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A review by the_cover_contessa
The Marked Son by Shea Berkley
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!