For a book from a small press (Cedar Fort), I was quite impressed with Rachel McClellan's Paranormal book, Fractured Soul. This is a sequel, and while I haven't read the first book, McClellan does a terrific job building the second--she gives enough information so readers aren't lost, but not so much that it's overkill.Llona is a new student at Lucent academy, where she's to be trained (under her aunt's guidance) as an Aura, one of a select group of women with unusual powers to manipulate light. However, Llona is increasingly frustrated by her fellow students and by the academy's tendency to "safeguard" the Auras by essentially hobbling their ability to perform anything but defensive magic. Llona fights her frustration by escaping from the academy into the surrounding forest, where she stumbles into evil beings who are drawn to the Auras at the academy, and, worse, begins to uncover a plot that may involve the academy itself.
The writing was clean (both in terms of content and in terms of clarity) and the plot moved quickly. In fact, it builds to a pretty surprising climax that will have readers wanting more. The characters were interesting, though I sometimes found myself frustrated with Llona for taking unnecessary risks (though I will say, it seems in character for her).
No comments:
Post a Comment