Friday, December 17, 2010

Legacies

Summary: Spirit White’s life is not exactly where she wants it to be, to say the least .Her parents named her an awful hippie name and then unexpected her parents and her little sister die in a car crash, in which Spirit miraculously survives. Then, of course, after that her entire house burns down in a freak accident. So no family, no house, no home, as far as Spirit is concerned she has nothing left to live for. Until she finds out that she is to be taken to Oakhurst Academy. A high-end prep school that is to take custody of Spirit until she is twenty one years old. The thing is, though, that this is no ordinary school. All the students are magicians. On top of that students have been disappearing and Spirit and her friends decide to make it their responsibility to figure out what exactly is going on at Oakhurst.

Review:

This book was very slow. I actually ended up reading two books in between this one (books I had previously read). It was a lot like Once A Witch. Poor Spirit was the only one without her power and there was some greater evil that they all had to fight against. Unlike, Tasmin, though Spirit remains “powerless” throughout the entire book, which is refreshing. I actually really did like the slight romance between Burke and Spirit and I think the concept of the powers developing more as they grow is very interesting.

The concept is interesting; a super-secret school that houses witches and wizards whose parents all mysteriously die. It isn’t executed very well though. I never really felt the danger of being “tithed” and never truly believed all the pressure and competitiveness Spirit frequently said the school placed upon them.

It wasn’t all that engaging. It was fun, but I never really got into it. A.K.A. it wasn’t bad, but not anything life changing. I will probably pick up the second just because I want to know what Spirit’s mage gift will be.

Rating: 3/5

Reviews from the pros:

“An enchanting mixture of mystery, romance, magic, and murder.” –Delia Sherman, author of Changeling.

“Legacies has enough action for reluctant readers, and enough character development for teens to see themselves in this group of friends. The book's fans are sure to eagerly await Spirit's discovery of her mage gift and further confrontations with the forces of evil.”-School Library Journal

“Immediately pulling the reader into Spirit's mourning psyche as well as the fast-paced action of the mystery, mixing marvelous elements of fairy tales and mythology into both the plot and references in the students' Magical History class. There's also a touch of gentle romance, and readers who appreciate everything from X-Men to Harry Potter will be begging for the sequel, signaled by the abrupt ending.”-Booklist

Happy Reading everyone!

-She who Reads A Lot