Review: Fated - Sarah Alderson

If you can't choose who you love, how do you know who to trust?

Lucas Gray is half Shadow Warrior, half human, and a member of the Brotherhood - a group of assassins tasked with killing the last purebred Hunter on Earth before she can fulfil a dangerous prophecy.  That Hunter's name is Evie Tremain.

Evie is seventeen-years-old, a waitress, and has just discovered she is the last in a long line of demon slayers - and an unwilling participant in a war between Hunters and Unhumans that has raged for the last thousand years.

When your fate is already determined, can you fight it?

Fated Series:
Fated
Severed
Shadowed

Visit Sarah Alderson's website for more information

Review:
Evie is just a normal waitress, desperately saving money so she can leave her small town behind and move to New York. That is until she comes under attack from a group of demons (or Unhumans as they prefer to be known). Now she is thrown into the supernatural world, discovering she is the last born Hunter (or demon slayer) and it is her job to protect humanity. Lucas is half human and half Shadow Warrior and he works as an assassin for the Brotherhood (the Unhuman assassins who are set on destroying the Hunters). His latest job is to kill Evie but can he actually go through with it?

Sarah Alderson's debut Hunting Lila was one of my favourite books of the 2011 so although I'm desperate to get my hands on the sequel Losing Lila I was just as excited to read her stand alone novel Fated. I'm going to say it right now - I wasn't disappointed! In fact I think I liked Fated even more which really is saying something! As with Hunting Lila the action in Fated starts on the first page and is pretty much non-stop until the end making it a gripping read.

I loved the world building, Sarah has created a great selection of different types of Unhumans (or demons) that I enjoyed learning about. I'm also curious to learn more about the Hunters and their history. What I liked most is that you get to see things from both Evie and Lucas' points of view so you get to know the characters on each side of the war. It soon becomes clear that neither side is purely good or evil, there is definitely a mixture of good and bad on both human and unhuman sides so it's hard to know which team you should be routing for. You get the feeling that the two sides have spent so many years at war that neither of them really knows why they started fighting in the first place.

Evie is a great main character, she is thrust into the whole supernatural world with a sharp shock when she is attacked and although she takes time to adjust to this new world she doesn't just sit around complaining. She also doesn't just blindly trust what other people tell her, she is determined to do some investigating of her own and make sure she finds out the real truth. If you loved Alex from Hunting Lila you'll love Lucas just as much but in a different way. Lucas is just as protective as Alex was but has more of a bad boy vibe going for him (don't you just love a bad boy?!), the only thing that was missing was a motorbike lol. I loved the way things build up slowly between Evie and Lucas, there is instant lust but not instant love so their connection is much more believable. The tension between the two of them is very well written and although you're made to wait a long time for the kissing scene it is well worth the wait! Yes, I do have a new book crush in Lucas!

Although the story doesn't end on a major cliffhanger there is definitely room for this to be the first installment of a series. When I asked the author she confirmed that she has actually already written a further two stories about these characters but they haven't been contracted yet. I for one am praying that they get picked up by a publisher because I desperately want to know what happens next with Lucas and Evie! My only complaint with Fated is that I wanted more, Sarah Alderson could have doubled the page count and I'd have been happy. If you're looking for a fast paced, action packed paranormal story with a fantastic romance then you need this book. Now I can't wait to get my hands on the author's next book, Losing Lila, it's definitely at the top of my wish list.

Source: Received from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review

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