Review - Fated by Alyson Noel (2.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Size: 368 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: May 22, 2012
ISBN: 978-0312664855
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Fated series
Source: Audiobook from Publisher for Review
Rating: 2.5/5 stars

I got a copy of this audiobook from the publisher in exchange for a honest review. It’s a pretty typical paranormal YA book; there’s teenage angst, insta-love, and dreamily beautiful boys. The story moves fairly slowly and isn’t all that interesting. The second book in the series, Echo, is scheduled for a November 2012 release. Previously I have read the first book in the Riley Bloom series by Noel and didn’t really enjoy that book; I was eager to try a more YA focused book by Noel to see if I enjoyed it more.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was well done. The narrator does an excellent job conveying emotion and distinguishing between characters’ voices. The narrator also sounds exactly like I imagine Daire would sound. The CDs stop at good stopping points and don’t leave you absolutely in the middle of something while switching disks.

Daire travels the world with her professional make-up artist mother. She is constantly brushing shoulders with the rich and beautiful. That is until she starts having hallucinations of glowing people and severed heads. After drugging Daire to the gills doesn’t help her mother is forced to seek help from Daire’s elusive grandmother who lives in the town of Enchantment and is about to introduce Daire to a world she never imagined existed.

Daire is a super brat, she gets better towards the end of the book, but remains selfish throughout. She is so mean, abrasive, and annoying that I had trouble engaging with her at all. She is incredibly mean to her mother and dismissive with the people around her. She does grow and change a little as the book goes on, but not much. She is still making selfish decisions and treating her mother like dirt.

Daire’s grandmother is more interesting, but her speech comes off as formal and stilted and her conversations with Daire always sound awkward.

Then of course there are the two absolutely gorgeous twin brothers that Daire meets in Enchantment. One is evil (Cade) and one is good (Dace); one is out to destroy Daire and one is deeply good and in love with Daire before they even meet. When Daire finally meets Dace she is drawn to him but constantly tries to push him away and get him to leave her alone. In their second or third meeting, despite Daire’s protests, Dace is kissing her and has his hands up her shirt. Is this really okay? Not only are they in insta-love but Dace (the good brother) starts making out with Daire even though she says no. Really? And he is the good one?

Okay enough of that let’s talk about the story and world. The premise of the story is a fairly simple one. The brothers are part of a family of Coyotes who are evil and out to take over the world and plunge it into darkness. Daire and her grandmother are from a family that is a long line of Seekers, they are out to save the world from the Coyote’s influence. The magic and background are strongly influenced by Native American myth and magic. It’s an interesting, if simple, idea and makes for a more interesting premise than a lot of paranormal YA out there. This idea and premise are one of the redeeming qualities of this book.

The writing style is simple and easy to read. The pacing was a bit slow and it took a long time for the story to really become exciting and engaging. The book wraps up nicely and leaves the reader with a little cliffhanger to wet their appetite for the next book in the series.

Overall not my favorite YA paranormal book, but okay. I did enjoy the Native American premise to the story, this is different and more interesting than some of the other YA paranormal out there. I did not enjoy the characters; Daire is a brat and the twins are over stereotyped male leads. Daire’s relationship with Dace is full of insta-love making it goofy and obnoxious...not to mention he makes out with her despite her protests. The pacing is a bit slow and the plot fairly simple. I would only recommend if you are interested in reading a paranormal YA story with Native American bent to it. Otherwise I would skip this, there are many other better YA books out there.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge