Wednesday 6 May 2015

Review on The Enlighten Series #1 The Guardian, a Sword & Stilettos



When seventeen year old Zoe Jabril is attacked by Demon Knights, her life changes forever. Once a normal high school student who's only problems were exams and boys, Zoe is thrown into a world full of angels, demons, fairies and werewolves. With the help of her best friend Kieran, and Shay, a gorgeous nephilim boy who has taken a vow to protect her, Zoe must discover who and what she is, and find out if the prophecy about her is true.

The first thing I thought when I got sent a request to review this book was that it sounded similar to one of my favourite book series, The Mortal Instruments, so I was quick to snap it up. Although there were similarities to the series, I was glad that it was original for the most part, and loved the unique ideas behind what Angels and Nephilim are like. I liked that nephilim shared more similarities to angels than other portrayals I have seen, and loved that on top of being stronger and faster than humans, they also had wings.

The main downfall for me was that the majority of the book was centred around the romance between Zoe and Shay. When I accepted the review, I thought that, like Mortal Instruments, the romance would be a sub-plot to the fantasy world and the action. To my disappointment it was the other way around. I felt there was a lot of build up to Zoe's eighteenth birthday and talks of a war, but unfortunately non of that actually happened in the book. Although this is often done by authors who are planning to make the book a part of a series, I felt as if the book was a huge build up to an anticlimax, as although I loved the battle scene at the end, it was short lived with no causalities on the side of the protagonist. I felt that everything went almost too well for Zoe, as she had two gorgeous guys fighting over her along with them always conveniently being in the right place at the right time to protect her. As a bit of a sadist, I would have liked to see her suffer a little more.

I thought that the male characters needed a little more work, as Kieran and Shay's personality were extremely similar. I also found it strange how they acted like typical teenagers, such as Shay loving The Wanted and One Direction. As someone was in reality is over seventy years old, I felt that it would have been more realistic if he had been a little bit old fashioned along with keeping up with the times. I overall disliked Shay, and felt he was extremely sexist, as at one point he tells Zoe that all girls talk about are boys and how they only dress up and wear make up to impress boys. I was slightly disappointed that Zoe did nothing to contradict this, as every time she met up with Sidelle, all she talked about was her relationship problems. I also hated how quickly the romance between Zoe and Shay escalated, as even though they were soul mates, I found it annoying that they were dating each other after knowing each other for three days. I did however like Kieran, as he seemed to genuinely care about Zoe and didn't overreact or make a fuss when she chose Shay over him. Vash was an interesting character, but I felt that he came into the book far too late for me to have an opinion on him.

I overall found the book a little disappointing, as I went in expecting it to be an action packed fantasy story, when in reality it was a romance novel with a fantasy setting. I recommend the book if you enjoy cheesy romance stories, but if it's a fast paced fantasy story you're looking for then I would avoid this one.


The Guardian, a Sword & Stilettos will be released on 10th May.  Pre-order your copy HERE!















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