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smashattackash's review against another edition
See the full review at Smash Attack Reads! http://www.smashattackreads.com/2011/08/blog-tour-marked-son-by-shea-berkley.html
The story opens up as Dylan and his mother make a road trip to his grandmother’s house, who does not even know of Dylan’s existence. It seems as though mom hasn’t spoken to her parents since his birth. We soon learn that Dylan’s mother is not of strong-will when she abandons him. Dylan is used to his mother’s issues, however. She falls in love at the drop of a hat and when the relationship falls apart, she picks up her life and her son and moves them elsewhere. Yet, this is the first time she’s left him behind. To say Dylan’s life has been tough is an understatement.
Dylan gets to know his grandparents, who are my favorite people in the story. While in their care, a reoccurring dream is slowly becoming reality. He’s been dreaming about the same girl his entire life, and while the two never speak to one another, their draw is undeniable. Dylan can’t believe his eyes as he peers out into the forest overlooking his grandparent’s property and catches a glimpse of her! Needless to say, the hunt is on as he searches through the leafy wonderland in search of this elusive lady. And that, my friends, is when the story gets to gettin!
I enjoyed the author’s take on fae lore. While she never actually refers to anything in her book as fae – her creations are called firsts - she does mention the sidhe, and there is an aversion to cold iron. The magical beasties are pretty cool. The author created some naughty creatures! Millispits, which remind me of TrackerJackers from The Hunger Games, are deadly oversized bugs that hunt in packs. Creepy!
"Millispits. Tiny, winged amphibian-type creatures with sharp, serrated fingers, no mouths, and large, glowing eyes. Imperfectly created from magic to do two things: kill anything that moves with their serrated fingers and long, venom-filled tail, then die."
And the pux are a bunch of mischievous, dangerous Tinkerbell-sized creatures. They sneakily sprinkle their dust over you head and send you off to count sheep so they can do all kinds of not-so-fun things to you! And lastly, the villain in this book is foul, and I would gladly strangle him for Dylan. :)
The characters throughout the book are very likeable. I loved the grandparents, as well as Dylan’s meathead friend, Jason. Kera, the elusive lady, is very admirable. And Dylan, who doesn’t think things through before acting from his heart, is a very realistic teenager who you can’t help but want to hug. I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the 2nd half. However, the 2nd half is definitely the one that is full of danger and action. I am not sure I enjoyed how the book ended, but I definitely look forward to finding out more about Dylan’s past and future.
Shea Berkley visited Smash Attack Reads! to talk about Fantasy: http://www.smashattackreads.com/2011/08/guest-blog-author-shea-berkley.html
The story opens up as Dylan and his mother make a road trip to his grandmother’s house, who does not even know of Dylan’s existence. It seems as though mom hasn’t spoken to her parents since his birth. We soon learn that Dylan’s mother is not of strong-will when she abandons him. Dylan is used to his mother’s issues, however. She falls in love at the drop of a hat and when the relationship falls apart, she picks up her life and her son and moves them elsewhere. Yet, this is the first time she’s left him behind. To say Dylan’s life has been tough is an understatement.
Dylan gets to know his grandparents, who are my favorite people in the story. While in their care, a reoccurring dream is slowly becoming reality. He’s been dreaming about the same girl his entire life, and while the two never speak to one another, their draw is undeniable. Dylan can’t believe his eyes as he peers out into the forest overlooking his grandparent’s property and catches a glimpse of her! Needless to say, the hunt is on as he searches through the leafy wonderland in search of this elusive lady. And that, my friends, is when the story gets to gettin!
I enjoyed the author’s take on fae lore. While she never actually refers to anything in her book as fae – her creations are called firsts - she does mention the sidhe, and there is an aversion to cold iron. The magical beasties are pretty cool. The author created some naughty creatures! Millispits, which remind me of TrackerJackers from The Hunger Games, are deadly oversized bugs that hunt in packs. Creepy!
"Millispits. Tiny, winged amphibian-type creatures with sharp, serrated fingers, no mouths, and large, glowing eyes. Imperfectly created from magic to do two things: kill anything that moves with their serrated fingers and long, venom-filled tail, then die."
