Unseen
Unseen by Rachel Caine
Outcast Season #3
After Cassiel and Warden Luis Rocha rescue an adept child from a maniacal Djinn, they realize two things: the girl is already manifesting an incredible amount of power, and her kidnapping was not an isolated incident.
This Djinn-aided by her devoted followers-is capturing children all over the world, and indoctrinating them so she can use their strength for herself. With no other options, Cassiel infiltrates the Djinn's organization-because if Cassiel cannot stop the Djinn's apocalyptic designs, all of humanity may be destroyed.
Now that Cassiel and Luis have rescued Ibby, his niece, they realize that pearl's threat goes so much deeper than they ever realized. The horrors of what was done to these children, and what the rescued ones must still face comes at a killing blow to them. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Cassiel must find a way to get into one of Pearl's cult operations, even if is means sacrificing everything she holds dear. Failure is not an option.
While the previous book focused more on romantic development than forward plot momentum, the complete opposite can be said for Unseen. The plot was thrown into hyper drive, with plenty of intense action. Meanwhile, my heart was thrown into a blender as Cassiel experiences her first taste of heartbreak. I should have know everything couldn't have stayed all roses between the two of them. I realize things could have been worse, but that really doesn't make it much easier, especially when all I want to do is strangle Luis for his behavior. Somehow Cassiel, takes all of the blame upon herself, even though she is the one making the touch choices. I mean news flash, if she didn't there wouldn't be a world much longer. How could she just let everything she has grown to love slip through her fingers rather than stand up and fight? She can't and she doesn't, yet it costs hers more than she could have ever realized, so my heart bled right along with hers.
It has been a very long time since I have despised a villain as much as I despise Pearl. My anger is almost all consuming, to the point where I am desperate to get my hands on the final installment just so I can yell: "Ding Dong the Wicked (b)witch is Dead!" At least I hope I will get that satisfaction, Rachel Caine couldn't be quite so cruel to let that psychotic, manipulative creature succeed, right? That being said, I have absolutely no idea how Cassiel could possibly win in the end as she has been thwarted at every attempt and basically demolished each and every time. Not that really is a bad thing as it promises for a completely unpredictable and entertaining final installment.
It still amazes me just how different this series is from the Weather Warden series, yet somehow still can tie into that world so well. The emotions and stakes are so very different that what was experienced before. I can imagine it was no easy feat to accomplish this, so my hat goes off to Rachel Caine for yet again knocking my socks off and thoroughly impressing me with her creative genius. (Even if she does drive me a little batty with her love of cliffhangers. Evil Author! Seriously, I met her on tour and she has the evil laugh perfected. It is quite creepy.) That all being said, I do feel like a little bit of a hypocrite as I flew through Unseen as fast as possible in trying to get one step closer to the resolution, yet I know I will be very sad to say goodbye to another set of awesome characters that I have come to love. It really is a catch 22 situation, but that just shows how enjoyable the books are.
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Unseen (Outcast Season, Book 3)
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