Rate this book

The Unseen Volume 2: Blood Brothers/Sin And Salvation (2003)

by Richie Tankersley Cusick(Favorite Author)

3.93 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0142423378 (ISBN13: 9780142423370)

languge

English

genre

Paranormal Fantasy

publisher

Speak

review 1: The second installment in the Unseen series picks up shortly after the first book left off. The novel's protagonist, Lucy Dennison, is haunted by her past experiences. Her world is turned upside down when she stumbles across an open grave while taking an evening stroll through a cemetery. To her horror, she discovers a young girl in the grave with a dagger embedded in her chest. In her final, dying breaths, the mysterious girl imparts a dangerous power upon Lucy. With this power comes a new, deadly world that Lucy blindly stumbles into. Lucy's life is in shambles, and as she attempts to piece it back together, she becomes aware of a non-human creature that watches her every move, haunting her every waking moment. This stalker lays in silent wait, carefully calculati... moreng the exact moment to strike.Overall, I enjoyed the first section of the book (which is technically the third book in the series) more than the second section (or the fourth book in the series). Despite the fact that I was thoroughly confused for the majority of the 3rd book, the sudden twists and turns made it an exciting read. Readers were left to guess how individual events were connected and attempt to identify Lucy's stalker. The events moved along at a fairly fast pace, keeping readers in the dark as to what would happen next and leaving them searching for answers. Beginning the fourth book, however, was like running headfirst into a brick wall. A very solid one, mind you. The plot took a turn for the worse, becoming even more confusing and rather hard to follow. The plot came to a standstill, containing a good deal of unnecessary "filler" chapters.My main complaint was regarding the conclusion. Both books in the series were leading up to the climax, which occurred fairly late (within the last 40 pages). As a result, both the climax and the ending were rushed, leaving readers with a decent number of unanswered questions. For example, the true identity of Lucy's stalker is never fully revealed. The author hints at his identity on multiple occasions, but leaves many gaping holes. Additionally, there is a large amount of information revealed about numerous characters in the final chapters of the book. This information is hurriedly flung at readers, not giving them enough time to absorb these new developments. If these facts had been revealed gradually, it would have been a different story altogether.I enjoyed the differing points of view, which tended to switch from Lucy's perspective to that of her stalker. The chapters that were written through her stalker's eyes were very well crafted; the author managed to conceal his identity until the final chapter. Readers are provided with brief glimpses at the stalker's plans and motives, but are left guessing as to who he truly is. Also, the transitions between different narrators were smooth and well executed, as opposed to the more common, abrupt, and choppy transitions.Lucy's character was frustrating at times, due to her indecisiveness and naive nature. She constantly denied the events that unfolded around her, choosing to ignore the truths that were clearly spelled out in front of her. When forced to confront these truths, Lucy concocted countless excuses, placing the blame on someone else. Additionally, Lucy was overly trusting, placing her faith in complete strangers. Consequently, she was extremely gullible. Lastly, she repeated the same mistakes over and over again. It was evident that she had not learned from any of her previous mistakes.And now for the romance, or lack there of. Despite Lucy's attraction to nearly every guy within a 50 mile radius, the novel contained minimal romance. Very minimal. As in two quick kisses in the entire series. There was no chemistry between the characters whatsoever. Readers were privy to Lucy's thoughts for the majority of the book, yet she never openly discusses her love interests. Therefore, it is impossible to determine whom Lucy truly loves.This book was decent; it had both its flaws and its perks. It was a relatively quick read, making it much more bearable. The plot became a bit complicated at times, however, so I would definitely recommend reading the first book in the series before tackling this one. It is imperative that you read carefully, or else you will miss important details. In general, I would recommend this to someone in search of a fast, easy read that differs tremendously from other YA books.
review 2: This series was originally released in 2005 and 2006, and was four separate books. Walmart recently repackaged and re-released the series as two volumes, each containing two of the original books. This seems to be the trend in books these days because I've been seeing soooo many others being redone this way. Anyway, I noticed it and paused to look at it a few times before finally giving in and buying it.I wish I would have written this as soon as I'd finished reading because now enough time has passed that I don't remember all the finer details. Overall, I liked these books. They are not grand literature, but it was a pleasant enough read. A quick and easy read too. The first book in volume one started out so good, I couldn't put it down and couldn't wait to get back to it if I did have to break away from reading. Things turned a little cheesy and over-dramatic for a while with one character but once he was removed from the situation things got better again. Each of the books ends rather abruptly, and then the first chapter of the next book is just a repeat of the last chapter of the previous book . . . which was somewhat annoying but oh well.The story kept me guessing. Sometimes that was good and had me tense and anxious for answers, but sometimes it was just because things were not explained clearly. The end left things hanging for me. While I did have to laugh because I had not seen the final twist coming, when all was said and done I felt like some things were just never tied up. I actually checked online to see if there was another book after these. LOLI had suspected all along that one main character (Matt, the priest) was not what he appeared to be, but he was my favorite character nonetheless and I was disappointed to see what his role in all of this really was. I'd had much grander visions. As for the unseen, the evil stalkers . . . what were they? I still don't know. Shape shifters were mentioned a lot. Some werewolf type thing was mentioned. Something about needing to complete the transformation from one class to the next was mentioned. But was it ever really explained? I didn't come away from this series feeling like I knew just what they were or why there were that way. It also got tiring sometimes always wondering if there was trickery going on, or if things were legit for the moment. But overall, yes, I did like this series and I would recommend it for a quick supernatural type read. less

Download links for: The Unseen Volume 2: Blood Brothers/Sin and Salvation

Advertising