And the pux are a bunch of mischievous, dangerous Tinkerbell-sized creatures. They sneakily sprinkle their dust over you head and send you off to count sheep so they can do all kinds of not-so-fun things to you! And lastly, the villain in this book is foul, and I would gladly strangle him for Dylan. :)
The characters throughout the book are very likeable. I loved the grandparents, as well as Dylan’s meathead friend, Jason. Kera, the elusive lady, is very admirable. And Dylan, who doesn’t think things through before acting from his heart, is a very realistic teenager who you can’t help but want to hug. I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the 2nd half. However, the 2nd half is definitely the one that is full of danger and action. I am not sure I enjoyed how the book ended, but I definitely look forward to finding out more about Dylan’s past and future.
Shea Berkley visited Smash Attack Reads! to talk about Fantasy: http://www.smashattackreads.com/2011/08/guest-blog-author-shea-berkley.html
moniquemct's review against another edition
4.0
I received a copy of this book for free through NetGalley
Seventeen-year-old Dylan Kennedy always knew something was different about him, but until his mother abandoned him in the middle of Oregon with grandparents he's never met, he had no idea what.
3.5 stars
Sometimes you read a book that has a great premise but the story doesn't pan out - this is not one of those books! I read this on a 9 hour plane ride back from Hawaii and it kept me entertained throughout. Dylan is such a fantastic character and you couldn't help but feel your heartbreak for him when his mother leaves. Dylan and a mismatch of supporting characters take you on this great journey in an environment that I felt was very unique to this genre.
The Marked Son has something for everyone - love, action, creepy vibes, adventure, heartbreak - it's all there. I will definitely be continuing on with the series.
Seventeen-year-old Dylan Kennedy always knew something was different about him, but until his mother abandoned him in the middle of Oregon with grandparents he's never met, he had no idea what.
3.5 stars
Sometimes you read a book that has a great premise but the story doesn't pan out - this is not one of those books! I read this on a 9 hour plane ride back from Hawaii and it kept me entertained throughout. Dylan is such a fantastic character and you couldn't help but feel your heartbreak for him when his mother leaves. Dylan and a mismatch of supporting characters take you on this great journey in an environment that I felt was very unique to this genre.
The Marked Son has something for everyone - love, action, creepy vibes, adventure, heartbreak - it's all there. I will definitely be continuing on with the series.
febrianikmadusari's review against another edition
3.0
Ceritanya lumayan sih, seru juga, sayang gk dilanjutkan penerbitan terjemahannya.
the_cover_contessa's review against another edition
4.0
I want to thank Entangled Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book to read and give an honest review. I will be participating in the blog tour for the second book and have also read that one, so I needed this one first! Receiving this book for free has in no way influenced my opinion or review.
Blurb from Goodreads:
Seventeen-year-old Dylan Kennedy always knew something was different about him, but until his mother abandoned him in the middle of Oregon with grandparents he’s never met, he had no idea what.
When Dylan sees a girl in white in the woods behind his grandparents’ farm, he knows he’s seen her before... in his dreams. He’s felt her fear. Heard her insistence that only he can save her world from an evil lord who uses magic and fear to feed his greed for power.
Unable to shake the unearthly pull to Kera, Dylan takes her hand. Either he’s completely insane or he’s about to have the adventure of his life, because where they’re going is full of creatures he’s only read about in horror stories. Worse, the human blood in his veins has Dylan marked for death...
So, when I first read the blurb for this book (many moons ago), I was very intrigued. But I kind of forgot about it. Then the email from Entangled came asking if I wanted to be part of the blog tour for the second book. Well, this one jumped right back out at me, I mean look at that cover, and I wanted it ASAP. And I'm so glad I dove right in, because I could not put this one down!
