Friday, April 19, 2013

Spellcaster (Spellcaster #1) by Claudia Gray

When Nadia’s family moves to Captive’s Sound, she instantly realizes there’s more to it than meets the eye. Descended from witches, Nadia senses a dark and powerful magic at work in her new town. Mateo has lived in Captive’s Sound his entire life, trying to dodge the local legend that his family is cursed - and that curse will cause him to believe he’s seeing the future … until it drives him mad. When the strange dreams Mateo has been having of rescuing a beautiful girl—Nadia—from a car accident come true, he knows he’s doomed.

Despite the forces pulling them apart, Nadia and Mateo must work together to break the chains of his family’s terrible curse, and to prevent a disaster that threatens the lives of everyone around them. Shimmering with magic and mystery, New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray’s new novel is sure to draw fans of the Hex Hall and Caster Chronicles series, and fans of the hit CW TV show The Secret Circle.
I had fun with this book. I really enjoyed Nadia as our heroine and Mateo as our hero. In fact, I really loved Mateo... he was the broken hero who comes through despite the consequences. I also enjoyed the other minor characters in this book. All had their place and some, like her little brother, were quite cute.

There were parts of this book that is typical YA. No love triangle so that is a huge plus. :) However, you do have a girl who is just learning her powers coming up against something unfathomable and still sees herself as a lone wolf able to defeat it. You also do get drama, but it is overshadowed by the main story. I also enjoyed the way she did spellcasting. Often it had to do with memories and the way you connect to them. Oh yea, and you get a parent who actually cares and it's a father! Happy with that since the parents are usually absent and non-caring... especially the father.

I give this book 4 stars. The ending is quite open so I can't wait for the next installment, but it isn't a cliffie. You just know that they aren't going to be in for a pleasant ride.
I won this ARC from Pitch Dark and no compensation for my review was given.

24 comments:

  1. Oh a new nice YA. I agree no love triangles is really a big big plus!

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  2. Yeah to a great cover and no love triangles.

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  3. I wasn't sure about this one when I first saw the blurb but, after reading your review, I might have to check it out! Yay especially for no Dreaded Triangle or cliffie!

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  4. Love the sound of Mateo and it is great to hear no cliffie. I don't always mind the triangles, but sometimes it is NICE to have a one man show.
    Brandi @ Blkosiner’s Book Blog

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  5. Well, I will surely read this sometime soon. It has been getting a lot of hype and I AM SO HAPPY that there is no love triangle. Definitely trying this one out
    Great review
    Your reader,
    Soma
    http://insomnia-of-books.blogspot.com/

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  6. Yay! I'm so glad you liked this one too Melissa! I loved both Nadia and Mateo, and I could have wept with joy over the fact there was no love triangle:) I also loved that her father and brother were so present, it's nice to find a paranormal YA book that has family present and involved!

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    1. I remember your review and I knew I would like Mateo! :) I loved that the father was involved! Her little bro was so cute. :D

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  7. Thanks for the review. I'm glad you enjoyed this. That's great there isn't a love triangle and it includes parent that cares. Definitely not common for YA.

    -Lauren

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  8. I can handle an open ending as long as there is no cliffie

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  9. Open endings are fine when there are sequels but lately I have been getting open endings for stand alones and that drives me nuts. I tried Claudia's Titanic book that I was just dying to read and it was only okay so I am not sure this is for me. No love triangle though that is a bonus.

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  10. A broken hero sounds good to me! I have a copy of this so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it!

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  11. I just wrote my review today for this one and I didn't enjoy it as much as you did.

    I didn't hate it or anything but it felt so similar to other books I've already read.

    The ending me bothered me more in the way that I didn't feel like we got anywhere but it at least had closure.

    It didn't blow me away but I do think the next one will be interesting.

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  12. I have not had the best of luck with witch books. I haven't read anything by Claudia Gray but I might give this one a try. It sounds good and you really liked it, so that's good enough reason to try it!

    Heather

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  13. This was a pretty good read, there were things I liked and things I didn't, but I'll definitely be giving book 2 a try. I didn't care for how fast the POV changed, but I did love the creative new take of how the spells were done. I also loved getting the the villain's view!

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  14. LOL! I got my book signed by Claudia today. Loved this book.

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  15. No love triangle? *runs around flailing* You have GOT to be kidding me. I remember this one from when Jenny reviewed it and I just got the audio, so I'll be listening to it soon.
    Great review, my friend.

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  16. Yay for no love triangle! I really need to meet this Mateo; I keep hearing how fantastic he is. :-) I love Claudia's Evernight series and her Titanic werewolf story, so I'm sure this will be a hit with me too. Great review!

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  17. No love triangle. Got me there! I think I might have this one in ebook...I can't remember now. Eep! Sounds like a great YA read. I look forward to it. :)

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