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Author Topic: REVIEW: Jessa L. Gilbert - Origins (Black #1)  (Read 3408 times)

Offline Lexie

REVIEW: Jessa L. Gilbert - Origins (Black #1)
« on: July 10, 2012, 04:46 AM »
Name of the book: Origins (Black #1)
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Mild Sexual Situations
Book publish year (optional): August 07, 2012
Rating (out of 5): 5/5
Brief intro (optional): Red pain, Red desire, Red need, Red hunger…

I have been plagued by the same dream for months now. A nightmare filled with red, dripping with death, where I am the hunter. There is no escape, no end in sight…. The nightmare has become a reality and I am forced with a choice – I can become one with the darkness that lives within that is clamoring, clawing to escape, or I can bury the demon, and the nightmares, once and for all.

It may seem like an easy choice, but not when I also have to choose between the father who has raised me or a mother whom I have thought was dead. Not when the choice is my humanity or Immortality….

Aided by a dark mysterious stranger, a hidden world is opened up to Adelin - a world full of bloodlust and death - the Black world of Immortals. Torn between the two, she faces the hardest decision she's ever had to make. Will she choose the safe, familiar life she has always known? Or will she let the darkness consume her?

Your review:

In all honesty, I don't know how to begin reviewing this book. I'm speechless. As of now, you all know I'm a very big fan of Young Adult Paranormal book. So you must know that I also want to read something that's not the same as the other book I've read.

Origins gave me that difference from a book. It's not a vampire story, like the books I've read. It also not the same in The Immortals by Alyson Noel where they need to drink the 'red juice' that was made from experimenting ingredients. This book, Origins, was about Immortals and Adelin can choose whether or not she'll be one of the Immortals OR remain human.

Plot: Not the typical paranormal story, IMO. Cause it's a mix. Well, maybe there's books that are somehow in the same plot, but I haven't read that yet so I don't know. The plot was great! I like how the author, Gilbert made the MC to have a choice about whether she'll stay human or be one of the Immortals. I know most of the paranormal books have to choose that. But this one's a special case. Since I can't really tell you why, you just have to wait for this book to come out and buy it from Amazon. :smiley: Anyway, Origins is also a bit creepy. It's written in different point-of-views and it's creepy when you are inside of a predator's mind. For me, it really is a good plot. A+ if I'll grade it. ;)

Characters: I love the characters, especially the guys. ;) And no, Filou, I'm not taking any dibs. :tongue: What I like about Adelin is (just as the author said) not the damsel in distress type, can stand up on her own but not the type of like Rose in VA. And she needed to choose between Immortality or staying with her Dad. THAT is hard to choose. It's like choosing who you like best, Mom or Dad? When you both love them much.

Vraiden is cocky, scary and funny (IMO). He's also incredibly sexy. lol! Okay, enough of that part. I like how Vraiden goes to a change. I don't really like him at the first cause, um, he can be quite scary (as I've said). And oh, sadistic too. *shudders* But yes, (a one-time spoiler, or maybe it's not really a spoiler) he changed. That's why I started to like him.

Lucien, I... I really can't say anything about him that can't spoil the book. >_< I'll just go with Gilbert's decription of Luc. :smiley:

Quote
"How do we do this? Do I have to bite you?" I ask, squirming uncomfortably at the thought of doing so.
"Why, do you want to? If so, by all means go right ahead. I doubt I'd mind much," he laughs. "No, no biting. You watch too many movies."


Overall: Did I said that I love this book? Not yet? Well, I absolutely love it! I picked up this book because I know the author and because I was hooked by the teasers she had on her website. I wanted to know what happened to Adelin after reading the first full Chapter of Origins in Jessa's site. And when she announced that she's looking for Beta Reader, I immediately applied for it. And I'm not regretting anything since it's really worth my time in reading this book. After reading the entire thing, I was kind of shocked because the ending of this book is something that I really didn't expect will happen. And I can't wait to get my hands on the book and the second book!


