Before tonight Cassie Tate’s biggest concerns were whether she could pass Algebra and how she was going to keep Elora, her best friend, from dressing her in a skimpy fairy costume for Halloween. Her feet were firmly planted in suburban reality and she had no reason to believe her life would be anything but that of a typical teenager. That is until tonight, when Cassie saw something that no human was ever supposed to see; in the blink of an eye she was thrown into the world of the Light and Dark Elves.
He comes from a realm where light and dark have fought for millennia. He is of a race known to humans only in myths and legends. The darkness that lives inside him is a part of both who and what he is and it makes him the most gifted spy and assassin in the history of his time. His life is not his own; he lives in the service of the Dark Elf King. He slays who he must, has mercy on no one, is relentless in his hunt, and never tires of seeing his prey fall. He is Triktapic, assassin, spy, most feared of the Dark Elves.
Now, in the midst of his King’s complicated plans to expand the Dark Elves’ holdings into the mortal realm, for the first time, Trik finds his loyalties divided. For no Elf, Dark or Light, can turn away from their Chosen.
Unbeknownst to the mortal realm, the battle between Light and Dark is being brought to their doorstep. The only one who can keep it at bay holds darkness in his heart like a lover, and the one who can sway that heart must decide if she can look beyond his black past, beyond his evil nature and see the man he is destined to be.
The question must be asked, does love really cover a multitude of sins? Can true love actually conquer all or will his darkness consume those around him until all that stands is an assassin with the blood of the mortal realm on his hands?
MY REVIEW – 2 stars
In a YA Fantasy involving elves, I have certain expectations. This one fell a bit short. Honestly, the biggest issue I had were the elves. An elf assassin who’s centuries old is not going to roll his eyes all the time or speak and act like a teenager. If the book had been a paperback, I may have thrown it across the room by the tenth time he acted like an immature brat. The next issue I had was the outdated slang the high school students used. They came across more like a fifty year old attempting to be seventeen. While I understand slang changes all the time, the terms in this book were decades out of date. If those two issues were resolved, the book would be immensely better.
There were other issues, but for the most part, I could have overlooked them. The one that stood out the most were the heroine’s parents who hardly ever appear in the story. I found it a bit odd, and I honestly wasn’t sure why they were even in the book to begin with. It would have been better to make her an orphan. She supposedly loves her parents, and yet, we hardly see them. It was just a little strange to me. Almost like the author forgot about them and just randomly tossed in a mention of them here and there.
Overall, the storyline was good. It intrigued me enough I picked up book two, since it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. As annoying as I found most of the characters, I can’t stand not knowing how the story ends. Hopefully, I’ll have the answers to my questions. If not, I don’t think I can last through a third book of eye-rolling elves.
*Disclaimer: The author did not request a review of this title. I purchased/borrowed through Amazon. The review above is only my opinion.