Just realise I never post the English version!
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It’s Kresley
Cole and it’s YA .. thought I was slow to pick this up!
Series : Arcana Chronicles, Book 1
Genre : post-apocalyptic/ supernatural/
paranormal/ love-hate/ YA
The book
talks about post-apocalypse, in which the leading character, Evangeline or Evie,
has begun to see hallucinations and hear voices in her head. While she ignores them
and tries to appear as normal as she can, her so-called vision becomes reality
the strange light turns living beings into ash.
The situation
goes from bad to worse as all plants as well as most animals are gone, and
water bodies become arid! There are zombies attacking human and the remaining
humans starving and killing one another. Evie herself is struck in her home
until Jackson or Jack, her hated classmate, comes along and leads her on the
road in order to find her grandmother, whom she believes to have an answer for
the current world, and most of all… her power.
Overall, the
book paces rather slow, not in terms of the adventure/ journey, but in terms of
Evie’s transformation and adjustment to the new world. She can’t survive the
world by herself, but depend on Jack in every single way, as we have seen her
as delicate and sheltered. One obvious example of her naivety (among many!) is,
despite preparing to escape the approaching vicious army, she insists to bury
her mother before starting the journey (although she cannot complete her
intention in the end). Still, her weakness is transformed to be the strength of
the book is beginning the book and its several first chapters with the view of
Arthur, the serial killer/psychopath who tries to lure Evie into the house to
be his latest victim and asks Evie to talk about her life through her point of
view. Indeed, this tactic perfects everything! (spoil) [Although Evie is
reluctant to use her very power throughout the book because she does not even want
that power nor to use it to hurt others, as she has been attacked and hunted
wherever she goes (this is especially true that women and girls become rare), it has become clear to her that the existing
society is now exploiting the weak. Therefore, she slowly starts to change her
mind and meeting with Arthur is the last straw that she decides not to be
anyone’s victim ever again!
“…Just like Jackson said, I am DONE! …… I am sick of this world, sick of being
attacked and kidnapped!”
“All I ever
wanted was to be normal. But tonight I’ve accepted that’s not possible. Even
without Death and the Arcana, I now know that I have no hope of it. As soon as
I saw these girls chained down here, it suddenly hit me. I’m not like them. I’m
not normal. I don’t have to be trapped. I just have to become the vicious
Empress I was born to be….”]
This new attitude is so in contrary with her belief to see
goodness in other people and in the world. “I’ve been good to people in the
past, and even after the Flash, after all the times I’ve been wronged. I still
nurtured this naive belief that people wanted to be good to me too.” In the book, she has seen
a lady whom she names the Red Witch, with similar power of controlling the
plants, uses that power to hurt others. But then, (spoil) [it reveals
that that Red Witch is
her in the past life (if not her so-called ancestor), and the words saying “The
Red Witch is raising.” is meant as her changing emotions and attitude to darker
side, rather than having Red Witch as another character to have more power.]
And so, the
meeting between Evie and Arthur becomes another beautiful twist because,
although the readers will read and get excited with whether she will become his
victim or get away from him, it turns out that (spoil) [,from Evie’s point of
view, she hears his voice and realises that he is one of the special kids in Major
Arcana. So, she comes to see him and hopes to find someone who understands the
situation and transfers it to her, rather than someone whom she has to fight
with. This means being attacked by Arthur activates our girl to start getting
on her ground and fight with another Major Arcana character, as she is fated.]
Still, had Evie used her power in the last 1/3 part of the book, not in the
last couple chapters, the book would have been more a read.
My personal
last surprise is Jack himself. Before reading, I did think he would have
supernatural power like Evie since, in the series, Cole emphasises on special
kids. Still, he is normal and the book ends with his knowing and fearing her
plant-controlling power and her ‘changed’ feature. The relationship between the
two is that of hate-love because of class and attitude gap. While Jack is drawn
to her, he can’t shake the idea of her mocking about his inferiority (thought
Evie doesn’t even think about mocking him); Evie herself does think he has
interest in her as the last girl, not as his dream girl. It is so uncertain
about their relationship, especially when Evie’s secrets that drive them apart
become clear to him all too well in last pages.
I find that
Cole writes darker and more realistic stories in YA as it is stressed by the
destituteness and killing, and that she employs different writing style. But
she writes and makes me believe that it is from a 16-years-old’s point of view,
especially that on the world, love, relations and so on.
The book is
given B-, and with B+ in the ending chapters. I can’t find the right one-sentence
conclusion this time, but I want to see Evie change faster (at least in the
last 1/3 of the book, not in the last chapter!) and can’t help comparing her to
ready-made/ self-made characters like Katniss from the
Hunger Games since the latter makes more satisfying story lines. Alternatively,
it would have been more interesting with 10 chapters shorter (of 41 chapters).
But I agree with Cole when she mentions “Readers approve!” Still, I do believe
ending with cliff-hanger should not be done with once-a-year books at all.
Waiting for
the second one, Endless Knight, for my confirmed speculation on Death and
Evie’s shared history … and for the ‘transformed’ Evie with her power.
