Author: M.R. Merrick
Publisher: Self Published
Publication Date: June 28, 2011
Pages: 286
Source: Ebook for Review from Publisher
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.
Review: This book was really good! I was eying this book for a while so I'm really excited I finally read it! This book exceeded my expectations! It was way better than I was thinking and I loved it that much more for that. This book really gets into good vs. evil. On Chase's 15th birthday he was Exiled from The Circle, a group that is supposed to fight demons for the greater good. Throughout the book we learned that The Circle isn't all good and not everybody is fighting Demons for the greater good of humanity. We also learned that all the Demons weren't bad and evil. We also found that some people fell in between those lines of good and evil by no fault of their own and their stuck living with the struggles of that life. Chase really had to open himself up to that. Even though he was Exiled from The Circle, he always believed that no Demons were good and that The Circle wasn't evil. He had to open himself up to the fact that that wasn't the case and that he really just had to trust himself and what he felt in his gut instead of what he was taught to believe. He made a huge change with that though and I really loved seeing him change and come to terms with everything.
Now, this whole business with Rayna & Marcus and The Circle searching for a cross breed demon. First of all, gotta give Marcus a lot of credit. Everyone thought he was dead. Gotta give him props for staying alive after being attacked by another brother of The Circle and then making everyone believe he was dead. I guarantee that wasn't easy to stay hidden as well as he did. He also took care of Rayna after her mom was killed. Marcus is a really good guy from what I've seen so far. He also really tried to help Chase understand things involving The Circle and what was really going on in it. Though honestly, I think Rayna was able to help Chase more than Marcus which surprised me. I really liked seeing how Chase and Rayna got closer. They went from pretty much enemies to protecting each other and really having each others backs. That definitely showed how much Chase had changed from his beliefs in the beginning to the end of the book.
Rayna. Man. I like this girl. She had a huge thing to deal with just like Chase. Rayna is half hunter, half demon (specifically witch). Chase was pure blood hunter, but he never got his element like every other hunter during the ceremony. They really bonded over the fact that they both had something different about them. I knew after learning what Rayna was that she was the cross breed The Circle was searching for. While no one else figured it out, once I put the pieces together I knew in my gut she was who they were after. I just couldn't figure out why. Chase... He always felt so bad about the fact that he never got his elemental power. Come to figure, his power just didn't awaken when The Circle wanted it to. He got his powers and more than he expected. Not only did he have a fire element but he also had a water element. He got both of his parents elements and not just one. I loved that! It made him even better of a hunter than he already was. He was also named The Protector and got the mark of it! Definitely can't wait to see more of what this means! His powers definitely helped in fights more than once after he got them. I hope he can keep control of them.
I was shocked to find out what The Circle wanted Rayna's blood for! Chase's own father wanted it to raise a demon god and get his blood so he could control them. And he claimed it was for the greater good because "then he'd have control over the creatures they were made to fight." Ya. NOT!! I think he's just a power hungry maniac after the power for his own evil intentions. I was so pissed off what the fact that he killed his own Wife (Chase's mom) at the end of the book because he wanted the power more. If thats not evil I don't know what is! I felt so bad for Chase's loss! And it made it even worse that his mom was killed by his dad!!! Definitely can't wait to see whats in store in the next book!
4 1/2 Stars!
I'm glad you enjoyed it! It sounds like a pretty intense plot. =)
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