just tell you what it is, Ana's (the main character in the book) soul mate Athen, who had been searching for Ana in the first book ends up in the same position that Ana was in, reborn and having no idea who he really is. 

While I understood why Ana would have a huge reaction to losing her mate so soon after being reunited with him, I don't think it should have gone on as long as it did. I felt like Ana did more wallowing instead of acting, which for me made the plot kind of stall out a little bit. However Ana does have one thing really working in her corner more than anything else, she has visions. She had these visions in the first book, so it makes sense that the more time that past the more her visions would come into play. 

I did appreciate the backstory given in this book as opposed to the first. I have to say that in the first book it was so much more emotion driven, especially on the part of Ana. And since you were primarily thinking about her and her situation, you really only got the basics about the world that she lived in, or rather had lived in prior to remembering who she really was. So with this book, while Ana is on a similar journey, she has already remembered who she was, therefore you get way more back story on the people involved and the issues they face. 

Overall I think this is a good sequel to the first book, although it did have a few problem. There was the initial issue with Ana's reaction, but there were also some issues with the editing of the book. If you are one of those people who pick up on every little mistake in a book, then it might get a bit old for you. But overall I thought the plot was pretty good, and it was in line with the first book, so if you enjoyed the first book you will most likely enjoy this book as well. And if you like stories about angels you might want to check out this series as well. 

A Note: The newest version of this book does not have the same editorial mistakes.

Awakening by Karice Bolton

So unfortunately I haven't been able to read nearly as much as a like, so for that reason alone I was excited to get back to reading with this book. And what's more is I always like a tale about fallen angels, there are so many different takes on the concept it's so much fun to try and figure out how the author envisions their characters.

The basic plot of this book centers mainly around Ana and Athen. Ana is a white demon (child of a fallen angel) and she has been separated from her family and has no memory of them. This book is primarily her journey of reawakening and regaining the person she was before she lost her memory. This is a rather slow process because she is not just getting memories back but also getting her special abilities back as well. Athen is the love of her life from before and he is essential in not only awakening her but also in protecting her.

Much of this process is frustrating for Ana, mostly because she doesn't always understand what is going on with her. I often time felt her frustration as well as the story progress. Her family, Arie, Cyril, and Athen sometimes do a truly terrible job at giving her information. In their defense they do seem to be withholding information from her out of concern, but it often leads to confusion, fear, and unpreparedness for Ana.

One of the main issues I had with this book was that I felt it moved to quickly. I really enjoyed the concept of losing a family member and then finding them and bringing them back into the fold, but the execution of the concept gave me some pause. The beginning of the book moved at the perfect pace. I felt connected to Ana and what she was feeling. And then somewhere along the middle events started happening at a much quicker rate, and were lacking in the detail compared to the beginning of the book, ultimately I stopped identifying with Ana as much, as well as sometimes feeling like I didn't have enough information to really understand the plot as it was developing.

That being said the general plot is solid. Like I said I liked the idea of the family and the awakening, and as the book progresses you find out there is something larger at work. It was enjoyable to follow along with trying to unravel the greater evil, as well as figure out how the white demons were going to fight against it.

The characters I did enjoy though for the most part. Ana's emotions all make sense and feel very organic to her as a character, and early on in the book it was very easy to identify with her. Arie is a fun loving character, and you can tell in the scenes with her in her element, that if you were around her in real life it would be hard to be anything but happy. Cyril provides a great balance to Arie, as well as being a rather funny guy himself, there were times in the book I needed a good giggle and Cyril was always the one to provide it. Athen is a good character as well, although out of everyone I felt he was the most annoying. All of his actions are done specifically to try and protect the woman he loves, but often I felt like his over protectiveness was stifling and his complete aversion to being intimate with Ana felt out of place and inorganic for the two characters. That being said he is still a solid character and a good guy.

The book definitely leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next to this family (talk about a cliff hanger), and so while there were elements I didn't always like in the book, the good elements way outweighed those so I am going to give it a "Good" rating. I think this book is a good book for urban fantasy readers, and while it is a love story there is little actual romance, so if you are looking for hot and heavy this might not be the book. Overall solid book.

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