The fifth book for The Artful Readers Club
My review:
4*
This was an interesting story. It was interesting to read from a male POV but I was surprised when POV changed in the middle of the book. It was alright though because the flow of the story didn’t falter. For once it was nice to fall right in the middle of romance and see how the couple fights for love. Characters were beautifully written and I really liked Seth’s and Dani’s relationship. A great read.This is the book's blurb:
SOUL FOR SALE... Love. Power. Control.
The lure of having it all is strong, and when 17-year-old Seth is given the opportunity, how can he say no? And why should he? With nothing to lose and everything to gain, Seth is an easy target for the evil that invades his soul.
But love is a powerful force, and despite everything, Dani knows that the boy she fell in love with is hiding somewhere behind the darkness in his eyes, and she’s not about to give up so easily.
Time is running out and instead of having control, Seth is quickly losing it. Dani must rely on the truth in her heart to pull the dark force out of Seth. But will the power of love and faith be enough to conquer evil? Or is it too late for both of them?
I followed this tutorial.
Here is my question: Does a book have to have a message?
I wrote a review for a different book where I was wondering what the point of the story was because I felt like there was no resolution. You know how in school you're taught that a story has to have a beginning, a middle and an end?
In Nigel Watts’ Writing A Novel and Getting Published he talks about 8 points authors should use during their writing process:
- Stasis - This is the every day life in which the story is set.
- Trigger - Something beyond the control of the protagonist / hero / heroine is the trigger which sparks off the story.
- The quest - The trigger results in a quest.
- Surprise - Includes pleasant events but more often means obstacles, complications, conflict and trouble for the protagonist.
- Critical choice - At some stage the protagonist needs to make a crucial decision.
- Climax - The critical choice(s) made by the protagonist need to result in the climax, the highest peak of tension in a story.
- Reversal - The reversal should be the consequence of the critical choice and the climax and it should change the status of the characters.
- Resolution - Return to a fresh stasis – one where the characters should be changed, wiser and enlightened, but where the story being told is complete.
For me a book needs to built up to some event and then resolve it. Resolution usually means the protagonist and the reader learned something from this event. It doesn't need to be earth shattering enlightening message but there needs to be one to make sense of it all.
Now, the author told me in a very nice way that events were somewhat autobiographical and she was just telling a story and it doesn't have to have a message. Like I said above I disagree with this.
Even though the author just wanted to tell her story, in order for the reader to sympathize with the protagonist and make sense of the events, there has to be some inner monologue to explain why certain actions were taken or not taken.
I'm going with an example here. A young teenage girl is assaulted and nearly raped by a male friend twice on different accounts and she doesn't go to a police or tells anyone about it. I totally understand how that works in reality but when you put an event like that in a book you have to explain to the reader what goes on in that girl's mind that she decides not to take action. You can't just let the reader fill in the blanks.
That's why I didn't see sense in this story because it was just a string of events where actions weren't explained and the only message I got from this book was if something bad happens, you should keep it to yourself and if you stand up for someone or yourself, you get shot dead.
Yes, I got a message from this book even though the author said there was no message. See what happens if the author doesn't explain actions? The reader walks away with a message that the author didn't intend to give.
This book would probably have a totally different impact on me, if the protagonist's actions were explained or at least the reader could witness her thought process.
Linking to Paint Party Friday.
I really love this plot even though its concept is similar to Hunger Games. Characters are wonderful and author’s writing style is right up my alley. You have to read the author’s notes at the back as it explains some of the questions readers have had previously. I didn’t even think of some of the stuff that is explained but I’m glad that I know them now. I can’t wait to see what happens with Decca, Leo and Woo in a sequel.
This was a great story and a pleasure to read. I don’t think I read any alien books before this apart from Host but it really didn’t feel much alien at all. Daemon and Katy are wonderful characters and I really loved reading their bickering. Attraction between them was sweet and I really enjoyed the whole book. 
This book had a unique story line.
