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A review by jinny89
Life Eternal by Yvonne Woon
3.0
3.5 stars.
Life Eternal is the second book in the Undead paranormal romance series, Dead Beautiful (the first book goes by the series title), which I received from NetGalley. It kind of goes without being said that there are going to be Dead Beautiful spoilers in this review of Life Eternal (no Life Eternal spoilers though). As a recap of what I thought of book one, I thought it was very similar to Twilight in the general plotline, however, it was still a rather interesting read and I liked it. Because of how Dead Beautiful ended, I was extremely curious as to how everything would pan out in the sequel.
Last we left off in the romance between Renee and Dante, Renee had given up her soul to Dante, who gave it back to Renee. Thus, Renee had technically died at one point, and now Dante is on the run because everyone thinks he played a part in the murder of the Gottfried Academy headmistress. In Life Eternal, Gottfried has shut down because everyone thinks the school curse has come back, so Renee’s grandfather ships her off to Montreal, Quebec, to study at a Monitor training school.
At her new school, Renee finds herself the subject of a rumor — because she died last year, but “magically” came back to life (she never told anyone she gave her soul to Dante but he gave it back), everyone thinks she’s gained some sort of immortality. Somehow, this has enhanced her abilities as a Monitor and she finds herself ranked top of the class, which causes some jealous classmates to start bullying her. But Renee has bigger worries — her boyfriend Dante, is still hiding from those who think he killed someone, and his time as an Undead is running out. When Renee hears about the legend of the Nine Sisters, Monitors who may or may not have discovered the secret to Immortality, Renee decides to seek the truth to see if she can possibly buy Dante more time.
I found this to be a very solid sequel to Dead Beautiful. The beginning was a bit disappointing because it was kind of a repeat of the first book — Renee goes to a new school and has to learn to adapt all over again, she learns secrets about the Undead and Monitoring like before, she needs to hide her relationship with Dante — but it was also different enough that I was interested and want to know what happens.
The beginning was a tad flat because Renee spends a considerable amount of time being mopey and, of course, pining for Dante. I think it was when the story begins to unfold in a mystery novel-like manner that the book really got my attention. Like the first book, it’s not a super complicated mystery (Renee receives all her clues via “visions”, which was a bit lame) but I loved finding out more about the Undead world and the Monitor culture. I admit, sometimes I found the story kind of bizarre. I mean, we’re talking zombies here. Why even bother trying to get along with the Undead when most have this instinct to suck your soul out? Plus, despite the explanation provided which I didn’t really buy, I think if there were really Undead things walking around, everyone ought to know for their own safety. That’s just me though. If you suspend your reality high enough, the book is actually quite enjoyable, and if anything, Woon has quite the imagination.
I am mostly indifferent to Renee — she’s the narrator to me, nothing more — but one thing that happened in the book that truly had me admiring her was when she thought that Dante might be a real danger to her. Like, maybe he could kill her. I was SO glad that she didn’t go the desperate/crazy-person route and thought, “Well, it’s Dante! He can’t possibly hurt me!” Instead, she thought like a rational person and thought, “Oh god, I need to get away from this guy.” When you’ve read a LOT of YA with obsessive girls ready to lay themselves down like doormats for Their Man, it’s extremely refreshing to have a female lead who has the brains to realize she might actually be in danger and need to get away from the situation. It wasn’t enough for Renee just to have Dante say, “I’ll never hurt you.” You know what she did? She didn’t believe him. (Well, until she could prove he wasn’t dangerous). Honestly, I was really impressed with that aspect of Renee. Props to the author for writing a character that knows how to think for herself.
I am not a fan of the ending though. It was extremely abrupt. The story was just getting exciting, and then in MID-SCENE, the story ends. How can you end a book in mid-scene?! That’s not even a proper cliff-hanger! And it was the most exciting part of the book too … I mean, I was really getting into it and then it just ends! I’m not disappointed with the direction it was heading in, just the timing of the ending. I really don’t think that ending can be considered a proper ending at all. Mid-scene! Really!
Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait till book three now to find out the other half of that scene.
