Review: Shattered Souls

Title: Shattered Souls

Author: Mary Lindsey

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Part of a Series?: Standalone

Goodreads Summary:

 Lenzi hears voices and has visions - gravestones, floods, a boy with steel gray eyes. Her boyfriend, Zak, can't help, and everything keeps getting louder and more intense. Then Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, who reveals that she's a reincarnated Speaker - someone who can talk to and help lost souls - and that he has been her Protector for centuries.

Now Lenzi must choose between her life with Zak and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. But time is running out: a malevolent spirit is out to destroy Lenzi, and he will kill her if she doesn't make a decision soon.

Review:

2.5 stars

This book was a pain to finish. It took me twice as long to read, and I had to pick up different books to keep myself occupied. The main thing I think was bad about this book was that Mary Lindsey was really inconsistent with the quality of her plot. She shoved all of the boring stuff into the first 75% of the book, leaving only a few chapters for the exciting action and mystery.

I was totally overwhelmed with the sheer number of clichés that riddled this book. Had it not been for the predictability, I think Shattered Souls would've been fairly interesting. It had reincarnation, ghosts, exorcisms, and the sweet smell of faux-bureaucracy. But we also got a whole lot of messy love triangles, stupid protagonist decisions, and frustrating "I love you but can't be with you" speeches. 

Lenzi is awfully difficult to support. She is weak, whiney, and overall a pain to read about, especially in the first half of the book where she alternates between rejecting Alden's help with her ghost problem and playing 20 questions with him even when they're on a time crunch. Her ongoing identity crisis didn't help either. Furthermore, she falls into the "innocent seductress" stereotype too easily. She leads on Zak, her current boyfriend, even though she clearly loves Alden from day 1. Can I just tell all YA female protagonists with love triangle issues that CHEATING IS CHEATING, NO EXCEPTIONS. If you have a boyfriend but like someone else, break up with the boyfriend before you kiss the other guy. Because if you kiss that other guy before breaking up with said boyfriend, you are a CHEATER and deserve no sympathy if said boyfriend tries to kill you in a fit of drunken stupidity.

The plot is a little disjointed and uneven. I can sort of understand the amount of infodumping in this book. There is a lot of backstory that we need to know. However, told through Alden in monologues that compose several pages, the flood of new information made me feel overwhelmed and frustrated at the stagnation of the story's real plot! The minor restitutions scattered around the chapters are sort of satisfying (and really, really interesting. no sarcasm there), but they only served to increase my impatience. When we finally get to the Big Baddy of the book, the final conclusion to the battle left me wanting more. Even Lenzi comments on how fast everything was going; literally, we meet, learn about, and beat the Big Baddy all in the span of half a day. 

Overall, I thought this book had potential. Unfortunately, I just got tired of wading through the clichés in search of a good story.

Terrible Thursdays

Terrible books aren't unusual. For ever Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or Hunger Games, there is a book that deserves to be burned and use as fuel for the coming Apocalypse. And while I understand that authors put their good hard time into their stories, I'm going to express my right to the First Amendment. I understand that writers work hard for their books. I consider myself a writer, and it's harsh getting criticism. But sometimes, it's best to take the medicine and swallow.

The terrible book I'm going to feature today is Evermore by Alyson Noël.

If any book encapsulates the "I'm going to try to get all the preteen Twihards to follow me on Twitter" literary phenomenon (and I use this word in the most negative connotation possible), it's Evermore.

First off, Ever (what a ridiculous name. no joke.) is so blah. She's an outcast because every teenage girl feels awkward and alone when she has that time of the month. She has a tragic past because Noël needed an excuse to be dark and twisty. And she likes this guy. And for the love of me, I can't remember his name. I read the book a couple years ago, and he was so generic, I forgot what he's called. So Generic Boyfriend is hot, immortal, and so so sweet to our charmingly beautiful-but-thinks-her-soul-is-black protagonist. Gag me with a spoon. 

Some poor sap got roped into playing the bad guy for this story and tries to tear apart their precious little relationship. But again, the power of love prevails and all is happy in Ever's world...until the next book which is even worse IMO.

Clichés

After reading my fair share of paranormal romances, I've come across a few stereotypes in my lifetime. And I'm not saying that I hate paranormal YA--in fact, I actually kind of like the genre. But there are some really annoying clichés that piss me off.

Character stereotypes:

The Beautiful Outcast

Ah, this is the most common stereotype. She thinks she's ugly, awkward, and a freak of nature, but she has no idea how beautiful she really is. In fact, as she passes through the halls at school, guys stare at her sheer beauty. Of course, this sparks the ire of the popular bitch/queen bee. She's the most relatable to teen girls because who hasn't ever felt like an outcast before? In most YA books, she acts as the narrator. In most YA paranormal books, she acts as the love interest for the supernatural love interest.

Common examples: Grace (Shiver by Maggie Steifvater), Bella (Twilight by Stephanie Meyer), Luce (Fallen by Lauren Kate), Ever (Evermore by Alyson Noel)

The Popular B***h

Blonde, rich, vapid, etc. She's the enemy antagonist who rides around in a Mercedes, wears Prada, and usually has her fingers hooked into the male love interest. Occasionally, we're given a little more depth to this character (e.g. maybe she has family problems) but generally, this character is left for us to hate.

Common examples: All the blonde bimbos who oppose the Beautiful Outcasts above

The Best Guy Friend

This is the short leg of the love triangle. The best friend usually acts as the main protagonist's support. He's usually funny, comforting, and sensible--all characteristics that counterbalance his best friend's stupidity. Since The Beautiful Outcast is so insecure, she needs The Best Guy Friend to lean on but in a totally platonic way! That's the cliché--the best guy friend is totally in love with The Beautiful Outcast, but she always falls for the dark, brooding types.

Common examples: Simon (Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare), Jacob (Twilight by Stephanie Meyer),  Puck (Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa)

The Brooding Jackass Man(Whore) I changed the label because I realized that not all the hotties in YA are jackasses. But they are all emo.

The main love interest for our protagonist, he's usually aloof, mysterious, hot-as-hellfire, well-dressed-in-a-straight-guy-sort-of-way, and a complete asshole to his girlfriends. Sometimes he's a player and sometimes he's not. But the thing that always remains consistent is his love for the main protagonist. He feels shocked because the protagonist has changed his views on the world, utterly capturing his heart like no girl has before him.

Common exampes: All the sexy men who beat out The Best Guy Friends for the protag's affections.

Plot Clichés:

• The main protagonist, despite being a protagonist, loves Wuthering Heights
• The brooding jackass usually is some sort of vampire/werewolf/angel/faerie/etc.
• Love triangles always end up with the protag+the brooding jackass
• If the main protag is a supernatural, she doesn't realize it until some unexpected experience changes her life.
• The main protagonist changes the world somehow
• The series ends with the main protagonist kissing the brooding jackass as the sun sets on a perfect future....
• The main protagonist meets his/her significant other at school, most likely as a table partner in class.