Lucid (Brightest Kind of Darkness #2) by P.T. Michelle
Edition: Kindle
Pages: 328
Publisher/Date: Patrice Michelle / July 7, 2012
Price: $2.99 on Amazon (this is a STEAL, by the way, for how good these book are!)
Reading Challenges: TBD
★★★★★★★★☆☆
The biggest problem I had with P.T. Michelle's Lucid (Brightest Kind of Darkness #2) was that I let it sit on my to-read shelf waaaaaaay too long.
But I have an excuse: When I first read Brightest Kind of Darkness, I was going through a YA phase and absolutely fell in love with Nara and Ethan and every other bit of awesomeness packed into the novel. I put Lucid on my to-read list, but by the time it came out I had moved on to some other type of phase (I believe it was zombies).
Anyway: Here's the Goodreads synopsis.
Once Nara combines her prophetic ability with Ethan’s power to outsmart Fate at his own deadly cat-and-mouse game, she’s more determined than ever to help Ethan learn the meaning behind the raven sword tattoo that suddenly appeared on his back after their confrontation with Fate.
During her quest to uncover the tattoo’s secrets, Nara enlists the help of some new friends and discovers her own surprising connection to Ethan.
While Nara digs deeper into the mystery, her desire for answers leads her down a dangerous path full of powerful and ruthless enemies. Swept into an age-old battle, Nara quickly learns that keeping one’s enemies close can be a necessary evil, making an intangible enemy she can control far more preferable to the human enemies she can’t.
Lucid picks up prettymuch where Brightest Kind of Darkness left off. The books easily flow into one another, but Lucid focuses more on Nara's development. In fact, Ethan is absent for most of the story. At first, that kind of bummed me out because Ethan was one of the few YA boy toys I actually liked, but the addition of a few new characters (primarily Drystan, an exchange student from Wales) coupled with a solid and fast-paced plot filled the Ethan void. I cringe as I say this, but I almost liked it better without him.
So, the break down...
Thing that had me all "hell yeah!":
Nara's fantabulous character development. I didn't think I could like her more than I already did, but Lucid proved me wrong. She is developing into a total kick-butt chick -- actually, with her training sessions with Drystan, a chick that can actually kick butt. I won't give the end away, but I will say it was both surprising and a perfect culmination to the events leading up to it. And it totally made me want to read more.
Drystan was a pretty cool dude. When he was first introduced, I was on the fence. He seemed cocky and potentially dangerous. I think he still might be dangerous (or has the potential for it), but the dynamic between him and Nora was entertaining to read. I'd like to see more of him in future books, as long as it doesn't turn into a Ethan-Nara-Drystan love triangle. Please, please don't go for that YA cliche. PLEASE?
The plot was pretty sweet, too. I mean, I stayed up waaaay too late reading, but had no regrets. I learned so much more about Nara's heritage (is that the right word?), her father, the ties to Fate and those effing crows. I'm having a hard time putting it into words, but everything just jibed so well together. It wasn't cliche. It wasn't predictable. It just...worked! (Articulate much?)
Things that I just sort of dealt with because I still really liked this book:
Ethan's return made me not miss him so much. I don't think I like the "new" Ethan. Whatever self-discovery mission he was on (I don't buy the whole trying to work things out with his parents thing -- there's obviously more to that), he comes back kind of like a male chauvinistic d-bag. One of the things I enjoyed about Ethan that set him apart from other YA love interests was the fact that he supported Nara and worked alongside of her, never assuming the role of the "protector." Now, when he finds out Nara has been training in self defense, he seems angry that she might get hurt and that she shouldn't have to train because he should always be there to protect her. Uhm, did you really just say that? If I were Nora, I would've used my mad fighting skills to kick his butt. It's not just that, though, he just has this whole dark macho thing going on now. It almost made me wish that Drystan could be the new romantic interest.
The last so-many pages of the book is prettymuch a droning pukefest of Nara and Ethan doing everything but boinking. Is this the PG13 version of 50 Shades of Grey? In fact, since Ethan returns, it seems to turn into a mostly sexual relationship. Like, sure, he's been gone and they have tons they need to talk about, but instead of asking questions, Nara is like "Let's have almostsex!" Blah. Could've done without that (or at the very least a shortened version of it).
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