Let's start with Dylan. When the book first started, I was a little skeptical. It didn't really grab my attention right away. But I knew the premise and really wanted to see what it was about. And then I got past the first two chapters and POW I was sucked right in. Dylan is totally awesome. He's snarky and funny. He's good looking and makes me want to just reach through the page and grab him! I loved how Berkley described him throughout the book. He comes off as a bit insecure at first, but then you start to understand that he has spent his life moving around and not being able to really connect with anyone. He's only connected with the girl in his dreams, and she's a dream after all, right? And he completely determined and passionate about everything he does, despite his unusual upbringing.
Kera, well, she is just awesome. I loved her and everything about her. She's smart and curious and knows exactly what she wants. And she's not afraid to go after it. I love how she tries her hardest to protect Dylan. Everything she does is to preserve him, even if it means she gets hurt in the process.
And Dylan's friends, OMGosh, they are the perfect compliment to Dylan. Considering he has never had any friends, these guys kind of latch on to him and never question who he is or what he needs to do. As a matter of fact, they accept him for what he is, without worrying about all the "strangeness" that goes on while they are with him. There were so many great characters in this book, I can't name them all or tell you about each one of them. You have to pick up this book and get to know them for yourself!
The plot line of this book is great. At first, you really don't know that it's going to be a fantasy, and then BOOM, you are sucked into a world you didn't even know existed. And you are sucked into the magic and creatures who are totally beyond anything you would ever know or understand. And it's fast past and has you turning every single page wondering what will happen next. This is the third fae series that I have read and I have to say that it is by far my favorite so far.
One of my favorite things about this book is Shea's use of humor. Just when you think it will only be action and drama, the characters get snarky with each other. I just loved it. It broke the seriousness of the book in such a great way. Just when I thought my heart would jump from my chest, I started laughing. I just loved it.
Shea's writing flows well and really helps describe the world so well. I love the characters and the different creatures that are introduced and explained. Shea creates a realistic world. Shea pulls you through her book without stopping.
I did have two small issues with this book. The first was how readily Dylan's friends and family accept the fae world and it's creatures/inhabitants. They didn't even question it but just said it was cool and moved on. I found this to be a bit unrealistic. I almost felt there needed to be some kind of conflict between Dylan and his new friends to make it seem like they questioned the motives just a bit. My second is that Kera's portions of the book are told in third person. I kind of found this odd since Dylan's was first person. I would have liked to see things from her perspective instead of outside her perspective.
All in all this was a really enjoyable book. Actually, I was not expecting to like it quite as much as I did. But I did and I was totally anxious to move on to the second book and see what happens to the characters. One thing I'm glad for, Berkley didn't leave us with a complete cliffhanger at the end!
Blurb from Goodreads:
Seventeen-year-old Dylan Kennedy always knew something was different about him, but until his mother abandoned him in the middle of Oregon with grandparents he’s never met, he had no idea what.
When Dylan sees a girl in white in the woods behind his grandparents’ farm, he knows he’s seen her before... in his dreams. He’s felt her fear. Heard her insistence that only he can save her world from an evil lord who uses magic and fear to feed his greed for power.
Unable to shake the unearthly pull to Kera, Dylan takes her hand. Either he’s completely insane or he’s about to have the adventure of his life, because where they’re going is full of creatures he’s only read about in horror stories. Worse, the human blood in his veins has Dylan marked for death...
So, when I first read the blurb for this book (many moons ago), I was very intrigued. But I kind of forgot about it. Then the email from Entangled came asking if I wanted to be part of the blog tour for the second book. Well, this one jumped right back out at me, I mean look at that cover, and I wanted it ASAP. And I'm so glad I dove right in, because I could not put this one down!
Let's start with Dylan. When the book first started, I was a little skeptical. It didn't really grab my attention right away. But I knew the premise and really wanted to see what it was about. And then I got past the first two chapters and POW I was sucked right in. Dylan is totally awesome. He's snarky and funny. He's good looking and makes me want to just reach through the page and grab him! I loved how Berkley described him throughout the book. He comes off as a bit insecure at first, but then you start to understand that he has spent his life moving around and not being able to really connect with anyone. He's only connected with the girl in his dreams, and she's a dream after all, right? And he completely determined and passionate about everything he does, despite his unusual upbringing.
