Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Review: The Lost Saint

by Bree Despain
Start Date: 2 October 2011
End Date: 2 October 2011
Hardcover, 404 pages
Published December 28th 2010

This review contains spoilers for The Dark Divine. 

Summary (from Goodreads):
A family destroyed. A love threatened. An enemy returns.

Grace Divine made the ultimate sacrifice to cure Daniel Kalbi. She was infected with the werewolf curse while trying to save him, and lost her beloved brother in the process.

Desperate to find Jude, Grace befriends Talbot, a newcomer to town. But as the two grow closer, Grace's relationship with Daniel is put in danger - in more ways than one.

Unaware of the dark path she is walking, Grace begins to give into the wolf inside of her - not realizing that an enemy has returned and a deadly trap is about to be sprung.

Bree Despain delivers sizzling romance and thrilling action in the heart-pounding sequel to the The Dark Divine.

When I was reading reviews of The Lost Saint before picking up the book, I noticed that most of them fell into one of two categories: "This book was the most amazing thing I've ever read" or "This book was the worst thing I've ever read and I'm sorry I even bothered to read it."I expected to find myself somewhere in the middle, hopefully leaning toward "this was amazing." As it turned out, I found myself inclined toward the opposite. True, I could not put it down, and true, the writing was engaging, but even engrossed in the story, I was frustrated with the actions of all the characters.

Grace

I kept wanting her to just get it. Enough already. It was clear to me several hundred pages before it was clear to Grace that the voice was her wolf instinct, and that Talbot was no good (spoiler, highlight to view). What happened to the Grace I liked from The Dark Divine? The naive but rational and thoughtful Grace?

Talbot

Really? Grace needs another forbidden, super-powered, bad-boy, werewolf crush? I understand why Talbot was a part of the plot, but I didn't like it.

Daniel

I couldn't understand why Daniel still didn't trust Grace. After everything they went through in The Dark Divine, he still doesn't think Grace can handle his secrets. What will it take for Daniel to trust Grace? She already "made the ultimate sacrifice" to cure him, but he still can't let her know what's going on so that she'll stay away from people like Talbot.

Grace's Parents


The Lost Saint was missing the family dynamic that I liked in The Dark Divine. In The Dark Divine,  Grace's family was actually functional and involved in her life. I liked her family. But in The Lost Saint everything completely fell apart. Sure, I expected the events of The Dark Divine to have some effect, but I didn't expect as dramatic a change as I got.

Other Reactions

Will I be reading the sequel? Certainly. Did I like reading The Lost Saint? Absolutely. Did I wish these characters would get some sense knocked into them? Definitely.

3 comments:

Rubita said...

I didn't like The Dark Divine enough to read this one, and I confess I was put off by the new love interest. There are other ways to make relationships interesting. A love triangle isn't necessary.
Ruby

Rubita said...

Oh, and I wanted to thank you for grabbing the Historical Fantasy Jubilee button! We'll see you around this month!

Pica said...

I didn't love the Dark Divine either, but I liked it enough to give The Lost Saint a try. I had many of the same reactions to the two books, but they were far stronger for The Lost Saint. I guess I have trouble giving up on a series if I even moderately liked it. I always hope that the next book will be where it gets good.

And you're welcome! I'm excited for the Historical Fantasy Jubilee!

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