Ari goes looking for answers to her past and finds herself in New 2, the post catastrophe version of New Orleans. The city, now owned by nine prominent families, is a haven for misfits, people of unusual powers and the strange darkness that New Orleans has always been known for. What she finds is definitely not what she expected.
What first attracted me to this book was the setting. I am admittedly a fan of a good southern setting, especially when you add a little goth to the mix. Of course what better place to find paranormal than New Orleans or as it is now called, New 2. New Orleans is a place with a soul as old as time itself, a warmth that draws you in and a strangeness that propels you away at the same time. Keaton makes you feel as if you are walking through the balmy streets of the city and does so in a way that doesn’t require pages and pages of descriptive narrative. This is perhaps my favorite part of this book.
As for the characters and plot, that is sort of a mixed bag. Ari, the protagonist is one minute passive and indecisive and the next minute going off and cursing at her antagonists. Ari could have been a little better developed so her sudden mood swings feel less contrived. As for Sebastian, I do like him but of course I’m always drawn to the dark, rebellious ones. As for their relationship, like Ari’s mood swings, is just a little too drastic. Too much happens too early on and was a let-down in the end.
I do love the ragtag assortment of misfit children Keaton is developing. While they are secondary characters in this book, they have the potential to develop into much more important roles of the next installments.
As for plot, I liked where this story was headed until Ari ran into a god, actually a goddess. For some reason mythological gods in New Orleans in the 21st century mixing with vampires, witches and the like, just didn’t sit well with me. I felt as if she were trying to combine Percy Jackson and Interview with a Vampire. While Keaton tries to make this goddess dark and scary, but it just didn’t work.
I think part of the problem with this book is that it’s too short. While I don’t like a lot of unnecessary narrative, I do think a few more pages could have made this a little more cohesive. There is a lot of action packed into a small book which is not something I normally complain about but in this case development seemed to be sacrificed in order to speed things along. There just needs to be a better balance.
While I didn’t love this book, I will likely read the next installment simply because it has so much potential. Keaton has already done a beautiful job with the setting and with a little better character development; the next books in this series could be fabulous.