Kera, well, she is just awesome. I loved her and everything about her. She's smart and curious and knows exactly what she wants. And she's not afraid to go after it. I love how she tries her hardest to protect Dylan. Everything she does is to preserve him, even if it means she gets hurt in the process.
And Dylan's friends, OMGosh, they are the perfect compliment to Dylan. Considering he has never had any friends, these guys kind of latch on to him and never question who he is or what he needs to do. As a matter of fact, they accept him for what he is, without worrying about all the "strangeness" that goes on while they are with him. There were so many great characters in this book, I can't name them all or tell you about each one of them. You have to pick up this book and get to know them for yourself!
The plot line of this book is great. At first, you really don't know that it's going to be a fantasy, and then BOOM, you are sucked into a world you didn't even know existed. And you are sucked into the magic and creatures who are totally beyond anything you would ever know or understand. And it's fast past and has you turning every single page wondering what will happen next. This is the third fae series that I have read and I have to say that it is by far my favorite so far.
One of my favorite things about this book is Shea's use of humor. Just when you think it will only be action and drama, the characters get snarky with each other. I just loved it. It broke the seriousness of the book in such a great way. Just when I thought my heart would jump from my chest, I started laughing. I just loved it.
Shea's writing flows well and really helps describe the world so well. I love the characters and the different creatures that are introduced and explained. Shea creates a realistic world. Shea pulls you through her book without stopping.
I did have two small issues with this book. The first was how readily Dylan's friends and family accept the fae world and it's creatures/inhabitants. They didn't even question it but just said it was cool and moved on. I found this to be a bit unrealistic. I almost felt there needed to be some kind of conflict between Dylan and his new friends to make it seem like they questioned the motives just a bit. My second is that Kera's portions of the book are told in third person. I kind of found this odd since Dylan's was first person. I would have liked to see things from her perspective instead of outside her perspective.
All in all this was a really enjoyable book. Actually, I was not expecting to like it quite as much as I did. But I did and I was totally anxious to move on to the second book and see what happens to the characters. One thing I'm glad for, Berkley didn't leave us with a complete cliffhanger at the end!
lpcoolgirl's review against another edition
5.0
Great book, great characters, great world, really enjoyed it, now must read more!
novelgoddess's review against another edition
4.0
Poor Dylan…he has a total flake for a Mom and she has just ditched him with Grandparents he didn’t know existed until he and his Mom pulled up to their farm this morning. Nothing left to do but to try and make the best of a bad situation.
Dylan starts out helping his grandfather on the sheep farm but strange things start to happen, including seeing a ghost. A ghost that has haunted his dreams for as long as he can remember. Only it turns out she’s not a ghost…she is a “first” named Kera, and she has managed to cross over from her dimension into Dylan’s. But with Kera’s crossing, other creatures have managed to slip through wrecking havoc…a havoc that has it’s start in Teag, and shows no signs of stopping.
“Marked Son” was an adventure. Right away you have such strong sympathy for the life Dylan has lived with his Mom. Dylan is jaded, he’s always felt unloved and uncared for…I wanted to bundle him up and show him how life should be for a kid. But, thankfully his Grandmother, does it for me. I loved how Shea depicted his grandparents…Grandma immediately loving and sympathetic, Grandpa a bit rough and inadvertently taking his frustrations with his daughter out on his grandson.
The world of Teag, at first, seemed to share a lot of similarities with the world of Faerie, but those similarities turned out to be very superficial. Shea has created a new world with some of the same discriminations and prejudices that humans face every day…with a bit of magic thrown in to make it exciting. This was a very relatable story for everyone to enjoy.
In poking around on Goodreads I did find a comment the author made that indicated that there would be a second book. The “Marked Son” was a complete story on it’s own, but I am excited to see that the author will be continuing the story. There was definitely more area for her to expound on. Here is hoping I can be patient while waiting to see what happens next.
