Publisher: Bloomsbury
Publication Date: August 20th, 2013
Pages: 452
Song I Read While Reading: Addicted To A Memory by Zed
Rating: 3 stars
The year is 2059. Paige Mahoney is working in the criminal underworld of Scion London. Her job: to scout for information by breaking into people's minds. For Paige is a dream walker, a rare kind of clairvoyant- and under Scion law, she commits treason simply by breathing.
It is raining the day her life changes forever. Attacked, kidnapped, and drugged, Paige is transported to Oxford- a city kept secret for 200 years, governed by an otherworldly race called the Rephaim who seek to control the clairvoyants for their own purposes. Paige is assigned to the care of Warden, a powerful Rephaite. He is her captor. Her trainer. Her natural enemy. But if she wants to regain her freedom, she will have to get close to him, to learn something of his mind and his own mysterious motives.
If theres one thing Shannon excelled at with this novel, it was the use of her wicked imagination. I mean this had depth. It was a completely new world, with a fresh take on clairvoyants and the Rephaim. If she had only tweaked her writing, making this world even a little bit more easier to understand, then I think this would have been a fantastic debut. I still really enjoyed it, but at some points it felt like a chore. I, of course, didn't notice the glossary in the back and had written out my own set of notes. So for anyone who hasn't read this yet and plans on it, THERES A GLOSSARY IN THE BACK. It'll help immensely.
Even with the info-dumping, I was still hooked. I found all the characters to be very interesting, especially Warden, and I couldn't see where the direction of the story was going. It left me guessing. Paige, though a solid and easily relatable character, was still only a okay protagonist for me. I didn't love her, but I didn't hate her. She was kinda blah, but I know for other people she would be the perfect heroine; not overly badass, but not completely weak either. She had her strengths and weaknesses, and the latter really helped her character development and overall appeal to me. We get a smattering of side characters while at Oxford, and they were all equally strong and able to stand on their own. We only see Paige's criminal underworld comrades through some of her memories, but I actually really liked them. They were lively and all had a surprising depth.
Warden was definitely my favorite character. Though his intentions are still pretty muddled, even with some shocking realizations at the end of the novel, I really enjoyed his aloofness. He was quiet and controlled and calm. It was really interesting reading about their background and how they ran Oxford.
The plot was pretty slow, but I was concentrating so hard on understanding the world and how it ran that I didn't really notice. Plus I never expect a first book like this to be action packed, so my expectations weren't too high. Her writing wasn't overly impressive, and sometimes I wasn't able to picture any of the things she was describing. I don't know if it was the slang or if they were just things I had never heard of, but I ended up imaging my own little world instead. And sometimes we would be in the middle of a scene and for some reason the words just wouldn't make sense. Like I'd be reading and something would happen, and the way it was formed just.. didnt fit. I don't know, it's super hard to explain and could just be all in my head. But at those times I lost my groove and it took a while for me to get back into it.
Overall, this was solid start to the series. It's unlike anything I've ever read before, and theres so many different possibilities! The ending definitely was the best part of the book, and I have to give credit to Shannon; it was awesome. Theres so many odds stacked against these clairvoyants, and I cannot wait to see what the author choose to do with them. She's got a 7 book deal, so I'm in for the long haul!
Quotes
"He tapped his fingers on a mirror. "We might have another interesting season this year."
I tensed. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing. Just talking to myself. Best way to keep one's sanity after forty years.
"Knowledge is dangerous. Once you know something, you can't get rid of it. You have to carry it. Always."
""Yes, she does. But they are as much as her weakness as her strength." He took another sip of his drink. "The blood-sovereign suffers under the influence of her so-called angels."
"I'm sure the angels are sorry."
"They despise her."
"You don't say."
"I do." He was clearly amused by my disdain. "We have only been speaking for two minutes, Paige. Try not to waste all your sarcasm in one breath."
I wanted to kill him. As it happened, I couldn't."
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