Saturday 12 January 2013

Mad Musings On: 'Exiled (The Protector #1)' By MR Merrik

Exiled (The Protector, #1)

THE BLURB:
Chase Williams is a demon hunter in the Circle, or at least he was supposed to be. On his fifteenth birthday, Chase stepped up to the altar to claim his elemental power, but it never came. Elemental magic is passed down to a hunter through the bloodline, but on Chase's birthday, the bloodline stopped. 

Exiled without the Circle's protection, Chase has spent two years trying to survive a world riddled with half-demons and magic. When he has a run in with a frightened and seemingly innocent demon, he learns the Circle's agenda has changed: the Circle plans to unlock a portal and unleash pure-blood demons into the world. Vowing to stop them, and knowing he can't do it alone, Chase forms a reluctant alliance with Rayna — a sexy witch with an attitude and a secret. 

In their attempt to stop them, Chase and Rayna find themselves in the middle of the Circle's plan, leaving one of them to decide what their friendship is worth, and the other's life depending on it.

MAD MUSINGS:
So why did I pick up this book?  Well, it's a combination of a few things - (1) I've heard many great things from my fellow Edmonton Book Bloggers  (2)I know he's a local author (From Red Deer! That's less than 2 hrs away) (3)I have an interest in reading more locally this year, as a personal challenge (4) I started following MR Merrick on twitter, and discovered he has a great sense of humour, similar to mine, and, (5) One day Exiled was a free giveaway on kindle, so I snatched it up!
Well, right away, I liked this story because it is told from a boy's POV - which is different that the usual female author and a female lead character.  It leads me to think I can get my sons, who are 14 and 12 interested in reading it too.  I am always looking for books that will get them to read more (My 14 year old doesn't want to finish Catching Fire because, ya  know, Katniss is a girl)  I think it's rare to find a YA author who is male and writes a male character that could interest teen boys as much as Percy Jackson did for my son.
For myself, I was drawn into the storytelling right away and I kept thinking that there are vague similarities to Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series - things like there's a secret group of demon hunters, the main character lives apart from them,  and there's a 'bad guy' that wants to open a door and let the demons wreck havoc on Earth.... There is, eventually, also a different dimension that is reminiscent of Steven King, or LJ Smith - I can't quite put my finger on it.  But it seemed so real to me.   After I finished reading, I find myself looking forward to Book #2, Shift, and the newly released #3 Release.
**** 4 Stars

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