The Nine Origins - Kes Trester

THE NINE ORIGINS by Kes Trester

Description

Eighteen-year-old Blake Wilder usually hides her ability to see pivotal moments in other people’s pasts and futures, but when a premonition compels her to save a classmate’s life, she’s drawn into a centuries-old paranormal society on the brink of civil war.

As she struggles to find her way within a world of political intrigue and shifting alliances, her path is complicated by a budding romance with Nicholas, the chancellor’s son, and her attraction to Jessie, a man who makes up the rules as he goes. However, Blake will soon learn the truism that all is fair in love and war, especially when power is at stake.

When she witnesses a series of bizarre murders that have not yet occurred, it’s not long before the killer learns of her visions. Blake must decide whether to trust her head or her heart in a race to unmask the murderer before she is the next to die.

A special thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for this book in exchange for a feedback review. All statements and opinions stated in this piece are my own.

This is a origin book, a new one in the huge stable of books about people with super powers, extraordinary abilities, or to put it plainly magic. I loved the cover of this one and also the short description where the ability of the protagonist talks about premonitions and a power to see incidents before they happen, very Final Destination except here she has the power to see the future incidents.

What is good in this book is the way the powers, the nine are described so we have a big bouquet of different powers and various individuals who are able to control them at various degrees depending upon their level of strength; like in the X-men. The nine powers are well thought out.

The interest in the book would be to see how people use those powers and the book gives some very good situations for the various abilities.

The story is very easy going and one feels the inclination to continue reading the book not a compulsion but it seems to grow on you. I had a great love for fantasy books even before the Potter series and loved reading the books on SF and SFF with exotic storylines, locations and power centers.

Although this book is not exactly in the zone for me but it still has kindled some of my interest and I would be looking into further books in the series.

What did not work for me in this book is principally the characters, things seem to be happening very seamlessly like clockwork. Stories especially magical ones fraught with telling backgrounds and compelling characters should not be doing that. The protagonist has been keeping her power under wraps except sharing with her friend who knows all but when accosted by this representative of a new world of powers seems to cave in very quickly and has no mental blocks or doubts about the entire situation. The lady is supposed to be in college not a pre-teen like Harry when he was accosted by owls.

Our protagonist comes across as being unbelievably naïve and she bonds instantly with anyone who is willing too sweet-talk her. The book doesn't have characters interacting and bonding, they are not properly fleshed out and feel too 2-D. These are some things that could be worked into in the future books. I don't know maybe college goer's today are bonding without any depth almost like one does over social media.

The story line about two powers vying for supremacy within the magical community is also a tried tested formula, as is the knowledge that you are not alone in your predicament of being different, mutant, super-powered or a nine; subsequent books will show us how different this series is from the many others already in bookdom.

The story has enough bite for the YA audience it seems to be targeting and needs to be a little less obvious to reach a more mature audience.

I reserve my judgement here at 3 stars.

IMPRESSIONS ON MY SECOND READING

I just completed another reading of this book and had a close look at the characters in the story and the potential that it has for a future. I also tried to envisage the potential canvas that the story has in future sequels that are sure to follow this one. The future visage has impressed me that there is a lot that this story can do.

I expect the author to realize that in subsequent books and my own impressions are to improve the ratings for this book to 3.5 STARS.

I also recommend this book to readers as a story with potential.

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https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/134366167-sanjib-dash?order=d&sort=review&view=reviews

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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4913119844