Published: January 31st, 2013
Lucifer (Sons of Old Trilogy #1)
By: Annabell Cadiz
Self Published
Have you ever wondered what could be hiding in the shadows?
Well, for eighteen-year-old Zahara Faraday, she doesn’t have to wonder. You see she comes from a lineage of Light Witches, those who have chosen to help protect and serve between the supernatural world and the human world. The only problem is Zahara, like her father Solomon, is as human as a human being can be whereas her mother, Mia, and her Aunt Catalina, were born as Light Witches. As a family they hunt down rogue supernaturals—creatures who harm humans or who have committed an act against their kingdom.
Zahara’s hunting skills are usually kept dormant since her parents would prefer she live life as a normal human girl without knowledge of the supernatural world. She plans on doing just that—except when she finds a couple being attacked by fairies, she has no choice but to step in. Before she can return to pretending to be blissfully ignorant, Zahara encounters a problem she isn’t the least equip to handle: Bryan Hamilton, the good looking new co-worker she has to help train. In a heartbeat, her best friend, Becca King, has set her up on a double date with herself and her new crush, Rekesh Saint-Louis, who happens to be the most powerful leader of the biggest Imago Coven in South Florida –supernatural creatures with the ability to control water . . . and suck out human souls.
Zahara has no time to focus on how she’s going to explain her double date with her best friend and the enemy they have a tentative truce with to her parents because soon one of the members of Mia and Catalina’s coven is found murdered with a strange tattoo of a snake with wings carved into his arm.
Zahara is then thrown into a whirlwind battle with an angel determined to have revenge against God, an Imago coven she doesn’t think they should trust, and slew of dream-eating fairies and powerful Nephilims, hybrid children of angels and humans, more than happy to rip her to shreds.
Normal just got a deadlier definition.
Review
The book opened up with almost immediate action, so I started out intrigued and wanted to know more. As I kept reading, I really did enjoy myself for the most part. Zahara is an interesting girl, with a smart mouth and some kick-ass loyalty to her friends and family. Even if that does lead to her jumping into dangerous situations without always thinking it through. Her friend Becca is loud, sassy and unafraid to say it straight (even if what she's saying might be somewhat embarrassing). But she also has a huge heart and jumps right in beside Zahara to fight against the supernatural creatures she has to stop from hurting ordinary people. It was truly nice to see a new adult novel that wasn't all sex and angst as well. Zahara and Becca are 18, which places them in between NA and YA technically but I would classify this as a New Adult book myself. I was impressed by the in-depth creation of new supernatural mythologies and the Imago (which I had never heard of before) was definitely an interesting creature to encounter for the first time. Especially with the contrast of the Imagoes attacking people and Becca's love interest/leader Imago, Rekesh.
Speaking of the romance, both the relationships between Bryan and Zahara & Rekesh and Becca were interesting to read about. I personally preferred the 'opposites attract' phenomenon of Rekesh and Becca over the 'bad boy syndrome' phenomenon of Bryan and Zahara. It kind of left me rolling my eyes, even if he ultimately was a really nice guy. Solomon (Zahara's Dad) was actually one of the better parents I've read in YA or NA in quite some time. He was actually there, trying to protect his daughter from everything and be her parent. He didn't let her walk all over him and actually punished her when she broke the rules. Plus, Solomon was just plain funny as well. His first interaction with Bryan absolutely cracked me up.
I have to say though (and I'm not the only one from other reviews that I've seen) that the gratuitous and constant descriptions of what everyone was wearing almost completely ruined this for me as a reader. They got extremely annoying, interrupted scenes where they didn't belong and overall made me irritated. Yes, they were good descriptions. But did they move along the plot or make the book better? No, they did not. If anything they made it worse. Also, the book needs to be re-edited. There were some sentences missing words and it could have compromised the reading had it been worse. I understand that this is self-published. So if you can't afford an editor, have a really English-minded friend do it please! I can get over the predictable nature of the villain and the ending that I saw coming. But no more clothing descriptions please! Overall it was a pretty good first novel and I did enjoy the supernatural aspects of it. I don't know if I'll be reading the next one though. It reminded me of The Mortal Instruments a little bit, and I'm not really a fan of that series either.
VERDICT: 3/5 Stars
*I
received an E-book Copy from the author. No money or favors were exchanged for
this review. This book was published January 31st, 2013.*
Excerpt
Is that blood?” Zahara asked eyeing the ground a few steps in front of them.
Becca looked down toward the ground and moved closer to the gloopy stain of red. She bent down and tilted her head to the side. “Looks like blood.”
Zahara kneeled down beside the blood and looked down the hall on the left, which led outside to where all the dumpsters where found. “There’s more down that way,” she directed with a thrust of her chin.
“Oh no, you don’t!” Becca said grabbing onto Zahara’s arm.
“Becks, we have to check out what it is; someone could be hurt.”
Becca was already shaking her head no. “Are you stupid? Follow the path of blood down the dark hallway into the back alley where there can possibly be a body and some killer. It’s too cliché horror movie for my taste. We are not those stupid girls. Let’s go get your parents.” She yanked Zahara back toward the food court, but Zahara pulled her back.
“By the time we get to my parents, explain what we found and they come to investigate, the person in the back alley could be dead and it’ll be our fault for not helping when we could.” Zahara turned around and started walking down the hallway, taking out the dagger from her back pocket. She unclipped the can of pepper spray from the keychain clipped to her pants and tossed it to Becca. “You coming or am I going in alone?”
“Stupid best friend is gonna follow the stupid trail of blood down the stupid hallway with a stupid can of pepper spray and a stupid dagger and she expects us not to get killed,” Becca mumbled through tight teeth as she followed Zahara.
They walked slowly, sticking to the wall so as not to step on the blood. The door leading out to the dumpsters was shut. Zahara leaned back against it and looked at Becca. Becca swallowed hard and gave her a quick nod, shaking the can of pepper spray. Zahara threw the door open and twisted around on her heel as fast as she could. Becca ran outside with the can of pepper spray held high, but they found nothing more than blood on the ground.
Zahara tiptoed around the drops of blood on the ground, walking farther back into the alleyway and stopped as she heard voices.
“Tell us where you’ve hidden it!” a man snapped. Skin slapped against skin and another man cried out.
“I told you, we do not have it!”
Zahara felt her heart bang against her ribcage. She recognized that voice. She moved closer, staying beside one of the dumpsters, and knelt. Becca knelt beside her and took a deep breath.
“That sounds like Eric,” Becca whispered.
“You have one last chance to tell us where you’ve hidden the arrow, Jacobson,” the same male voice threatened.
Zahara had no doubt he meant what he said. She knew she would probably regret this later, but she jumped up and ran around the dumpster, hearing Becca’s faint curse as she did. Three sets of eyes turned to look at her. Eric, one of the members of Mia and Catalina’s coven, was on his knees, arms bound by the grip of another man standing behind him.
He was tall and slender, enough muscle to show he wasn’t lazy, but he didn’t look strong enough to be able to hold down Eric’s six-foot, four-inch frame, which was nothing but toned, hard muscle. Eric, on the other hand, looked to be in pain. He had slices across his face and his bottom lip was split open. Blood slithered from the open wounds onto the ground.
“Let him go, now!” Zahara demanded. She gripped the dagger handle more tightly, holding it pressed against her thigh.
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