I liked this book, most of it anyway. But it is first and foremost a Psychological Thriller from the very start. There are a number of other Genre Elements but this is a study of how Kaitlyn acts to being kidnapped. No matter what else the kidnappers tell her she has been kidnapped and that makes all of them responsible for what happens. How she is treated and how she reacts are all parts of the Psychological horror she's been thrust into.
This is definitely an interesting read that will take many readers out of their comfort zone. I would not recommend this for any of my young adults living at home. I'm not even that sure about the maturity level of those out of the home. Most of the earlier part of the novel is alright with questionable elements in the protagonists decision to stay with this group to begin with. There are some spots where it can be argued that she had few choices-or at least believed she had few. There were plenty of places where she was led to believe she could walk away. I wasn't convinced that the reason she stayed was because she was afraid for her life at that moment.
There are a lot of elements in this novel that make it a rough read at best. Kaitlyn is the only reason I stayed with this book. She definitely comes of as a strong female character with a lot of guts and determination. She initially comes off as a person who has isolated herself to a point that she has no relationships of any merit. She keeps men at at couple of arms distance away. Yet, it seems that inexplicably she is kept captive because she is drawn to Micah.
As the story goes Kaitlyn is out skiing by herself without anyone really knowing what she had planned and she is caught in a snow-slide and buried, left to think she will die all alone. This seems like an unfortunate accident, but we later learn that she might be causing disasters such as this one. This is all a setup for her and us to feel better when she finds she's still alive. Feeling better about it lasts only a fleeting moment.
Now this talent of her's may make her dangerous. Up until now apparently not dangerous enough that the people watching her are worried. Still now that they have taken her from this disaster they have her locked up and drugged and hindered with the excuse that she's too dangerous to be out on her own. Except at first they don't tell her that they just continually treat her like some hostage. Which is why it makes it hard to understand why her decision is to stay with these crazies when they offer her an out.
It's possible that the offer isn't real. But she doesn't give it much consideration even while believing it is legitimate. It seems she has some major flaw in her personality or something is awry that's made her infatuation for Micah and her curiosity outweigh her safety.
Add to this that she's been attacked by a pervert, Shawn,who mutilates Kaitlyn and promise to do more. I was really hoping, by her demonstrated force of personality,she'd be asking for the first boat or flight or horse out of there and suggesting they need to euthanize the bastard. Kaitlyn seems to have some character flaw though that prevents this.
It seems related to that same thing that makes her fall for Micah- this is someone who has handcuffed her to the bed a couple of times.
Aside from those things I liked the notion of the Gaia the seven and the Chakra. I'm just having no confidence in Cato and Micah and Shawn. It doesn't help at all when they seem so blase about what Shawn has done that he is still in the picture even after they have such compelling evidence. But, what am I saying? These are the people who have kidnapped Kaitlyn, for her own good of course, so maybe they shouldn't be expected to do anything about that.
I did like Susan, but she's Micah's sister so I'm suspicious of her.
Kaitlyn will need to work on controlling her powers and that includes the power to make better choices. That's not going to happen until after a whole lot of things go south.
It's the last quarter of the book that gets really rough. I really do think that Kaitlyn is learning a few things, but it's all done the hard way.
I'm hoping things go better for her in the future of this series. I will definitely read the next part.
If you like Psychological Suspense Thrillers and mystical magic earth type Eco stories you will like this, but you'll have to endure some mature and rough parts, so beware.
J.L. Dobias
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