I don’t even know where to begin with this one. I was very excited for Hunter’s story before starting this one. Excited for more world building and learning about the other side of things and all that. Plus I really liked the way Hunter was turning out in Spark.
With power comes enemies. Lots of them.
Hunter Garrity just wants to be left alone. He’s learned the hard way that his unusual abilities come at a price. And he can’t seem to afford any allies.
He’s up to his neck in hostiles. His grandfather, spoiling for a fight. The Merrick brothers, who think he ratted them out. Calla, the scheming psycho who wants to use him as bait.
Then there’s Kate Sullivan, the new girl at school. She’s not hostile. She’s bold. Funny. Hot. But she’s got an agenda, too.
With supposedly secret powers rippling to the surface everywhere around him, Hunter knows something ugly is about to go down. But finding out what means he’ll have to find someone he can trust…
First off, I’m going to say this was probably the best written book in this series. As much as I loved Storm, it had plot holes that bothered me and felt like a simple, fluffy, fun book. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Fluffy-fun books are my favourite kind. And then Spark stepped it up a notch and had the fluffy fun stuff and some really serious things. And you got your first inkling of how wrecked the Merrick family really is.
But, in Spirit, everything just goes to hell in a hand basket and the characters feel so real and the darkness and OH MY GOD WHY WON’T EVERYONE JUST SIT DOWN AND TALK TO ONE ANOTHER!
Some bad things happen in this book. Some real bad things. Also, I didn’t ever really like Hunter. And I don’t mean this as a criticism of the writing or anything, if anything, it’s a compliment. He was just so messed up and everyone had lied to him his entire life and he just didn’t understand how to be a good friend, or even a decent human being.
In fact, I would say Spirit is all about Hunter learning how to be a decent human being. Learning that he is allowed to make that choice. So while I didn’t like Hunter all that much, I respected him and the problems he was having and the choices he was being forced to make.
Oh, and let me tell you, I wanted to slap his mother. Like, sure, his grandfather was a jerk but whatever. His mother needed some sense slapped into her. I realize she was suffering from grief as well but parents have responsibilities to their children. Including not letting them get slapped around by their grandparents.
His journey toward decency is mirrored by Kate Sullivan. Another spirit user who has been raised in such a way that being a decent human being was something she had to figure out for herself, and is still in the middle of figuring out. It makes me super curious about these Guide people and how they can do this to people. Pretty much I want them all to be wiped off the face of the planet.
You didn’t see quite as much of the Merrick brothers in this book as in the others. And seeing them from someone else’s point of view was interesting. You could see where they could come across as dangerous jerks without any redeeming sides. It would’ve been interesting (though I don’t see how it would’ve worked at all) if we’d gotten Hunter’s book first and honestly jut believed the Merricks were evil. I liked that while they refused to take any more crap from Hunter they also treated him like a teenage boy. Not an adult who could take care of himself and who would have everything figured out already but a messed up teenage boy who is still trying to get over his father’s death. They treated him better than his family was. I’m still so angry at his family.
So. The ending. Wendy, who is responsible for me ever having read this series, told me she was expecting my freaking out tweets when I got to the part where everyone freaks out.1 The problem being, I didn’t freak out. I didn’t really care? And this is my only thing I didn’t like about the book. As much as it was a twist and was kind of shocking because I didn’t like a certain character (not Hunter) it didn’t really affect me. And also, I just think…it would’ve been much more interesting to see…uh…the opposite of what happened happen. Because this was quite convenient.
I can’t explain why without completely spoiling the ending. But let’s just say, while it was emotionally interesting, I think, in regards to world building, it was just too easy.
Like really, what would’ve happened if that hadn’t happened? Or whatever.
Being vague sucks sometimes.
I am looking forward to where we go from here. The next book promises to be full angst and craziness and I’m really, really hoping that a certain truth about one of the brothers finally causes them all to just SIT DOWN AND TALK TO ONE ANOTHER!
I got this book from Netgalley as part of the Spirit tour being hosted by the Midnight Garden. Make sure to check out all the other posts on the tour, I can’t wait to hear what everyone else thought of the ending. Especially make sure you check out the Elementals Virgins posts. Who read the entire series for the first time for the tour.
Also we were given some goodies to offer our readers. Everyone likes GOODIES??? RIGHT? Right.
First off. Want to read Chapter One of Spirit? Well, you can. Right now. Here it is:
Spirit, Chapter One.
I promies you’ll enjoy it. And!!! Even more exciting! Well, more exciting to me because I’ve already read Spirit, is we all get to vote on which of the boys we want a short story written about. Except, if you’re not going to vote for Gabriel then I really just don’t think you should vote. I need more Gabriel. And this is all about me.