(This review originally posted at http://skyink.net).
Life Eternal is the second book in the Undead paranormal romance series, Dead Beautiful (the first book goes by the series title), which I received from NetGalley. It kind of goes without being said that there are going to be Dead Beautiful spoilers in this review of Life Eternal (no Life Eternal spoilers though). As a recap of what I thought of book one, I thought it was very similar to Twilight in the general plotline, however, it was still a rather interesting read and I liked it. Because of how Dead Beautiful ended, I was extremely curious as to how everything would pan out in the sequel.
Last we left off in the romance between Renee and Dante, Renee had given up her soul to Dante, who gave it back to Renee. Thus, Renee had technically died at one point, and now Dante is on the run because everyone thinks he played a part in the murder of the Gottfried Academy headmistress. In Life Eternal, Gottfried has shut down because everyone thinks the school curse has come back, so Renee’s grandfather ships her off to Montreal, Quebec, to study at a Monitor training school.
At her new school, Renee finds herself the subject of a rumor — because she died last year, but “magically” came back to life (she never told anyone she gave her soul to Dante but he gave it back), everyone thinks she’s gained some sort of immortality. Somehow, this has enhanced her abilities as a Monitor and she finds herself ranked top of the class, which causes some jealous classmates to start bullying her. But Renee has bigger worries — her boyfriend Dante, is still hiding from those who think he killed someone, and his time as an Undead is running out. When Renee hears about the legend of the Nine Sisters, Monitors who may or may not have discovered the secret to Immortality, Renee decides to seek the truth to see if she can possibly buy Dante more time.
I found this to be a very solid sequel to Dead Beautiful. The beginning was a bit disappointing because it was kind of a repeat of the first book — Renee goes to a new school and has to learn to adapt all over again, she learns secrets about the Undead and Monitoring like before, she needs to hide her relationship with Dante — but it was also different enough that I was interested and want to know what happens.
The beginning was a tad flat because Renee spends a considerable amount of time being mopey and, of course, pining for Dante. I think it was when the story begins to unfold in a mystery novel-like manner that the book really got my attention. Like the first book, it’s not a super complicated mystery (Renee receives all her clues via “visions”, which was a bit lame) but I loved finding out more about the Undead world and the Monitor culture. I admit, sometimes I found the story kind of bizarre. I mean, we’re talking zombies here. Why even bother trying to get along with the Undead when most have this instinct to suck your soul out? Plus, despite the explanation provided which I didn’t really buy, I think if there were really Undead things walking around, everyone ought to know for their own safety. That’s just me though. If you suspend your reality high enough, the book is actually quite enjoyable, and if anything, Woon has quite the imagination.
I am mostly indifferent to Renee — she’s the narrator to me, nothing more — but one thing that happened in the book that truly had me admiring her was when she thought that Dante might be a real danger to her. Like, maybe he could kill her. I was SO glad that she didn’t go the desperate/crazy-person route and thought, “Well, it’s Dante! He can’t possibly hurt me!” Instead, she thought like a rational person and thought, “Oh god, I need to get away from this guy.” When you’ve read a LOT of YA with obsessive girls ready to lay themselves down like doormats for Their Man, it’s extremely refreshing to have a female lead who has the brains to realize she might actually be in danger and need to get away from the situation. It wasn’t enough for Renee just to have Dante say, “I’ll never hurt you.” You know what she did? She didn’t believe him. (Well, until she could prove he wasn’t dangerous). Honestly, I was really impressed with that aspect of Renee. Props to the author for writing a character that knows how to think for herself.
I am not a fan of the ending though. It was extremely abrupt. The story was just getting exciting, and then in MID-SCENE, the story ends. How can you end a book in mid-scene?! That’s not even a proper cliff-hanger! And it was the most exciting part of the book too … I mean, I was really getting into it and then it just ends! I’m not disappointed with the direction it was heading in, just the timing of the ending. I really don’t think that ending can be considered a proper ending at all. Mid-scene! Really!
Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait till book three now to find out the other half of that scene.
(This review originally posted at http://skyink.net).