Unmarked
Author: Kami Garcia
Release: September 30th 2014
Genre: Paranormal, Ghosts, YA
#2 in the Legion series
Series: Unbreakable (#1), TBA
Plot:
He is here... and he could be anyone.
Kennedy Waters lives in a world where vengeance spirits kill, ghosts keep secrets, and a demon walks among us–a demon she accidentally set free.
Now Kennedy and the other Legion members–Alara, Priest, Lukas, and Jared–have to hunt him down. As they learn more about the history of the Legion and the Illuminati, Kennedy realizes that the greatest mystery of all does not belong to any secret order, but to her own family. With the clock ticking and the life of someone she loves hanging in the balance, Kennedy has to ask the question she fears most: what is it about her past that has left her Unmarked?
Review:
I knew that the sole reason I enjoyed the first novel was simply chance, because when I read that one, I was kind of in the mood for a lighter and fluffier read, and I kind of predicted that I wouldn't like the second one as much. So, I'm not really surprised, but I will say that I am still pleased enough, because I did end up liking it more than I thought I would. This is by no means an outstanding sequel, let alone an outstanding series in the first place, but it's got something that I sort of like about it.
I have to admit that I really grew to like the characters in the first novel, so that foundation was already set and I think it's this fondness I carried with me into this one that really saved Unmarked for me. If I had to re-acquaint and re-like these characters, I don't think my reaction would have been quite the same. Sometimes I had to roll my eyes quite hard at what they did or said, and sometimes I just wanted to shake them. Still, I have to say there's at least some character development going on, which was nice to see, as well as some new cast additions that I actually liked as well.
The romances ... still a little too convenient and predictable. Jared turned into the absolute cheese monster, it was a little ridiculous. Also the fact that Kennedy is constantly being mopey and antisocial throughout the whole book — I mean, I totally understand where she's coming from and I don't hold it against her, but keeping up with her little pity parades regularly during the span of almost 400 pages... it does get a little annoying after a short while. Then there's the point of the budding romance between Lukas and Elle, which simply felt like a page filler and to have someone conveniently distract Lukas from the heartbreak he had to experience with the Kennedy/Jared thing from the first novel, as if every character needs a romance to round out their character arc, since yes, Alara sort of gets a love interest as well.
Which bringeth me to my next point actually, which was how frustratingly random the book could be sometimes. My fingers are itching to give examples here, but that would go into major spoiler territory already, so I won't, but I'll just say that sometimes I truly couldn't get behind why this thing or that thing was happening. It seemed to serve absolutely no purpose at all, except being, of course, a page filler. Something to hold you over until we could move on to the next plot point, but is in essence completely unnecessary and redundant. Sure, why not.
In the end, I did end up liking the book, as I said, I just didn't enjoy it as much as I did the first one. Which is kind of a shame, but like I said, I'm not terribly surprised or disappointed, as I really counted on this happening. I know me. Well, I for one am still definitely going to be reading the next book, which I think there's going to be one? So far, I still haven't read anything about a possible third one, but judging from that huge cliffhanger this one ended upon, there has to be one, no? Well, we'll see, I guess.
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