Marking Time (The Immortal Descendants, Book 1) - April White
Fated for one, born to another
The child must seek to claim the Mother
The stream will split and branches fight
Death will divide, and lovers unite
The child of opposite will be the one
To heal the Dream that War's undone.
I'll start off by saying that I am not a huge fan of YA books. Supernatural or not, I find them predictable, cringy and the internal dialogue of immature teenage girls takes me back to a time in my life when I thought I knew best; I didn't. That being said, I really enjoyed this book. 17 year-old Saira Elian is the youngest known descendant of Jera, The Immortal Time, and is a total bad ass! After her mother disappears, a series of unfortunate events leads her to discovering that she is in fact a clocker (she has the ability to travel through time and space using cryptic spirals located all over the world). She is a self-taught free runner, which means she isn't afraid to take risks and can keep up with the guys - a girl who can take care of herself, I like it!
Unlike your typical Bella Swans, Rose Hathaways and Lucinda Prices, Saira has a level head on her shoulders and doesn't drop her knickers for the first man that is nice to her (always admirable!). During a free run escape from predators through the woods, she 'accidently' falls into the car of vampire Archer Deveraux (and I'd be lying if I said I didn't fall for him too!) A charming, dark-haired stranger with a wolfish grin, who has been waiting for Saira for 125 years - if that's not love, I don't know what is! As Saira jumps through time from Victorian England to the present, White cleverly contrasts the naive theology college student from 1888 to the present day, world-weary Vampire who has tasted death and survived. They go through a hell of a lot before Saira admits that she's fallen for him, fangs and all. *fan girls quietly in a corner*
I liked the concept of The Immortals (Nature, Time, War, Fate and Death) having living descendants hidden within society that have unique powers; a unique take on an original idea. There were lots of 'twists' in the story, most of which were predictable, but I liked the intertwining of the actual historical events of Jack the Ripper. However, there was one question that was left unanswered: are we in charge of our own fate? Everything that was supposed to happen in the 1800s, happened exactly as predicted by the visions of the descendants of Fate, which actually means that Saira never made her own choices, Fate made them for her. From a YA perspective, is this really the message we want to send the next generation: try as much as you like but Fate has already decided your destiny already? Just a little food for thought.
Definitely worth a read if you like supernatural romance - unashamedly, I will shortly be purchasing Book 2. Considering this was a free Amazon Kindle purchase, a solid 8/10.
Thanks for reading my first ever blog post!!
Rochelle 🌺 xxx
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