Dylan starts out helping his grandfather on the sheep farm but strange things start to happen, including seeing a ghost. A ghost that has haunted his dreams for as long as he can remember. Only it turns out she’s not a ghost…she is a “first” named Kera, and she has managed to cross over from her dimension into Dylan’s. But with Kera’s crossing, other creatures have managed to slip through wrecking havoc…a havoc that has it’s start in Teag, and shows no signs of stopping.
“Marked Son” was an adventure. Right away you have such strong sympathy for the life Dylan has lived with his Mom. Dylan is jaded, he’s always felt unloved and uncared for…I wanted to bundle him up and show him how life should be for a kid. But, thankfully his Grandmother, does it for me. I loved how Shea depicted his grandparents…Grandma immediately loving and sympathetic, Grandpa a bit rough and inadvertently taking his frustrations with his daughter out on his grandson.
The world of Teag, at first, seemed to share a lot of similarities with the world of Faerie, but those similarities turned out to be very superficial. Shea has created a new world with some of the same discriminations and prejudices that humans face every day…with a bit of magic thrown in to make it exciting. This was a very relatable story for everyone to enjoy.
In poking around on Goodreads I did find a comment the author made that indicated that there would be a second book. The “Marked Son” was a complete story on it’s own, but I am excited to see that the author will be continuing the story. There was definitely more area for her to expound on. Here is hoping I can be patient while waiting to see what happens next.
lindagreen's review against another edition
3.0
Let me start off by saying that I had a lot of issues when I started this book. I almost put it down several times because, truthfully, the beginning annoyed me on every page.
Meadow? Check.
Pacific northwest? Check
Fantasy dream girl? Check.
Flighty mom? Check.
Angtsy teen boy that’s rude and disrespectful to everyone? Check.
Changing pov’s with a dated descriptions that don’t match the modern dialogue? Check.
I did not want to continue. It was like the melding of two really bad books all in one (“those” vampire books and “those” fairy books) and the main character was such an ass it almost made it impossible to keep reading. But I did.
And I’m sort of glad I did. The book began to redeem itself about midway through as action and suspense picked up. The characterization never did improve but as the book wore on I got used to them and was willing to forego my gut reaction to follow along. They became bearable because I was enjoying the story itself. I think had the author tweaked these characters more instead of making them so mary/gary sue-ish this could be an extremely good book. The plot is strong, the character backgrounds are okay, the descriptions were interesting if not detailed (good for reluctant readers) and with just minor tweaks I think the book good be much more solid and well received by a wider audience.
ARC Galley Proof
Meadow? Check.
Pacific northwest? Check
Fantasy dream girl? Check.
Flighty mom? Check.
Angtsy teen boy that’s rude and disrespectful to everyone? Check.
Changing pov’s with a dated descriptions that don’t match the modern dialogue? Check.
I did not want to continue. It was like the melding of two really bad books all in one (“those” vampire books and “those” fairy books) and the main character was such an ass it almost made it impossible to keep reading. But I did.
And I’m sort of glad I did. The book began to redeem itself about midway through as action and suspense picked up. The characterization never did improve but as the book wore on I got used to them and was willing to forego my gut reaction to follow along. They became bearable because I was enjoying the story itself. I think had the author tweaked these characters more instead of making them so mary/gary sue-ish this could be an extremely good book. The plot is strong, the character backgrounds are okay, the descriptions were interesting if not detailed (good for reluctant readers) and with just minor tweaks I think the book good be much more solid and well received by a wider audience.
ARC Galley Proof
rogiercaprino's review
4.0
My thoughts:
Cover: I absolutely like this cover.WATS NOT THE LIKE A BOUTH IT? A couple of YA Fiction covers are hideous , or the cover is the best thing about that book, meaning it sucked. Not this one the cover added to the book, you could see Dylan ,that the way I imagined him. The cover draws you in because it is a picture of a guy with piercing violet blue eyes staring into your soul. When I first saw the cover I was happy that it was on netgalley and I requested it. I got approved. So here I go
Book:
Ok it took a longer time reading it than expected. Normally it takes two –four days to read a book. Been busy with school stuff.
