Airel - Review

Airel (The Airel Saga, # 1)

By: Aaron M. Patterson & Chris White

Published: August 31st 2011 by StoneHouse Ink (first published May 1st 2011)

379 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal, Angels

Source: Personal Kindle Library

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Goodreads description--All Airel ever wanted was to be normal, to disappear into the crowd. But bloodlines can produce surprises, like an incredible ability to heal. Then there’s Michael Alexander, the new guy in school, who is impossibly gorgeous…and captivated by her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she can hear the sound of pages turning, and another, older story being written. It is the story of an ancient family, of great warriors, of the Sword of Light, and the struggle against an evil so terrible, so far-reaching, that it threatens everything. Airel knew change would be an inevitable part of life. But can she hold on when murder and darkness begin to close in and take away everything she loves? Will she have what it takes when the truth is finally revealed?

What to say? What to say about Airel? I guess I can start with saying that I'm giving Airel 3 Stars. Overall, I was disappointed. It was only an "okay" read. The plot was average. The characters only slightly likeable if not bordering on annoying. There were no real plot twists, meaning everything was quite predictable. It was a fairly easy read for me. The narration flowed smoothly enough, but there just wasn't much there to keep my interest. Obviously, I kept reading and finished it, but that was mostly because I knew I wanted to move on to something else and I would only feel comfortable doing that if I finished Airel first. Because had I put this one down there's a good chance I wouldn't have picked it back up again. (Okay, let's face it, we all know I need to complete what I start so I would have come back eventually, but only after reading everything else I could get my hands on first).

Also, let me briefly discuss how at one time I really enjoyed a book that carried about the whole "love at first sight" idea. I'm not quite sure if I've evolved and my tastes have changed or if this book's approach to the idea was just not up to par. I'm really undecided, but either way, I didn't enjoy it in this book.

Things I did like include the portions related to God, El, how the angels praise and adore Him. The authors didn't seem to stray too far from Biblical text which I appreciated. There were some nicely worded quotable thoughts. Such as..."I don't know if this will change my life, if I can move on and be strong, but I know that I will be fine. I will be okay in the end. Because I am enough." And I liked how Kreios discussed with Airel how when you "love someone so much" that you begin to lose yourself, well, that's not exactly healthy. It's definitely not what we should seek out of relationships. I completely understand being so wrapped up in how you feel, how someone else makes you feel, and how you feel about yourself when you're with someone else that you begin to lose yourself. And while I'm 100% for loving deeply and intensely and giving your soul to someone else, the key is being able to survive without them...not being completely consumed and lost if you find out they've betrayed you (which more than likely will happen sooner or later in one form or other--even if they don't mean to).

Other than that, I can't say enough that this book was simply "okay." Have you read Airel? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Updated: February 5, 2015