So a few months ago, my reading challenge ground to a standstill. I'd just finished some really great books, and couldn't quickly enough find myself a new one. So, I just... stopped. Luckily for me, a book on my To Read list was released not long ago. This one came pre-recommended by Miriam of Create Hope Inspire, and received a glowing review from Angela of Striking Keys, two bloggers that I wholeheartedly trust.
Okay, preamble over. Needless to say, I immediately got my hands on a copy (two, actually, as it turns out), and finally broke the book drought. Double-yay! And the book was great! Triple-yay!
'Spark' sets out with an unusual and super interesting premise, wherein 17 year old Evie (protag) discovers that she must act as a human shield for her bestie, thanks to some government-experiment-gone-wrong-and-now-I-am-a-human-weapon revelation. There's also this wannabe-and-trying-really-hard-to-be assassin for her to deal with STAT, offering immense amounts of intrigue and tension. Because, dude's a psycho, and unfortunately he has the same freaky-deaky powers that Evie does.
Oh man, I had a thousand theories about who the assassin was, which is the bestest funtimes when you are reading/watching a story unfold. I'm a closet CSI fan (um, not so closet any more), so yep, this book was fun. And nope, I predicted none of the happenings in the final leg of the novel.
As for the romancey side of things, this was well drawn out, and had all the barely-contained tension that you'd expect from a YA novel. Oh those young adults *shakes head*. But really, I thought he was a well-worthy romantic lead (and sometimes they're not, amiright?), and I'm definitely curious to see where this goes next.
Which brings me to, the next up... Two more books to look forward to, yuss!! Oh the trilogy, happiest of story formats. Craw has left plenty of room to explore and world-build, and I for one will be lining up for the next instalment... And did I mention that this is a debut novel? By a New Zealand author? Props! 'Spark' will definitely hold its own on the international stage, yay kiwis!
Okay, so in my rush to read this book I purchased myself a copy - completely forgetting that I'd requested a review copy from Walker Books. Hmph. So now I have a brand, spanking new copy of 'Spark' to give away to a keen reader! Or parent of a keen reader (because much as I refute it, I'm not actually still a young adult). Just leave a comment here, and I'll draw a winner sometime soon (deliberately vague - I know myself well enough not to give an exact date). Open to anyone living EnZed-side xx
Thank you to Walker Books for sending out a review copy of 'Spark' by Rachel Craw.
