Take a photo of a barcode or cover
seraphjewel 's review for:
The Calling
by Rachelle Dekker
Re-read Oct 18, 2023, 4 stars
I honestly had no memory of reading this book. But just like with my re-read of the first, I guess I liked this one a lot more the second time around. My biggest gripes this time around are mainly Remko's stutter being mostly gone and the antagonist.
I know it's a really weird thing to find as a negative, but I liked Remko having a stutter. The fact that he seems to be speaking just fine now feels a little off to me. It does come back, but only when he's very stressed out. I don't know, I liked it better when it just happened regardless. The stutter was actually part of why he wasn't confident in leading, so the fact that it's gone just throws off his character for me. But the rest of his character was super fascinating to follow. I like that he went through a lot of hills and valleys before the end of the book. I was never really sure where his character arc was going, and that's a nice change of pace for me.
I'm not entirely sure how to feel about Damien. First of all, his name is a little too on-the-nose-- Damien is the name of the kid in The Omen. Second, he's actually just an underling to The Scientist, which is a little disappointing. However unhinged Isaac was, at least he was doing all those terrible things by himself. Damien's whole deal is a little odd, too. I guess it's possible but still strange that he doesn't believe in God when he grew up in a society that emphasizes God and religion so much. Even stranger that he could so quickly convince people that they need to eliminate "the human disease". How did people not pick up on how disturbing that is? Plus it's weird he would be doing this through a serum, since a serum/vaccine is what caused the Ruining and killed so many people in the first place. But I can't deny that it really was disturbing, and there is a certain level of sense in his plan. The way he manipulated and preyed on people was classic villain, and it was great.
I would still say that the allusion to how special Elise is makes me wary of the next book. The books have been excellent so far in showing how faith is true strength, and how one lets go of fear and surrenders. Stuff like that is by far the best thing about that series, because that's just about as opposite a mentality for dystopians as I can think of. But when you bring in a "super-special-snowflake" plot, it really loses the message you were trying to go for. I really hope that is not the direction the last book goes in. Not sure how I feel about Remko being suddenly cured of the Genesis serum, either. Again, the book was doing so well in showing that people who put their faith in God still suffer and become martyrs. I don't know, I think it would've worked better if he was still messed up and had to slowly heal or something.
Over all, though, I really enjoyed it. I blazed through this book in a few hours-- I did not want to stop reading! So I'll be going into the final book a little wary but hopeful.
Original review Sept 11, 2016, 3 stars
The first novel was overall good but went a little over-the-top with its antagonist. This second book was overall good as well. I feel like this one is very different, and that can either be a good or bad thing depending on what the reader likes in their books. There is a lot more introspective going on here; it's more a character study than anything plot-driven. There is some definite plot going on but that isn't the focus of this book. I personally didn't mind it because I love introspective and seeing how characters think. Others might not appreciate it as much.
Since this is a more character-centric book, I have to say that the characters were all done very well here. Every focused character went through some incredible growth over the course of the book. I had issues with the first book's antagonist because he was way too much. This book's antagonist was written better and was more interesting to follow. I also liked how Remko developed in the book, as well as some of the more minor characters like Neil. The only one that didn't make any sense to me was Jesse. I have a feeling that reveal was supposed to be out of nowhere, but since I didn't have much of a connection to his character I was just confused.
There are some issues with this book. The biggest one for me was the whole thing of Elise being so special and important... even though she's only four months old. The psuedo-science behind the injections kind of bothered me as well, but I'm willing to suspend my disbelief there. I guess it just disappointed me that a "special snowflake" plot was coming up. I'm honestly hoping it doesn't turn out to be that way, but I'll have to wait for the next book to be sure.
Overall this was a solid follow-up and I'll be interested in seeing how it all ends.
I honestly had no memory of reading this book. But just like with my re-read of the first, I guess I liked this one a lot more the second time around. My biggest gripes this time around are mainly Remko's stutter being mostly gone and the antagonist.
I know it's a really weird thing to find as a negative, but I liked Remko having a stutter. The fact that he seems to be speaking just fine now feels a little off to me. It does come back, but only when he's very stressed out. I don't know, I liked it better when it just happened regardless. The stutter was actually part of why he wasn't confident in leading, so the fact that it's gone just throws off his character for me. But the rest of his character was super fascinating to follow. I like that he went through a lot of hills and valleys before the end of the book. I was never really sure where his character arc was going, and that's a nice change of pace for me.
I'm not entirely sure how to feel about Damien. First of all, his name is a little too on-the-nose-- Damien is the name of the kid in The Omen. Second, he's actually just an underling to The Scientist, which is a little disappointing. However unhinged Isaac was, at least he was doing all those terrible things by himself. Damien's whole deal is a little odd, too. I guess it's possible but still strange that he doesn't believe in God when he grew up in a society that emphasizes God and religion so much. Even stranger that he could so quickly convince people that they need to eliminate "the human disease". How did people not pick up on how disturbing that is? Plus it's weird he would be doing this through a serum, since a serum/vaccine is what caused the Ruining and killed so many people in the first place. But I can't deny that it really was disturbing, and there is a certain level of sense in his plan. The way he manipulated and preyed on people was classic villain, and it was great.
I would still say that the allusion to how special Elise is makes me wary of the next book. The books have been excellent so far in showing how faith is true strength, and how one lets go of fear and surrenders. Stuff like that is by far the best thing about that series, because that's just about as opposite a mentality for dystopians as I can think of. But when you bring in a "super-special-snowflake" plot, it really loses the message you were trying to go for. I really hope that is not the direction the last book goes in. Not sure how I feel about Remko being suddenly cured of the Genesis serum, either. Again, the book was doing so well in showing that people who put their faith in God still suffer and become martyrs. I don't know, I think it would've worked better if he was still messed up and had to slowly heal or something.
Over all, though, I really enjoyed it. I blazed through this book in a few hours-- I did not want to stop reading! So I'll be going into the final book a little wary but hopeful.
Original review Sept 11, 2016, 3 stars
The first novel was overall good but went a little over-the-top with its antagonist. This second book was overall good as well. I feel like this one is very different, and that can either be a good or bad thing depending on what the reader likes in their books. There is a lot more introspective going on here; it's more a character study than anything plot-driven. There is some definite plot going on but that isn't the focus of this book. I personally didn't mind it because I love introspective and seeing how characters think. Others might not appreciate it as much.
Since this is a more character-centric book, I have to say that the characters were all done very well here. Every focused character went through some incredible growth over the course of the book. I had issues with the first book's antagonist because he was way too much. This book's antagonist was written better and was more interesting to follow. I also liked how Remko developed in the book, as well as some of the more minor characters like Neil. The only one that didn't make any sense to me was Jesse. I have a feeling that reveal was supposed to be out of nowhere, but since I didn't have much of a connection to his character I was just confused.
There are some issues with this book. The biggest one for me was the whole thing of Elise being so special and important... even though she's only four months old. The psuedo-science behind the injections kind of bothered me as well, but I'm willing to suspend my disbelief there. I guess it just disappointed me that a "special snowflake" plot was coming up. I'm honestly hoping it doesn't turn out to be that way, but I'll have to wait for the next book to be sure.
Overall this was a solid follow-up and I'll be interested in seeing how it all ends.