My second post in today's The Survivors: Point of Origin blog tour is my review for Amanda's sophomore book, and sequel to The Survivors (you can read my review here). You can read my guest post and enter to win a signed copy of both books, as well as enter to an iPod nano on my first tour post here.
By: Amanda Havard
Published by: Chafie Press LLC
To Be Released on: June 12th, 2012
Source: Signed ARC from author at ALA-midwinter
3.5 stars: I Enjoyed It/ It's A Good Read
Pre-Order from: Amazon
The winter is upon us. The Survivors are in chaos. The war is coming.
One year ago, Sadie Matthau was living among humans, existing as one of them. But now she wakes each morning in a house in the Survivors City, listening to the invocations and insults of her family members as they cope with their new future. A war. Rogue abandoners turned monsters. Sadie and the icy Winters living in their midst, bringing the outside world in.
The Survivors: Point of Origin is Sadie s quest to save her family. But can she find what she is looking for when she can barely stomach the Winters wintry demeanor and finds herself distracted by Cole Hardwick s warm heart? Will she be able to uncover her family s history even as the elders grip tightens around her throat? In an action packed ride full of magic and misery, terror and triumph, Sadie Matthau seeks the Survivors beginning just in time to face her end. -quoted from Amanda's site
Thinking I'd get many of the questions I had after finishing The Survivors answered, I picked this book immediately after finishing it and was surprising thrown further into Amanda's incredibly intriguing paranormal world. Amanda doesn't tread lightly with this sequel. She throws in more twists, uncovers more secrets and introduces readers to a few new characters who end up playing some big roles in this series. The romance, the action, and the impending war added uncertainty and a little bit suspense to the series. I liked being able to get a more in-depth look into the role the Salem Witch trials play in this series, and particularly in Sadie's life, as well as getting to understand more of the paranormal lore through Sadie's research.
Sadie's constant curiosity and need for answers leads to some extremely interesting finds. I loved feeling like I was getting what was going on at the same time she was. Without Sadie there'd be a lot big pieces missing from the complex puzzle that's behind the impending war. Despite Sadie's book smarts, this time around I was surprised with how much Sadie irritated me. Don't get me wrong, she's still a good character, but I got frustrated with the way she handles some "situations" in this book. I get that she uncovers a lot, and finds out some surprising secrets, but her running off when things got hard really got on my nerves. I felt she regressed a bit as a character during those scenes. Then there's time I felt like I understood her struggle with trying to fit in w/ her immortal family and that of wanting nothing to do with them and wanting to be in the human world. I got how that effected her and some of the choices she makes. I as a reader understood the war that was constantly going on in her head over who she is and what her heart really wants.
The character chemistry definitely heats up in this book. I seriously love Everett! He's definitely won me over, and I admire him for fighting his true nature to make things work with Sadie. His protectiveness and overall concern for her is admirable and at the same time a little over protective, but given Everett's nature it's understandable. Again, I adore Everett's family as well. His brother Mark is another fabulous character I liked seeing more of in this book. I was surprised to see the role that Cole continues to play in this book, and I couldn't laugh out loud over a scene with him, Everett, Mark and Sadie. Cole is again that southern gentleman I first met in The Survivors, and he definitely brings something different to the table for Sadie.
I'm not really sure what I was excepting with this sequel, but I certainly wasn't excepting some of the events that took place to happen. Getting to dig deeper into Sadie's family's lore, seeing how the characters grow and changed, and how all the twists and secrets fit into the over all complex mystery that's behind all that's going on in this sequel was definitely engaging and kept me glued to the pages of this book. I wanted to know more. Amanda definitely brought out a few emotions from me I wasn't excepting to have towards a few characters. I might have mentally yelled at a few characters for doing some of the things they do. Again, there's characters you'll love and characters you're going to love to hate in this series. Amanda does a great job at giving them each a purpose in this book. That ending killed me and now I'm wishing I had book 3 in my hands. I need more answers!
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