Dark Flame | by: Alyson Noel

Reading The Immortals series has been a bumpy ride for me, and resulted in my choice to not purchase Dark Flame and just get it from the library even though I already owned the first three books.

Ever has a lot on her plate in Dark Flame, mainly because in the last two books she basically messed everything up. Damen is still in need of the antidote, and and Jude is still there, waiting patiently. But now, there's yet another thing to worry about. She's falling for her antagonist, her arch enemy that's destroying everything: Roman.

I'm not really sure how I'm going to do this, since I've never had so many negative things to say about a book I chose for myself to read. Please bear with me.


My schedule has been busy with school and show choir, and other typical things that keep me from reading. These reasons are not the only reasons why it took me so long to read this book. Three words: Lack of entertainment.

I'm giving you a warning: I don't have many positive things to say about this book. This review is extremely bleak and complainative. There will be some positive things written toward the end (but probably not the VERY end).

The other books in this series were quite predicatable with constant reiminders of Twilight in the plot. One good thing Dark Flame has going for itself is that this time it strayed from being predictable in that way. The only time I ever felt similarities between the two book series is when Ever describes Jude in comparison to Damen (it was virtually the same way Bella describes Bella in comparison to Edward, but not as deep).

Ever was a big problem for me. It's never a good thing when the main character (who is also the narrator) is annoying or cannot be taken seriously. She drives me crazy! All she does is mess up and whine about it! Nothing gets accomplished, because of her stubborness, resilience, and lack of common sense. (I can't think of an example without adding a spoiler, so I refuse.) For the first half of the book, I thought I was going to puke out of the corniness and annoyingness of hearing about how incredibly hot Damen is. I'm not sure if I would have finished the book if she didn't stop; it irritated me.

The writing style was... was... very drama queen-ish. I think Alyson Noel tried to be dramatic in a more theatrical way... but it just didn't work. Sentences often had the same patten which had one tiny sentence have a past tense verb, and then the next sentence starts with the same past tense verb. It always went something like this: "I walk. Walk until I've no idea how far I've gone" (page 151.) There's nothing wrong with this. But when you hear this sort of thing fifty times in one novel, it becomes quite annoying. (I know, I use the words 'annoying' and 'irritating' way too much in this review.)

In addition, the seven-paragraphs-in-a-row-that-contain-one-sentence-each-about-the-same-subject-in-order-to-be-melodramatic thing got under my skin after the fifth time. Why not make it one paragraph? And I also had a difficult time feeling Ever's attraction/obsession with Roman. It felt more like she was just saying random statements like 'It's eight in the morning' rather than having an emotional issue until I was three quarters in.

Something sort of positive about meaning:
The best part of this book, however, is the general theme. More people should believe in it, because it holds such truth: Love your enemy, and be positive. We get ourselves nowhere, otherwise. I'm not going to say anymore, because it'll give it away. No matter how good or bad a book can be, I refuse to give spoilers.

Other than this bit -which is very powerful to me - I didn't care much for the general theme. (I've actually found this love theme to be a bit corny.)

Dark Flame is basically the worst of the series, and I'm so thankful I didn't purchase it with my own money. There are two more books left, and I'm honestly not sure if I even want to read them. I don't know if I care enough or not at this point. I give every series a full chance to have at least one good book, but this is too much. I'll probably continue (knowing me). I just hope it won't be a complete waste of my time.

I don't know how this series went so far downhill when Evermore was such a beautiful debut.

At least I can say it holds more meaning than Blue Moon and Shadowland.


1.5/5 stars



Noel, Alyson. Dark Flame
New York: St. Martin's Press
2010

Shadowland by: Alyson Noel

I'm sorry it took so long for me to finish this one. I wanted to take my time since I did quite a bit of plowing and cramming through the last novel I read, Under the Dome, and at some points I just didn't feel like reading this.

My first impression of the third installment in this series went something like this: Wow. I like it so far. 4/5 stars as of now, better than Blue Moon, not as good as Evermore. But, around the middle I felt the general plot (again) reminded me way too much of Stephenie Meyer's, Twilight Saga. I loved the Twilight Saga, so at some points I felt like Alyson Noel was basically copy-cating Stephenie, except witches and Immortals and psychics replace vampires and werewolves. This made me angry not only for the obvious reason already listed, but the fact that it was so predictable.

The ending turned out to be much better; not as predictable. I just hate how the past two books in this series end at what seems like the wrong time. Shadowland ended much better than Blue Moon, but still...

Some good points to mention is how Alyson Noel writes. I can relate to how she describes how the leading charecter, Ever, is feeling from Alyson's writing. Books are always better when you feel what the charecter feels, much like here in Shadowland.

A quick pet peeve of mine: The back of this book is misleading.

Unfortunately, however, Alyson Noel has pretty much lost the game. From now on, I will no longer be purchasing any more books in this series. There seems to be a bit too many cons for me in this series, yet it can be so entertaining at the same time. I never wanted to come to this. However, I will borrow Dark Flame from the library, and I haven't decided what to do with Radiance, and if I like it (or them) I will purchase it/them later on.

This series is good, but not something to spend money on, except Evermore. (Oh, how I love that book!) But, with more books of The Immortals series to come, that can all change.

Shadowland - 3.5/5 stars

Evermore and Blue Moon by: Alyson Noel

Last night I just started reading Shadowland, the third installment in The Immortals book series by Alyson Noel. I'll be done with it sometime soon and leave a review here, but I figured it would be best to quickly review the first two books in this series, Evermore and Blue Moon.

I read Evermore a little less than a year ago. My first impression (based upon the way the main young man of the series, Damen, acts) was that it was too much like Stephenie Meyer's Twilight. I loved Twilight, and I feared that this was going to be a bad copy-cat. That opinion didn't last long. Evermore turned out to be a great novel in more ways than one. The romance element wasn't the only element of the story, but more touching things as well. For example, Ever's dead sister, Riley (whom she can still see in the form of a ghost/spirit) and their relationship and things they had to deal with almost left me in tears. The tragedies included into this story make you feel for Ever and everything that happens to her. 5/5 stars for this series starter.

Since I was so pleased with Evermore, I was more than excited to read Blue Moon. However, I found Blue Moon to be a disappointment. Sure, the main idea was great, but I couldn't take Ever seriously this time. I felt like the whole book was wrapped around Ever sitting around and complaining about her problems. I am aware that this makes the book more realistic to some degree, but... I don't know. I just didn't like this one as much for that reason. The ending still managed to leave me wanting more, but that's mainly because of its sudden and abrupt ending. I give Blue Moon a 3.5/5 stars as a rating.

If Shadowland fails (to my opinion), I may give up on this series, but I really don't want to. I'm not in it too deep yet, but I enjoy it thus far. I'll leave a review here soon.