Review: After Dark (The 19th Year #1) by Emi Gayle

Posted January 3, 2013 by Lola in Fantasy, Review / 10 Comments

review1
After Dark (The 19th Year)
by Emi Gayle

I got this book for Review

Blurb from Goodreads: What eighteen year old Mac Thorne doesn’t know will probably kill her.

In exactly eight months, five days, three hours and thirteen minutes, Mac has to choose what she’ll be for the rest of her life.

She has no choice but to pick. As a Changeling, it’s her birthright. To Mac, it’s a birthchore. Like going to school with humans, interacting with humans, and pretending to be human during the pesky daylight hours.

Once darkness descends, Mac can change into any supernatural form that exists—which makes her as happy as she can be. That is, until Winn Thomas, the biggest geek in her senior class figures out there’s more to what hides in the dark than most are willing to acknowledge.

In this first of the 19th Year Trilogy, Winn might know more about Mac than even she does, and that knowledge could end their lives, unless Mac ensures the powers-that-be have no choice but to keep him around.

After Dark was included in my list of best books I read in 2012 and that’s why I wanted to post my review also on my new blog. This book is awesome!

My Review:
5 stars without a doubt. I loved this book, it was so addictive and one of the most original stories I have come across in some time. I loved the idea behind the plot, but also the way this book is written. And the characters where likeable too. The only two complains I have is that I would’ve preferred more world building and I want more of this book.

The main idea of this story is pretty original. Lead character Mac is a changeling and can shift to every supernatural creature she wants, but she has to choose one form before she turns 19. The story starts off mysterious and a bit confusing and only bit by bit we find out more about the world and the characters. Normally I like to have explanations pretty soon, but the author did a good job of making the mysteriousness not too bad. Ofcourse I wanted to have more explanations, but the story was so good, that I didn’t mind waiting for them.

This book was so addictive and even though it still took me quite some time to finish it, once I picked the book up I didn’t want to stop. I really liked the story and even though some parts where a bit predictable, there were also many parts that surprised me. Also the writing style of the author feels original and fresh and she even managed to make the romance scenes original, while these are often a bit cliché.

The characters are very likeable too. Form the first page on I already liked Mac, she is stubborn and strong and insists every time on her right to make her own choices. There are quite some side characters and while I think some could have gotten a bit more attention, the ones that got enough attention where likeable and had their own personalities. There were a few side character that I often confused and from who I didn’t know from their name who was who. So the lead character was really likeable, but some side character could’ve used a bit more attention.

Now world building, I love world building and want to know as much as possible about the world in which the book takes place. This book actually didn’t provide much world building, especially not at the beginning. And while most times I would hate that I didn’t here, I actually enjoyed the mystery and finding out alongside Mac more about the world. Mac the lead character actually knows very less about the world she inhabits and finds most things out along the way. What I did mind was the fact that even though Mac can shift into any form, we still don’t get an idea what the powers and limitations of each form are. Probably because there are so many supernatural creatures, that it would e boring to explain it all, but I would still like to know more about each of them. Mainly I was just so intrigued and fascinated by the story and the original world that I wanted to know more and I felt like there just wasn’t enough world building to satisfy me.

To conclude: I loved this book, it was addictable and original. I loved the story and the main character. Some side characters would’ve profited from more attention. Also I would’ve liked more world building, mainly because I was fascinated by this original world this author has created. I really can’t wait to read the next book!

Photobucket

You can find this book on Goodreads

You can buy it here:
Amazon
B&N
Kobo

Tags:


10 responses to “Review: After Dark (The 19th Year #1) by Emi Gayle

    • Hi Vivian, thanks for following me :). I will go and check out your blog. This book was published at the end of October, so it’s still a pretty new book.

  1. Like Vivian.. I have never really heard of this one! 🙂 Thanks for introducing me 🙂 I like the fact that it seems backwards, she’s going to help him instead of the guy helping the girl.

    Lol at confusing characters. Side-characters need to have a very memorable personality for me to remember them 😉

    • Well I think the guy and the girl actually end up helping each other, you just have to read it :p.

      There are so many side characters in this book, that it was a bit difficult to remember who everyone is.

  2. Ooo Lola you have me excited to read this one, first I love the cover and then all of your lovely key words like original, addictive, and lovable characters. I like you love world-building so i am a little disappointed it wasn’t more, but think I would like it none the less! Awesome review!

    • I love the cover too and it totally fits the story! I think it’s that I love world building so much, that it I often think there is too less world building, because I just want to know everything.

Leave a Reply to Terri Rochenski Cancel reply

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.