To know more about Origins, I did an interview with the author, Jessa L. Gilbert. Please check it out in here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Can't wait for the full book! :smiley:
 

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Offline 4myeyesonly

Re: Review: Origins by Jessa L. Gilbert (Black #1)
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2012, 05:36 AM »
Excellent review and interview with Jessa, Lexie.  :yea: Can't wait for the release.  :cheer:
 

Offline Lexie

Re: Review: Origins by Jessa L. Gilbert (Black #1)
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2012, 05:40 AM »
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Excellent review and interview with Jessa, Lexie.  :yea: Can't wait for the release.  :cheer:

Thank you, rotty! I actually thought that I'm not giving it justice. >_< ME too! I wish it's August now! :)
 

Offline hudasee

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Re: Review: Origins by Jessa L. Gilbert (Black #1)
« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2012, 06:54 PM »
Oh you have read her work?! wow, great review, I have read the teasers too and finding this thread, Origins sounds even more interesting now.

I must put it into my TBR priority list (I invented the priority and the not so priority list, i might as well create a patent out of it. I'm just jerking around pips!)
Wrath to Butch: That's you. You shall be called the Black Dagger warrior Dhestroyer....
Rhage: But you'll always be Butch to us, as well as hard-ass. Smart-ass. Royal pain in the ass... I think as long as there's an ASS in there, it'll be accurate.
Zhadist: How about bASStard?

^LOL :P
 

Offline Lexie

Re: Review: Origins by Jessa L. Gilbert (Black #1)
« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2012, 01:29 AM »
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Oh you have read her work?! wow, great review, I have read the teasers too and finding this thread, Origins sounds even more interesting now.

I must put it into my TBR priority list (I invented the priority and the not so priority list, i might as well create a patent out of it. I'm just jerking around pips!)

Yep. I have. I've applied as a beta reader. :)
 

Offline Anams

Re: Review: Origins by Jessa L. Gilbert (Black #1)
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2012, 01:43 AM »
Gr8 review Lexie.
Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you – not because they are nice… but because you are nice
 

Offline Lexie

Re: Review: Origins by Jessa L. Gilbert (Black #1)
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2012, 01:51 AM »
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Gr8 review Lexie.

Thank you Anams. :)
 

Offline Filouke

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REVIEW: Jessa L. Gilbert - Origins (Black #1)
« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2012, 02:11 AM »
Summary

Red pain, Red desire, Red need, Red hunger…

I have been plagued by the same dream for months now. A nightmare filled with red, dripping with death, where I am the hunter. There is no escape, no end in sight…. The nightmare has become a reality and I am forced with a choice – I can become one with the darkness that lives within that is clamoring, clawing to escape, or I can bury the demon, and the nightmares, once and for all.

It may seem like an easy choice, but not when I also have to choose between the father who has raised me or a mother whom I have thought was dead. Not when the choice is my humanity or Immortality….

Aided by a dark mysterious stranger, a hidden world is opened up to Adelin - a world full of bloodlust and death - the Black world of Immortals. Torn between the two, she faces the hardest decision she's ever had to make. Will she choose the safe, familiar life she has always known? Or will she let the darkness consume her?


Review

When I heard about this book, my first thought was 'another vampire story'. But this is not the case. Jessa succeeded to step back from the typical vampire concept
Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.
and created a whole new world. And o boy what a world that Black world is!

Adelin is for me the typical girl next door and that made it easy to relate with her. She doesn't really stand out but there is just something about her
Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.
. What I particularly liked is that Adelin isn't the usual whiny girl that needs to be rescued. She is strong and independent. One day she discovers that she isn't 'normal' like other people, that the mother she thought was dead is still alive, and that she has to make an impossible choice: staying human or becoming immortal. To make things even more complicated, this choice goes unavoidably together with choosing between the father who raised her and the mother she has never known.  Understandable, she is lost at first...

Then Adelin meets Vraiden Black (V)... A handsome, dark and dangerous immortal. While staying on Black Island and getting to know her long lost mother, Vraiden shows Adeline how the world of immortals looks like. There is immediate chemistry between those two, and we can't really blame Adelin for that. My feelings for V were a roller coaster through the book. I really liked him at first, I mean how can one not? He is charming, witty and drop dead gorgeous. I even kept liking him after discovering he did some gruesome things in the past
Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.
. I could forgive him that cause he sounds like he regrets those things and wants to change. But then there appears to be one more thing he has done and I just can't see pass that. And that has everything to do with his older brother, Lucien...

