Saturday, 28 December 2013

ARC Review: Salt by Danielle Ellison


 
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Author: Danielle Ellison
Pages: 365 pages
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date: January 7th, 2014
Received From: the publisher, for an honest review
Status: PDF (ebook), Salt (#1)

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Penelope is a witch, part of a secret society protecting humans from demon attacks. But when she was a child, a demon killed her parents—and stole her magic. Since then, she’s been pretending to be something she’s not, using her sister’s magic to hide her own loss, to prevent being sent away.

When she’s finally given the chance to join the elite demon-hunting force, Penelope thinks that will finally change. With her sister’s help, she can squeeze through the tests and get access to the information she needs to find "her" demon. To take back what was stolen.

Then she meets Carter. He’s cute, smart, and she can borrow his magic, too. He knows her secret—but he also has one of his own.

Suddenly, Penelope’s impossible quest becomes far more complicated. Because Carter’s not telling her everything, and it’s starting to seem like the demons have their own agenda…and they’re far too interested in her



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Review:

 
This book was totally worth the read! Even from just the synopsis, I knew it was going to be a good book.
 
Penelope is a unique character: she's a witch with no magic, but she can take magic from her immediate family. But when she's out one day, she discovers she can take magic from Carter, a really mysterious witch who declares himself a "demon tracker", the same way she can take it from her family. In her world, if you are unable to do magic, you are deemed as Static, and removed from the witch community. Penelope wants to be an Enforcer so she can find her demon, but as she gets closer to her goal, she realizes that not having any magic is the least of her worries.
 
I liked her as a narrator, and I really do feel sorry for her. She knows she's a witch, even without any magic, but her grandparents do their best to discourage her from becoming an Enforcer to save the rest of them- they go so far, to the point where she is almost married off. But what I liked about Penelope is that she is a total fighter- a total badass- who knows her worth, gets her way, and does her best to protect the ones she loves. She's like a magical version of Rose Hathaway.
 
The story, overall, was really interesting. I found it beautifully executed. It was really good, and while I was reading it, I tried my best to figure out what was going to happen next using the foreshadowing. I found the foreshadowing, but I was completely off when it unfolded later on in the story!
 
When it comes to reading debut novels/the first book of any series, I've kind of fallen into the pattern of getting to know the character, getting to know the world, figuring out what happens next in the plot before it unfolds (sometimes it happens way too early), and get gut-punched every time my OTP fails. But with Salt, Ellison does an amazing job with keeping everything at a good pace, developing the characters (to lead to the next book), throwing me curve balls that I knew I should've gotten right away (but alas, I didn't), and leaving enough loose threads hanging for the next book.
 
This story was such a good read, that I seriously am upset that there isn't a sequel already written. I had a good time reading it, even when I got mad that I got a lot of things wrong (*cough*Carter*cough*).
 
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Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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