Early Review: Silver by Talia Vance
Silver by Talia Vance
Bandia #1
An Irish heritage, Celtic myth, and deadly beauty
In eighth grade, Brianna did something so dreadful she was suspended and homeschooled. No one could explain what happened that night . . . except Brianna's Irish grandmother, who gave her a silver charm bracelet and told her to wear it until she turned seventeen. Ever since she slipped it on, Brianna has felt like she's invisible. People stare right past her as if she doesn't exist. And that includes Blake Williams, the one boy she can't resist.
But everything changes in one frozen, silver moment when Blake sees her--and recognizes what she's been hiding. Brianna is descended from Danu, the legendary Bandia of Celtic myth. Yet before she can fully understand who or what she is, Brianna accidentally binds her soul to Blake--whose tribe has spent the last thousand years hunting Danu's descendants to protect humanity.
In eighth grade, Brianna did something so dreadful she was suspended and homeschooled. No one could explain what happened that night . . . except Brianna's Irish grandmother, who gave her a silver charm bracelet and told her to wear it until she turned seventeen. Ever since she slipped it on, Brianna has felt like she's invisible. People stare right past her as if she doesn't exist. And that includes Blake Williams, the one boy she can't resist.
But everything changes in one frozen, silver moment when Blake sees her--and recognizes what she's been hiding. Brianna is descended from Danu, the legendary Bandia of Celtic myth. Yet before she can fully understand who or what she is, Brianna accidentally binds her soul to Blake--whose tribe has spent the last thousand years hunting Danu's descendants to protect humanity.
Years ago Brianna did something terrible, and Brianna had to be homeschooled after being suspended. Despite her constant questions, no one would tell her what really happened, other than that she must wear a silver bracelet and never take it off until she turns seventeen. Ever since that day, she has been invisible with people unable to really notice her, including the one boy she wishes would. Then one day, when her bracelet slips off, her wish comes true and Blake not only notices her, but realizes what she really is, a descendant of Danu, and his ancient enemy. Now everything is changing and Brianna almost wishes for the time when she was invisible, especially as she becomes further entangled with Blake when she accidentally ties their souls together and becomes his tribe's prime target.
I'm a huge fan of the Celtic mythology in Silver. Granted a lot of my love for it could possibly stem from the star-crossed lovers aspect, as I am always a sucker for that type of thing, but even when you put that aside the rest more than holds its own. The descendants of those ancient gods and goddesses, known as demi-gods/goddesses are still locked in an epic struggle as one side seeks to completely eradicate the other. The powers and strengths each side held were rather amazing enough so that it almost became hard to believe they were able to hide who they were from others. I especially liked the 7th generation rule as it helped to keep things balanced. Although, Blake's side has found a way to "cheat" so perhaps balance isn't exactly accurate, but more of a limit on an otherwise seemingly unlimited power, something I feel is very important in any story. I hate it when the characters' abilities have no bounds in a book as it keeps things from feeling realistic, so I was happy to see that basis for control in Silver.
I absolutely love the enthralling nature of the romance in Silver as it really kept me on my toes. Brianna and Blake went through so many transitions in their feelings for one another, both forward and backward that my head was spinning. Starting out, Blake is the secret crush to Brianna, one that is all consuming. Then he notices her and BAM, she falls head over heels because of it. Wrong! Despite her borderline obsession, Brianna mostly keeps her head about the whole thing, and is actually rather suspicious of the whole thing. Even so, their connection moves from pure lust to something much stronger and rather unnameable. Then of course bad events ensue, and there becomes a stark mistrust between them despite the heavy connection. There just was something magical about it all, and I really loved that it didn't follow any cookie cutter molds.
This book was rather unique and quite different. In all honesty I had no idea what was going on for most of the book. Usually this would have become frustrating and turned me off from the book, however there was just something so magical about the writing that I stayed hopelessly enthralled despite my confusion. All of the twisted and tangled plot threads were weaved together in an almost magical way that I didn't quite realize how lost I was until it was all said and done. In all honesty, that made rating this book incredibly hard for me as while I was sucked in the entire book, I still think there was room for things to have been made a little more clear making me instinctively want to lower my rating. However, since the rest of the elements, including the characters, and the mythology were well above par I think it overshadows that confusion enough to overlook it. I look forward to the next installment, and I would recommend Silver to anyone who wants a rather unique read in the paranormal ya genre.
(Received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley)
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