Luc is for me the 'underdog' in this story. And I caught myself starting to like him more and more while reading. He made me smile and laughing out loud more than once with his smart-ass comments and witty retorts
Sorry but you are not allowed to view spoiler contents.
. In the end I liked his character most of all the characters in the book and yeah it's obvious I want more from him in the sequel. In most books you have the typical good and bad guy. Although Vraiden is portrayed as the badass one, I don't think of Luc as the 'good' one. He has a dry sense of humor, is rude, funny in sarcastic way and sadly ... damaged. He lost the love of his life and that left noticeable scars. He did something unimaginable that he will regret the rest of his life, but it gives him an extra edge. At first he doesn't understand the relationship between V and Adelin and the fact that his brother is capable to love someone. After a while he realizes that V wants to make a real effort to change and although Luc doesn't like his brother he does help out when it matters. He even brings his own life in danger while helping to protect Adelin and that makes him again more likeable.

Important to mention is, that this is not just another love story or love triangle. Although it might sound like that, it is not the focus in this book. The choice Adelin has to make is central : staying human or becoming immortal. Cause lets be honest: How can you chose between your humanity -something you take for granted because you don't know anything else; or immortality -a dark hidden world full of bloodlust that both appeals and disgusts you ?

Although Vraiden and Luc don't like each other they need to work together to protect Adelin against the first - and therefore most powerful - immortal before the choice will be made for her. So yes, there is also action! And some pretty gruesome parts if you ask me.

The book has a good pace, characters are believable and Jessa has such a beautiful way of writing and describing things. She managed to draw me completely in the story and I hope Jessa will finish the second book soon so I can go back to that Black World. Cause it is a world I really came to love!

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« Last Edit: July 16, 2012, 02:18 AM by Filouke »
~second star to the right and straight on til morning~
 

Offline Moon13

Re: Origins (Black #1) by Jessa L. Gilbert
« Reply #8 on: July 16, 2012, 04:42 AM »
After reading the chapter 6, 10 & the official summary of this book on GR I was sooo curious about this book. But this book is not available in my country :sigh:
 

Offline Pollyflanders

Review: Origins by Jessa L. Gilbert (Black #1)
« Reply #9 on: July 20, 2012, 12:34 PM »
Book: Origins (Black #1)
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Mild Sexual Situations
Published: August 07, 2012
Rating (out of 5): 4 Stars

Hot-linked images removed
~drypen


My Review

Great read!

   Great start for a new fabulous series in the YA genre. I liked the mithology(It's NOT about vampires as we know them, thank god), the guys (Why I always pick the one that the heroin doesn't choose?) and mainly I liked the MC. Adelin is a great character, she is strong, she is extremely funny (I loved all her lines), she is caring.

  I am impressed with the author's writting since it is her first published work. Recently I've read a few YA from already published authors that gave me headaches, interesting premisse but boring-to-death writing style. This didn't hapen with Origins. It has an interesting premisse, likeable characters AND the writing is very good.

I wished the book were longer!!!

There were just a few small things I didn't like, though I have a feeling they will be explained in the next book. So I'm really anxious about the sequel.

1: <spoiler> Adelin just forgot about her human friends. They were introduced in the first and I got curious and wanted to know more about them how close they were to Adelin. Suddenly Adelin's world changes and "puff" she doens't talk about them... :(</spoiler>
2: Some things got a rushed explanation. Like the mithology about the Immortals. I didn't like the WAY that was explained like "That's it  and end of story." I would like to read the background or more information about the others Immortals and their world.
3: I didn't like the villain. (But I hope that changes in the next book)

PS.: I have to say that I absolutely LOVED the charcters' names, ALL of them! Great research and taste. This series have a great potencial, looking foward the other books.
« Last Edit: February 25, 2013, 06:45 PM by drypen »
 

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