The Dark Divine - Book 2 - The Lost Saint

The Lost Saint by Bree Despain

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

****** SPOILER ALERT ******

I struggled at first to follow the story in The Lost Saint, primarily because I read the Dark Divine so fast on an airplane ride from Cape Town. Although I loved the story, I guess it didn't stay with me. As soon as I however got into the Lost Saint and did a bit of "catch up" with the characters, it was a refreshing and very enjoyable read. I was once again pleasantly surprised by the book, which I doubted I would like.

I found this read to be extremely satisfying. It is a welcome reprieve from the normal werewolf stories out there, which I am in any event not fond of reading. The story kept on surprising me from the first page and it was very difficult to predict what would happen next. I loved the fact that the characters faced many challenges in their development, as opposed to the moonlight and roses love stories flooding the market at the moment. Grace's struggle with the wolf is very realistic and subtle at first, but becomes apparant from her slight personality changes and sudden vanity and pride. At some point I was very irritated with her arrogance and self involvement but I soon realised that this was part of the influence of the wolf and was very much planned by the author.

On the whole the writing is smooth and the book reads very easily. There is just enough description to bring you into the world without it being overpowering. The writer helps you connect and "feel" with the characters which is a very succesful way of making the book a gripping and "can't put down" read.

I finished the Lost Saint in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. I can recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading YA fantasy.

DO NOT READ ON IF YOU PLAN ON READING THIS BOOK!

This instalment follows Grace as she learns the extent of her new powers and seemingly learns to control the wolf that seeks to control her. The author has a very clever way of setting up the scenes so that it initially looks as if Grace is doing so succesfully but as the plot develops it is clear that Grace is enveloped by the anger, desire, bloodlust and rage of the wolf. Lucky for her Daniel, her father and Gabriel realises this soon enough and is able to awaken Grace to the reality that the wolf has a much stronger foothold on her than she would have wanted to believe.

The story also introduces a potential new love interest for both Grace and Daniel. Talbot is also an Urbat who agrees to teach Grace how to use and control her powers and kill demons when Daniel and Gabriel refuse to do so. He is seemingly the only one who believes in her when no one else does and she turns to him for guidance. It is revealed that Talbot has done so with the ulterior motive to allow the wolf to take over Grace in order for her to ultimately serve the Shadow Kings, a dangerous pack who have been wreaking havoc in the city and Grace's town. A bigger plot is also revealed with the story of the Shadow Kings and one reads that Daniel's father is seeking to take control of Sirhan's pack when he dies and plans to use the pack to revive the days when the wolves could kill without restriction and without any fear of retribution.

The most surprising twist of all is of course the return of Daniel's power. Whilst he has been cured of the wolf that lurked inside of him, he has retained his Alpha essence and transforms into an imposing white wolf to rescue Grace when she almost dies.

It seems that the next instalment will contain many more suprises! I can't wait to continue reading this series!

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