Review: Awakened by Kriston Johnson (review)

Awakened (The Legends of Elyndia #1)
written by Kriston Johnson
published by Kriston Johnson

find it here: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords, Goodreads

Why did I pick this book: I participated in the blog tour hosted by Xpresso Blog Tours. (I received a copy of this book for review purposes.)

Did I enjoy this book: I really wanted to. But I didn’t. I found myself skimming the book because it just wasn’t holding my interest.

Here’s the thing, this book has a lot of potential. It just didn’t deliver. For me, it seemed like every YA fantasy/paranormal/romance cliche and plot point are jammed into this book. You have the young girl who has no idea who/what she is. Her parents are gone. She accidentally casts a spell or conjures a demon or something. Then, there is a love interest. And fight training. And a world at risk of domination by evil.

Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing. But everything just worked too easily. Jade just accepted everything as it came along. Everything just worked out for her. Her friend, Theron, just comes to the door and visits her but there is no explanation as to who he is or how she knows him. Jade calls her grandfather and her mother by their first names. Why? I don’t understand this and there is no explanation for this. Out of nowhere, four guys show up at her grandfather’s house to take her away, by force, and in the middle of the altercation the leader stops and calmly explains everything to Jade. Really? That just doesn’t seem like the time or place for that and Jade just goes with it.

Unfortunately, I just found the story to be boring. It didn’t hold my interest and everything happened to easily. I wanted more and so much more could have been done. There is so much potential for this book.

Would I recommend it: No.

Will I read it again: No.

About the book – from Goodreads: Can fighting for the right side be the wrong thing to do?

Draven, the tyrant ruler of Elyndia for the last one thousand years, searches for the one who can fulfill his prophecy.

The Paladins, an elite band of warriors sworn to protect their way of life at all cost, search for the one with the ability to bring their world crumbling down.

An innocent girl, tormented by demons only she can see, lives on the brink of insanity and longs for a life of peace.

When seventeen-year-old Jade Rosenberg reads from an antique book, she has no idea she just read an incantation awaking her inherited power. But when opposing—and equally terrifying—groups invade her home, she learns she is descended from an enchanted realm and a member of a powerful race thought to have been hunted to extinction.

Ripped from her world, Jade is forced to seek refuge from those who want her dead. She is given one of two options and the time has come for her to make a choice: assassinate their sworn enemy…

Or sacrifice her soul.

 

Happy reading wherever you are and whenever you get a free chance!!!