Between a 4.0-4.5, but I rounded up because I couldn’t put this book down! It was a roller coaster; you came down from one huge moment, and another immediately followed. The only thing I didn’t like was (as someone else mentioned) the love triangle, which was actually more of a love Y.
Plot:
In hopes of saving themselves, Kris and Alec, along with Nathan and Callie, have been roaming around trying to find out how the Skotadi are converting the Kala. Along the way, they run into Micah (i.e., the boy in white who Kris keeps dreaming of killing). Kris’ gang and Micah’s gang decide to team up and work together. As they continue to search for answers, Kris learns more about her heritage and her true purpose with Micah. Matters become even more complicated as Kris and Alec begin the change to Skotadi, and everyone realizes they are running out of time.
Characters:
As in Ignited, the primary characters all worked well together; in fact my favorite scenes are the ones where Nathan and Alec team up to fight or get information. In Sacrificed, that dynamic is there. Micah just puts a little bit of a damper on it.
In the last book, I was pretty happy with Kris. She was strong, but not snarky and aware of her emotions without being whiny. Things are a little different this time around. She’s so indecisive that it becomes annoying. She’s either pining after Nathan or lusting after Alec. Nathan (my hero) doesn’t help matters any. Throughout their journey, he tries – albeit often unsuccessfully – to fight his attraction to Kris. Alec, on the other hand, is very open about his feelings toward her. With Nathan continuing to be the broody, yet passionate protector and Alec being the fun-loving flirty one, they are both great guys. I just like Kris better with Nathan. Plus I kind of always hoped that Alec would get together with Kris’ best friend Callie, who seems to be able to handle anything – and there are a lot of things thrown at her – while remaining perpetually perky.
Micah, aka the boy in white, also seems drawn to me. For some reason, I just didn’t like Micah very much. I’m not sure whether it was the fact that he was another obstacle for Kris and Nathan or that he didn’t have very much personality. It didn’t help that once Kris called him the boy in white, I automatically thought of the little bald boy in X-men: The Last Stand. I couldn’t get an accurate picture of him after that, so it never seemed plausible for him and Kris to be drawn to each other.
There are a couple more new characters, Gabby and Richie, but we don’t know a whole lot about them, and Lillian is back and more vengeful than ever.
Writing:
I was really impressed with Ignited, as it was Desni Dantone’s first book. I worried that she might fall into the sophomore slump, but that didn’t happen. She continues to be super easy to read, making the most of every situation and keeping the readers on edge as often as possible. I found a few misspelled words sprinkled throughout, but that’s definitely not one of the things I’ll remember most about the book.
Bottom Line:
This was a pretty good little book. I didn’t want to put it down, so I finished it in two nights. (Then I panicked because the next one won’t be out until later this year.) Don’t worry though…. The story doesn’t have a cliffhanger. We know the story continues, but Dantone at least gives us the closure we need until that happens.