Monday, August 1, 2011

Review: Wildefire by Karsten Knight

WildefireHardcover, 400 pages

Expected publication: July 26, 2011

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

ISBN13: 9781442421172

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Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She’s struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve’s violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California’s redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her. But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn’t go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school—being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger—Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood…and she’s one of them. To make matters worse, Eve has resurfaced to haunt Ash, and she’s got some strange abilities of her own. With a war between the gods looming over campus, Ash must master the new fire smoldering within before she clashes with her sister one more time… And when warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm.
My Rating: 3 / 5

My Thoughts:

Ashline's sister, Eve, brings disaster along where ever she goes. In an attempt to get away from her, Ash transfers to a private school in the middle of no where.  An emergency call goes out and this changes everything! Ash, along with some school mates, discover they have special abilities and an important role to play.

The book seemed full of pointless violence and took forever to get to the point. I was hoping to learn more about the mythology but found we were not told too much other than the fact that the characters are reincarnated and they need to save the world.  I wanted to know more, not just see them fight/kill people with no remorse. It was full of action, but no real story. The characters all blended together, each one snarky & bitchy, resulting in no emotional tie to them at all. I had hopes that Ash may turn a new leaf & lose the anger once away from her sister, but nope...then again she is a Volcano goddess so is prone to errupt ;)

 I had no desire to even want to know what was going to happen next. I'm sitting here scratching my head, wondering what the hype was all about! Sorry guys but this dark and angry book was not for me. There seemed to be a lot of hype and so I kept reading, but darn I wish I could get those reading hours back!

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for the honest review and some books aren't for all of us. I noticed that there was lot of anger with ashline.

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  2. I only made it 100ish pages in this book before giving up - it just didn't grab me.

    Great honest review, Mel! :)

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  3. Julie ~ yep, and I'm more of a 1/2 full kinda girl!

    Lea ~ I kept going thinking it would get better, what a waste of time :( Glad I'm not alone!

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  4. I felt the same way...not enough mythology, too much violence and I didnt connect with Ash.

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  5. Jenny ~ makes me wonder if it's because the author is male? As a mom of boys so know they see the world quite different then me!

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  6. Just read your comment on my review of this one, I couldn't agree with you more I didn't relate with these characters at all and even though I liked he idea of the gods/goddesses I still wanted a bit more detail about it, and yeah the violence yeah I felt the same way. =/

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  7. Sorry to hear this one didn't work for you. I was hoping it would. I'm kind of curious about it though. Thank you for your honest thoughts. :)

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  8. I was torn about this book and may try it to see how I interpret but it is really disappointing when a book falls (way) short of expectations. Kudos for making it to the end though.

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