Saturday 7 March 2015

Graced by Amanda Pillar (Momentum 2015)

Graced


An exciting and completely new take on a saturated genre. The 'graced' i.e. humans, with eye colour other than brown, have special paranormal abilities of which vampires are completely unaware and a secret the 'graced'  want to keep safe.  One vampire, Dante, is obsessed in finding out what these differences mean and why it is that only brown eyed humans can be turned into vampires successfully.   All of his previous experiments died very quickly but he has a feeling that Elle and her hazel eyes hold the key, she just has to survive the transformation.  Elle is a city guard and hates werewolves and vampires with a passion. However, she loves her special little sister and will do anything to keep her safe. This includes taking a job as personal assistant to Dante in order to spy on him and figure out why he has been killing blue and green eyed girls. Another complication ensues when she meets Clay, the were, and can't quite fight her growing attraction to him.

This is an exciting story with a good mix of paranormal and romance. The relationship between Dante and Anton was unexpected as I was anticipating the cliché love triangle between the were, human and vampire. But the author spun the story in a different direction. 


I confess that I was confused as to when and where this story was taking place. It could have been explained better.  The author alludes to a historical setting with the characters using carriages, carts and a reliance on coal but none of those things are described in detail.   We are given to believe that the world has come through an age of science and advancement which has all been lost due to the ravages of war. As a result, society has reverted to a class system similar to that of pre 20th century Britain, but without the social customs and restrictions associated with those times.   I didn't find the era convincing as there wasn't enough historical elements in it for it to ring true and it had no bearing on the story or plot.

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