Unknown
Unknown by Rachel Caine
Outcast Season #2
Living among mortals, the djinn Cassiel has developed a reluctant affection for them-especially for Warden Luis Rocha. As the mystery deepens around the kidnapping of innocent Warden children, Cassiel and Luis are the only ones who can investigate both the human and djinn realms. But the trail will lead them to a traitor who may be more powerful than they can handle...
Not quite human, not quite djinn, Cassiel is still struggling as she hovers the line between them. Her human side comes with a whole slew of emotions, the most being centered around her attraction to her Warden partner, Luis. Meanwhile they are still searching for the missing children and have hit many roadblocks along the way. But nothing could have prepared them for what they are about to face, and it will take every last bit of strength and will to make it out of this one alive.
There wasn't a whole lot of forward momentum in the plot department in Unknown. At times it just felt like Cassiel and Luis were just chasing their own tails and running around in circles. However, I don't have too much of a problem with that as this keeps things a little more realistic. If Pearl really is this big bad threat, then finding her couldn't possibly be easy. Also, the very small forward plot momentum was easy to ignore due to the relationship development. When I read the first book, I had suspicions that something was brewing between the two of them, and I was very happy to have that confirmed. Even though they had a very rocky start, there is some major chemistry between them, and it was good to see that development between them. I have a feeling they will really need each other in the coming fights.
If you read my previous review, you know that the main threat was hitting really hard for me, but I couldn't talk about it then without spoiling things. Anytime the threat in a book puts a child at risk I am devastated and stay completely on the edge of my seat the entire book. I was always this way, but now that I have children of my own it is only a hundred times worse. I get all "momma bear" protective and I was absolutely sickened by what these children were going through. To make matters worse, the child who was most personal to Cassiel and Luis is about the same age as my daughter which devastated me even more. The brain-washing, and what amounted to psychological torture made this threat impact me more than any other danger could have possibly have. At least the issues stopped short of anything sexual, otherwise I would have had to have thrown in the towel as I just would not have been able to get through that. Even so, I almost had to force myself to continue on with the book. Really the only thing holding me on was the hope that things would start taking a turn for the better for the good guys.
This was a really hard book for me as on one hand it was enjoyable, especially in the character development area. However, on the other hand I was pretty miserable while reading it. So, I guess in the end I'm having some pretty mixed feelings on how I feel about Unknown. I can't really fault the book because the writing was excellent, and it really did make me feel real emotion, it is just unfortunate that most of them were so negative. However, I think if I can keep holding on the victory will be so much sweeter and emotionally impacting in the end, almost making the journey worth the pain. For now I'm going to give Unknown a solid three rating and look to the next installment.
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Unknown (Outcast Season, Book 2)
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