ARC Review/Giveaway: Megg Jensen - Sleepers

Megg Jensen - Sleepers

by Stef

Pub Date: July 20, 2011
Publisher: DarkSide Publishing
Format: ebook
Age Range: Mature Teen
Series: The Swarm Trilogy #1

An adoptee raised in a foreign land, sixteen-year-old Lianne was content with her life as handmaiden to the queen, until a spell cast on her at birth activated. Now she's filled with uncontrollable rage and access to magic she thought had been bled from her people years ago. Even her years of secret training in elite hand-to-hand combat and meditation can’t calm the fires raging inside her.

Her heart is torn between two boys, the one she’s always loved and the one who always ignored her. But when the kingdom threatens to tear itself apart due to rumors surrounding the queen’s alleged affair, who will Lianne protect and who will she destroy?

**This review is written about the book with the OLD cover**

When I'm at the book store, one of the things I like most about browsing for a book to read is checking the covers. I know, I know... you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. But I can't help it. Some of them just draw me in, others make the book appear (at least from the outside) to be boring. But this cover I enjoyed, it has some quality ingredients to a good story on it: fire, which makes me think it's going to have action and some danger, or maybe just involves fire magically (at this point having read the synopsis I know there's magic involved and am making a guess that it may involve said fire). It has a stone castle tower, so my line of thinking says it may involve some type of royalty in one way or the other (royal intrigue, fun!). Last but certainly not least, a fellow redhead is on the cover. You CAN'T go wrong there. :)

The cover doesn't lie. We meet Lianne, who to sum it up is a Dalagan "peace offering" adoptee given to the Fithians. She grows up away from her people and becomes the Fithian Queen's (Ah ha! Royalty!) servant. She sticks out like a sore thumb, as do the other two adoptees.Kellan and Bryden. You can tell that there's a sort of brainwashing going on about what's happening between the Dalagans and the Fithians. Lianne becomes close friends with the Queen, and when a betrayal is revealed, Lianne has to start making some tough decisions.

Not only does she have that to deal with, on her sixteenth birthday some changes start happening inside her that she doesn't understand. She falls in love with Kellan, but Bryden's solid support at her side makes her question which of them she's really meant for. Not enough pressure? They both have had the same experience she had, an Awakening, and they're both trying to convince her what she's supposed to do with her new found knowledge and power.

Lianne has the power to change everything with her decision. Will she choose correctly?

What I liked:

• The characters: I really feel the author did a good job fleshing these characters out, you get to understand Lianne and her tough decisions. Bryden isn't heavily involved at first but Jensen introduces him in a way that it doesn't feel she's smacking me upside the head with their relationship and rushing it. I liked how she introduced them. I also felt that the characters who were in those well known roles of King and Queen for this story fit their roles and were believable.
• World building: The world the Dalagans and Fithians live in may not exist, but she does an excellent job of describing what's going on and helping you imagine the story as it goes on.
• The ending: I don't want to give it away, but this book was not wrapped up with a pretty little bow. And I liked it that way.
  

What I didn't like:

• First half was excellent, but...: It petered out just a little towards the end. I felt like the first half of the book was really strong, at the end there just wasn't as much of that strength. Some things happened a teeny bit too fast, but overall it was still solid.

Bottom Line: I will most likely check out at least the next book in the series because of how this one ended. I want to see if it really can live up to the ending she threw in!

Rating:

3.5 / 5 book squirrels


Giveaway Alert!!

Are you intrigued by Stef's review? Well then, you're in luck! One lucky reader has a chance to win an ebook copy of Megg Jensen's Sleepers right now! Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter to win. It's an ebook, so this is international. Ends 12/27. Questions? Leave a comment here with a way to get back to you. Thanks and good luck!!



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