AimeeKay Review: The Unseen by J. L. Bryan

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Source: From author for review

Cassidy is a young tattoo artist living in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta. She’s always suffered terrible nightmares, and sometimes the hideous creatures seem to follow her out of her dreams and into her waking life, though she’s the only one who can see them. Drugs and alcohol can blot them out, but never entirely chase them away.
When a demonic cult begins to take control of the people in her life, including her younger brother, Cassidy discovers that the unseen world of monsters is very real. She can no longer avoid it. To protect those she loves, she must accept her own hidden supernatural talents and face the forces of evil before the sinister cult achieves its twisted goals and casts the world into darkness.

AimeeKay's thoughts:

I love reading J.L. Bryan’s work. I am always amazed at the different worlds he is able to create in his novels and The Unseen is no exception. I will say that The Unseen runs darker than his other novels that I’ve read, but it still drew me in from beginning to end.

The main character, Cassidy, is on big hot mess. She has the ability to see creatures that aren’t there, but she doesn’t realize that they are real. She ‘copes’ with her ‘hallucinations’ by getting as high and drunk as she can, all day, every day. In her defense I think she has a wicked sense of humor and Bryan does an awesome job at having her grow into a kick ass heroine. As I mentioned above this novel is on the darker side. He also does a great job with the supporting and side characters as well. For instance, I actually felt bad when one of the ‘extras’ died. (Nope not saying who, don’t want to spoil anything) But seriously she was funny and I had gotten to where I was looking forward to seeing what she would say next.

I love the detail Bryan puts into his work. Not only does he bring his characters to life, but he makes the world they inhabit feel real enough to walk into. The unseen creatures that Cassidy sees feeding on the people around her make my skin crawl. I can just see them in all their creepy crawly glory. Another great example of his descriptive prowess is when Cassidy is going through physical therapy from her accident. He just describes the pain and her reactions perfectly.

As for the overall story itself, as I said above it pulled me in from beginning to end, but it is dark. There is violence, gore and some very twisted sex. If you are a fan of his other series’ I think you will definitely like this one too. The ending does have some loose ends, but they are written as the perfect jumping off point for the next novel. No overly steep cliff hanger or anything.

I would definitely recommend this one to anyone over 18. It’s good, but it is for mature audiences only people! I’m saying this because the holidays are a comin’ and J.L. Bryan is an awesome writer and his books would make awesome prezzies. So if you know someone that likes fantasy/horror that is over 18 I would recommend this one as a great gift. However if you are shopping for a younger teen, I would recommend going with his Songs of Magic series instead.

The Unseen is only $3.99 on Kindle!

$3.99 at Barnes and Noble as well for Nook!