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| TITLE: Cracked (Soul Eater #1) AUTHOR: Eliza Crewe PUBLISHER: Strange Chemistry PUB DATE: Nov 5 2013 |
Summary from Goodreads:
"Meet Meda. She eats people.
Rating:
*Thank you, NetGalley and Strange Chemistry for the copy of Cracked.
Well, technically, she eats their soul. But she totally promises to only go for people who deserve it. She’s special. It’s not her fault she enjoys it. She can’t help being a bad guy. Besides, what else can she do? Her mother was killed and it’s not like there are any other “soul-eaters” around to show her how to be different. That is, until the three men in suits show up.
>They can do what she can do. They’re like her. Meda might finally have a chance to figure out what she is. The problem? They kind of want to kill her. Before they get the chance Meda is rescued by crusaders, members of an elite group dedicated to wiping out Meda’s kind. This is her chance! Play along with the “good guys” and she’ll finally figure out what, exactly, her ‘kind’ is.
Be careful what you wish for. Playing capture the flag with her mortal enemies, babysitting a teenage boy with a hero complex, and trying to keep one step ahead of a too-clever girl are bad enough. But the Hunger is gaining on her.
The more she learns, the worse it gets. And when Meda uncovers a shocking secret about her mother, her past, and her destiny… she may finally give into it."
>They can do what she can do. They’re like her. Meda might finally have a chance to figure out what she is. The problem? They kind of want to kill her. Before they get the chance Meda is rescued by crusaders, members of an elite group dedicated to wiping out Meda’s kind. This is her chance! Play along with the “good guys” and she’ll finally figure out what, exactly, her ‘kind’ is.
Be careful what you wish for. Playing capture the flag with her mortal enemies, babysitting a teenage boy with a hero complex, and trying to keep one step ahead of a too-clever girl are bad enough. But the Hunger is gaining on her.
The more she learns, the worse it gets. And when Meda uncovers a shocking secret about her mother, her past, and her destiny… she may finally give into it."
Rating:
“Mom only wanted me to kill people who deserved it, and my morality’s flexible enough to toss in self-defense (and everyone knows the best defense is a good offence... my morality is almost a contortionist).”
I’m trying to choose which line from this book was the best to quote for my review. I’ve highlighted so much but have been deliberating which one stood out most. It’s a hard decision considering how much I enjoyed reading through Meda’s voice.
Meda, our anti-heroine protagonist (imagine the irony) is a spunky, sarcastic, witty little soul eater. Living by herself after her mom’s death, she stumbles upon a group of her kind. Only they seem a lot more dangerous than she thought she was. Coming across them made the predator turn prey, a total strike on her ego if I may say so.
“...I’ve gone from thinking I’m Superwoman (OK, so maybe her evil twin) to having my ass handed to me.”
Yup, that totally bites. To make it worse, someone comes to her rescue, and that rescuer happens to be a part of the people who hunt her kind down...
Meda’s character was so funny and entertaining. I couldn’t stop myself from reading through Cracked, even though I had a pile of things to do that day. To be honest, Meda’s character and the narrative would suffice for me to say that this was a great read. Fortunately, the author did not stop there.
Along with an interesting protagonist and a set of memorable friends and tag-a-longs, Eliza Crewe created a well thought-of plotline of the journey of a girl who deemed herself evil and nothing more find her true self. There may be a few bumps and bruises over the story (I feel there were inconsistencies with Meda’s personality switches which should have triggered suspicion on any person, albeit as naive as Malachi. Crusader or not, it was an obvious act that should have been called into question. But maybe he really was just blinded by faith so...), otherwise it was a smooth execution.
My experience with Cracked was filled with a lot of action-packed ass-kicking scenes, laughing out loud moments and commentaries, and some awww-inducing heartwarming scenes in the mix. I do have to point out that Meda, (pardon the spoiler) as it turns out, doesn’t have a love interest here. I got fooled for a minute there but it doesn’t bother me as much. Although I still find Chi’s persistence kind of cute, I’m not keen on the love-hate relationship between him and Jo.
I am mostly grateful to this book for getting me off my reading slump. I’ve read this around late December of 2013, with the holidays and some personal events I’ve been organizing in the way, plus my job, and not to mention the dreary experience with reading books from earlier Debut Authors of that year, I’ve slumped off my reading schedule. Cracked got me back my reading mojo. So thank you, Meda! And thank you, Ms. Crewe! That was one awesome story!
*Thank you, NetGalley and Strange Chemistry for the copy of Cracked.
