Monday 4 November 2013

Review: Unbreakable

Unbreakable
Author:

Publication Date: October 1st 2013        
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

I never believed in ghosts. Until one tried to kill me.
 When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn’t know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy’s room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon — a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.

Now Kennedy has to take her mother’s place in the Legion if she wants to uncover the truth and stay alive. Along with new Legion members Priest and Alara, the teens race to find the only weapon that might be able to destroy the demon — battling the deadly spirits he controls every step of the way
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I really, really wanted to like Unbreakable.

1) It was in one of my Waiting on Wednesdays

and
2) It was pitched as Supernatural meets The Da Vinci Code.
What wasn't there to like?
A. Lot.
Outcome?

As the great (ha!) Nicole Scherzinger once said on X Factor UK, no, baby, no.
When I first found out about Unbreakable, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it,  hoping for another good one like Anna Dressed in Blood, since I'm not really fussed over Jana Oliver's Demon Trappers series, but it was kind of a poor imitation.

I started off weak, really, really week.  Kennedy's' mother dies, she get's attacked by a ghost, only to be saved by hot mysterious twins.
 
Ghost gets stabby. Kennedy runs away with said twins, because you know, they barely act like they know what they're doing, and all common sense says, go with the hot guys. Because obviously they're not murderers or rapists or just plain old crazy. Oh, and talks of the Illuminati, because hey, let's blame the illuminati for everything, yes?
All in the span of fifty-five pages.
 
 
 
I was reeling to throw in the towel, and sarcasm cannot contain itself.

So why didn't I?
I still have no clue, maybe I thought it would get better, or the fact that I bribed myself with white chocolate covered pretzels to at least read half so I could assess it more better.

By the end I was glad that did, and it did get better.
The characters didn't, but the story did, and it shone within the pages of  the spirit scenes, with creepy children and a reminiscent of-I'm not going to say the name because it seriously creeps me the hell out and I'll be paranoid for days- that horror film with the well.

I'm also wrote this in the dark, so things are going...well.
If you've watched any paranormal film, and of course the Supernatural, you'll be familiar with the tricks of the trade, the rituals and symbols and wards, and there is still some interesting aspect to it. But there was nothing original to it.

Like I pointed out above, the pacing was bad and I don't think really evened itself out. I'm all for being dropped into the middle of it, but that's the point. We weren't dropped into the thick of it, we were at the beginning and suddenly everything had changed at once without getting to know the Kennedy before, and the Kennedy after. It made it harder to determine character growth since you didn't get a feel of who she is.
It's pretty much safe to say I didn't connect with Kennedy, and since it's from her point of view, it made the rest of it hard to carry on with because there isn't much of a voice, she's boring, and lacked anything distinctive, unlike Alara. Hell, even Priest. I think I would've preferred Alara as the narrator, she had a flare to her.  Kennedy's kind of whiny too, and just...I can't even put my finger on it.  She was naive when talking about the gadgets and sprit's ect... who hasn't heard or know about that stuff in this day and age?
 

 
The romance annoyed me the most, since all of what had happened, she still had time to gawp and develop feelings for both of the twins *cough* Insta triangle *cough* and of course both of them like her back and of course she has a hard time picking one because that's just how it goes. Let's discuss Jared and Lukas.
One brooding and jaded? Check.

The other nice and sweet? Check.
Attractive? Check.

Siblings? Check.
Hate one another? Double check.




So now, the ultimate question.
Was it worth it?

Besides the standard, and once it got into the nitty and gritty, I would like to say yes, but, no.

Unbreakable was a fast paced,  with horror scenes that'll give you nightmares, but lacked continuous progression.

  Rating: 3/5