Books,  Four Stars,  Review,  YA

The Scarlet Dagger – Krystle Jones

30 November, 2011

Author: Krystle Jones
Publisher: Pesante Press
Published: October 23rd 2011
Pages: 238 (e-book format)
Summary: (from goodreads)
The strength of Sloane’s heart is about to be put to the ultimate test.

After the Eclipse – the night vampires began openly slaughtering human victims – everything changed. Out of fear, the government salvaged what remained of the human population and enclosed them in massive, security-laden cities called White Sectors, while marking the vampire infested territory as Red Sectors.

When seventeen-year-old Sloane McAllister’s twin brother disappears, she seems to be the only one who thinks he isn’t dead, and vows to stop at nothing to find him. Gathering her courage, she braves the Red Sector to search for clues to his whereabouts. By chance, she encounters Aden, a handsome, charismatic vampire with a hidden agenda. He turns Sloane against her will, and whisks her away to his underground city. Enemies quickly become friends as Sloane struggles against her attraction to Aden, and resists her growing loyalties to the creatures that ruined her life. But the vampires themselves are the least of her problems. The city is harboring a devastating secret, one that could change the tide of the war and threaten to destroy everything Sloane has come to believe in.

Heart-stopping action and scorching romance collide in this dystopian, urban fantasy thriller.

FOUR OUT OF FIVE STARS ****
I was toying with how many stars to give this book. On finishing it, I immediately rated it four stars but then I contemplated giving it three, then thought maybe it should actually be three and a half but on final thoughts, I decided that in all honesty, this book simply deserves four stars. This book had me captivated from page one. It drew me into a dystopian world that was so well described and thought out throughout the entire story that there wasn’t ever a time when I was confused about what was going on. It was the perfect balance of everything and I simply adored it so very much!
The story starts out with the main protagonist, Sloane, going on a mission to find her twin brother who has been gone for three years and whom she feels extremely guilty about. Never could she have imagined that her life would change so drastically in the process. Krystle has brought about such a wonderful, strong and independent character in Sloane but she is, above all else, extremely believable. She is vulnerable, scared and in a tricky predicament and yet she doesn’t let these things stop her from acting under impulse and simply doing what she must. In a nutshell, Sloane is as complex and complicated as every other single human being and it is for this very reason that I just love her so much.
It is not, however, just Sloane who is amazingly written but in fact it is every single character in the book. Even those characters we see only once or twice. This world that has been created is just so believable and so full of rich characters that it is hard not to fall in love with the author behind these magnificent creations. They help to create a dystopian world that really draws you in from the get go and you find yourself becoming so attached.
Which brings me to the romance. Often I sometimes find romance can be a little be too much or too pushed in books but in this novel, it is just right. Sloane doesn’t just fall naturally for him and there is even a moment where she is pressed for who she likes more. The reason I really like the romance in this novel, however, is simply because of how realistic it is. How Sloane tries to think rationally about what is happening and tries to let her head talk her around when, at the end of it all, it is her heart that carries her in the right direction. I love Aden and Leo both so much and yet, it was with a little glee in my heart when she finally made her declaration for the right man. It was just so natural.
One more thing I want to touch upon are the vampires in this novel. I was in love with the vampires that Krystle has created within this story. And moments I liked the best are references to other vampires such as Dracula, and Stephanie Meyer’s horrid idea of vampires. Krystle’s vampires are believable and extremely scary, not because they’re horrifying but because they are just so normal and that, in itself, is terrifying because how can you hunt and hurt down a creature that is the same as the human being it was before its new life? Absolutely brilliant.
The only thing, I felt, that ruined this book and stopped me from giving it five stars and which nearly made me give it three stars, is that the plot is slightly predictable. And say slightly, because, on seconds thought, I realised that there were two plot twists that I hadn’t seen coming and, if anything, these were the two things that really made things more interesting for me. It was for this reason that I stuck with four stars because, this book just truly deserves it! Better yet, this novel is only the start of The Red Sector Chronicles and it ends on an extremely interesting and gut-wrenching cliff hanger that makes you practically scream for more.
I was given the chance to read this novel for free through Paranormal and Urban Fantasy Group’s R2R and I can honestly glad that I was given this amazing gift because it was a novel that I love and one that I hope arrives in paperback so I can own a copy. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys vampire novels or dystopian novels and even more so to the people that like them both, like me!
Faye

2 Comments

  • Brodie
    1 December, 2011 at 12:39 pm Reply

    I love the way you describe Sloane, she sounds like such a relatable protagonist. And the romance, oh sigh, I love me a well-developed love triangle <3 Plus, the combination of well-crafted vampires and dystopian setting? you know how to sell a girl :D Fantastic review!

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