Showing posts with label Jordan Dane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jordan Dane. Show all posts

Friday, August 29, 2014

Review: Crystal Fire (The Hunted #2) by Jordan Dane

Title: Crystal Fire (The Hunted #2)
Author: Jordan Dane
Source: Amazon Vine
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Release Date: November 26, 2013
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down.

A storm is brewing on the streets of LA, one that has intensified since a tragic and deadly confrontation claimed an innocent life.

While Gabriel Stewart trains his army of teen psychics to stop Alexander Reese--the obsessed leader of the Believers--the fanatical church becomes more bent on the annihilation of all Indigo and Crystal children. They're silencing the voices of the telepathic hive, one soul at a time, with frightening experiments cruelly executed on vulnerable minds.

When the Believers torture a mysterious homeless boy, Oliver Blue, they brainwash him into betraying his own. The boy becomes a deadly pawn to take Gabriel down. As the fires of chaos burn around him, Gabe is running out of time. He'll need to confront his past--and the man who made him--before the hope of peace for the future is silenced forever.



Book two of The Hunted picks up after the disastrous firefight in the abandoned tunnels.  The indigo kids have taken refuge with Gabe's family and are training to protect themselves.  But there is a new kid with some really strange new powers to contend with.  No one is quite sure who he is or what he can do right now.

This new kid is Oliver Blue and the Believers have him.  They have a handful of others as well that will also play an important role in this story.  While I didn't get into this storyline as well as the first book in a general sense, there were some very big scenes that I really loved.  Many of these revolved around Oliver and how he learns to control his abilities and use them.

The ending of the story was one of the best I'd read in a long time.  There was a lot of happiness, but the story was left slightly unresolved.  This is definitely not a cliffhanger, but I wonder if at some point there will be a spin-off series or third book.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Review: Indigo Awakening by Jordan Dane

Title: Indigo Awakening (The Hunted #1)
Author: Jordan Dane
Source: Self-Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Release Date: December 18, 2013
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down.

Voices told Lucas Darby to run. Voices no one else can hear. He’s warned his sister not to look for him, but Rayne refuses to let her troubled brother vanish on the streets of LA. In her desperate search, she meets Gabriel Stewart, a runaway with mysterious powers and far too many secrets. Rayne can’t explain her crazy need to trust the strange yet compelling boy—to touch him—to protect him even though he scares her.

A fanatical church secretly hunts psychic kids—gifted “Indigo” teens feared to be the next evolution of mankind—for reasons only “the Believers” know. Now Rayne’s only hope is Gabe, who is haunted by an awakening power—a force darker than either of them imagine—that could doom them all.



This book reminds me a bit of several TV shows - especially The Tomorrow People.  A new breed of human has evolved with special powers.  In Indigo Awakening, the powers are different for everyone - and the "normal" people that know about them are quite scared.  A group knows as the Believers is determined to get rid of them all - they don't care that most of them are just kids.

Enter Lucas and Rayne Darby.  Lucas is an indigo kid and Rayne is his normal sister who doesn't have a clue what is going on at the beginning.  She only knows Lucas is in trouble.  I didn't quite connect to either character - there was too much jumping around to really get attached.  We also meet Gabe - he's something else completely different.  I feel closer to him than most of the other characters by the end - and I really loved his "dog".

This story is full of build up as the Believers hunt for Lucas and try following Rayne and Gabe to find him.  Lots and lots of build up to a knock down fight that just didn't quite live up to my expectations.  It was good - things went bad, things went right, the story move don.  I didn't expect such a major show down so early in the series and since it was seemed so big, I wonder where the author is going to take us next.  I'll find out soon.  Crystal Fire is in my bag and ready to go.