Paperback, 384 pages
Expected publication: September 8th 2012 by Flux
Source: Net GalleySynopsis:
An Irish heritage, Celtic myth, and deadly beauty
In eighth grade, Brianna did something so dreadful she was suspended and homeschooled. No one could explain what happened that night . . . except Brianna’s Irish grandmother, who gave her a silver charm bracelet and told her to wear it until she turned seventeen. Ever since she slipped it on, Brianna has felt like she’s invisible. People stare right past her as if she doesn’t exist. And that includes Blake Williams, the one boy she can’t resist.
But everything changes in one frozen, silver moment when Blake sees her–and recognizes what she’s been hiding. Brianna is descended from Danu, the legendary Bandia of Celtic myth. Yet before she can fully understand who or what she is, Brianna accidentally binds her soul to Blake–whose tribe has spent the last thousand years hunting Danu’s descendants to protect humanity.
Review:
Silver covers new terrain where paranormal YA is concerned because it eschews vampires, werewolves and angels (thank God, pun may be intended) for Irish mythology which is still somewhat new ground. The book isn’t perfect and in fact, there are several things I had trouble with – mostly the “breeder” business and how easily the main character seems to stereotype certain types of girls. However, I confess that even with all these issues, I really liked this novel.
The main character thinks she is metaphorically invisible to the opposite sex because she’s not good looking enough or because she simply fades in contrast to her best friend. I liked how this scenario is approached because Brianna is a very relatable character. She is one of those protagonists who retain their composure even while supposedly in the throes of love. More on that later. Blake, on the other hand, is the local lothario who seems to bed any girl he takes a shine to. His relationship with Brianna and his instant reaction to her surprises both of them but perhaps has more of an effect on Brianna as she finds out that she’s not 100% human as she had thought herself to be.
You guys, usually in novels, there is the whole forbidden love thing which doesn’t make sense and is annoying to boot but here, it actually makes sense. Vance explores the question of fate and inevitability and brings it to a conclusion that is not just believable but it is one that you can get behind wholly. Blake does start out sounding like a character that you will not like but by the end he is developed enough that you see exactly what Brianna sees in him. As I was saying before, Brianna is a relatable protagonist and I liked her because the decisions she makes are sound, she does not lose her head and become a noble idiot or goes into paroxysms of nauseating love whenever Blake is around. I really liked that.
I also liked how there were no mean girls around. I mean, there are glimpses of one but they aren’t a whole part of the narrative . I appreciated that. Also, the chemistry between Blake and Brianna is off the charts. It’s smoking. I liked how Silver didn’t pretend to be anything but the romance novel it is – despite the coating of paranormal genre it is given. And it does the romance really well. In conclusion, I liked it. Quite a bit actually. If you want something fun, new and thrilling, try it out. Recommended.