the very beginning really interested me in reading the whole book. When he is dumped by his deadbeat mom, at his grandparents after an absence of 17 years, the story really begins. This is after the prologue . At the ranch or farm things start to happen !! He sees his “ ghost ’’,Kera who appeared in dreams his whole life. Some less vivid than others. And he discovers she is from a other dimension, Taeg. A place still in the middle ages, looks like earth but different
I got to say the creapy creatures are cool, really cool. I encountered more than three species in the book . The poisonous Milispit(slimy half lizard creatures with broken looking wings) and the vindictive Pux( small fairy beings that have razor like parts of their body)
I liked Dylan from the very start, he is brave, he caring, just all round nice guy with a troubled past, the person he knew the longest in his life dumped him, his mom. Later on you find out why she is like she is. But I had no caring feelings for her, more mad and pissed
Kera , I did not like her that very much in the beginning. Boy I was wrong love her now, she has spunk, she comes up for what she believes in, helpful. They meet in the 2/3 of the story . Her chapters are in 3th person narrative , and Dylan’s chapters were in 1st person. I had to adjust at first that the reason I did not like Kera at first. I was happy their romance was not insta-love. Actually they met before and became friends in their dreams, a bit creepy but cool. And it was not vomiting like I did when I read the romance development, ps hate twilight I puked mentally
The secondary characters really added to the story, grandma and pa, Jason and Theo who became friends of Dylan . The dialog between them was very funny
I never thought I could get emotionally attached. I yelled, that can’t happened to them.
My favorite quote on the last page 286, received a netgalley arc
I sigh and my dream fades,replaced by the light of love shining from kera's eyes.
my dream girl is real
I don't have to be alone anymore
That 3 sentences made me longing for book 2. And a coupple questions were answered at the end and a coupple questions came into excistence in the end.
Cover: I absolutely like this cover.WATS NOT THE LIKE A BOUTH IT? A couple of YA Fiction covers are hideous , or the cover is the best thing about that book, meaning it sucked. Not this one the cover added to the book, you could see Dylan ,that the way I imagined him. The cover draws you in because it is a picture of a guy with piercing violet blue eyes staring into your soul. When I first saw the cover I was happy that it was on netgalley and I requested it. I got approved. So here I go
Book:
Ok it took a longer time reading it than expected. Normally it takes two –four days to read a book. Been busy with school stuff.
the very beginning really interested me in reading the whole book. When he is dumped by his deadbeat mom, at his grandparents after an absence of 17 years, the story really begins. This is after the prologue . At the ranch or farm things start to happen !! He sees his “ ghost ’’,Kera who appeared in dreams his whole life. Some less vivid than others. And he discovers she is from a other dimension, Taeg. A place still in the middle ages, looks like earth but different
I got to say the creapy creatures are cool, really cool. I encountered more than three species in the book . The poisonous Milispit(slimy half lizard creatures with broken looking wings) and the vindictive Pux( small fairy beings that have razor like parts of their body)
I liked Dylan from the very start, he is brave, he caring, just all round nice guy with a troubled past, the person he knew the longest in his life dumped him, his mom. Later on you find out why she is like she is. But I had no caring feelings for her, more mad and pissed
Kera , I did not like her that very much in the beginning. Boy I was wrong love her now, she has spunk, she comes up for what she believes in, helpful. They meet in the 2/3 of the story . Her chapters are in 3th person narrative , and Dylan’s chapters were in 1st person. I had to adjust at first that the reason I did not like Kera at first. I was happy their romance was not insta-love. Actually they met before and became friends in their dreams, a bit creepy but cool. And it was not vomiting like I did when I read the romance development, ps hate twilight I puked mentally
The secondary characters really added to the story, grandma and pa, Jason and Theo who became friends of Dylan . The dialog between them was very funny
I never thought I could get emotionally attached. I yelled, that can’t happened to them.
My favorite quote on the last page 286, received a netgalley arc
I sigh and my dream fades,replaced by the light of love shining from kera's eyes.
my dream girl is real
I don't have to be alone anymore
That 3 sentences made me longing for book 2. And a coupple questions were answered at the end and a coupple questions came into excistence in the end.
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