This book is not self-published, but it's not exactly a product of traditional publishing either. It's more of a collaboration between the author and the "story architects" of Paper Lantern Lit. I had never heard of PLL before, but the website can be found here, and I'm kind of intrigued with the whole concept. I haven't decided yet exactly how I feel about it, other than...intrigued. The idea is that anyone can submit a sample of their writing, and if the "major plot geeks" (who all have experience in the world of writing, editing, or publishing) think you're a match, they will give you the outlined plot of a novel for you to flesh out. I may be oversimplifying things, I'm not sure. It seems like the PLL peeps basically lead the writer through the novel-building process.
THE BLURB:
There are gods among us...
Six young gods are hiding in plain sight among mortals, living secretly in cities across the world. From lavish penthouse soirees to pulsing underground clubs, for them, the party literally never ends. Until now.
On a hot June morning, the body of a beautiful girl is found floating in the rooftop pool of the Jefferson Hotel, her white-ink tattoos revealing the story of a life much longer than seems possible. Only the immortals know the truth: Nadia was the goddess of hope. Now she’s gone, and the world as they know it is ending. The Hudson River has turned blood red. Storms rage overhead. Mania is rapidly spreading across the globe.
It is up to the remaining gods—Lola, Dean, Weston, Mark, Nike and Peitha—to put aside centuries of betrayal and heartbreak, and stop the mysterious source of darkness that is taking over… before the sun sets forever.
Carina Adly MacKenzie, writer for The CW's hit series "The Originals," has penned a steamy, romantic, and ultimately redemptive story of forgotten gods, the persistence of hope, and the power of love to save us.
MY THOUGHTS:
This was a pretty fun read.
The gods mentioned in the blurb are descendants of the Ancients such as Odin and Dionysus. Their power began to diminish as mortals ceased believing in them. As such, they are now forced to live among their one-time worshipers, trying to blend in as mortals themselves.
The chapters in this book switch POV, and we get to go along on a wild ride with the gods and goddesses of victory, love, war and hope, to name a few, when the world is threatened by an ancient evil. Each of these characters is well-defined and interesting, and a lot of fun in their own way. In addition to their struggle against the looming disaster, they are dealing with centuries of history with one another, not all of it kittens and rainbows. This adds another engaging dimension to the story.
There is a lot of neat god and goddess lore presented here, woven in with the unfurling story. I suppose I might have preferred to see the main characters here portrayed a bit differently - more epic, and less like the modern day youth they posed as, with modern day youth problems. I guess as their powers dwindled and they had to live as young human men and women, they became, for all intents and purposes, just like the mortals they portrayed. But I think it would have been fun for them to be a bit more badass, shaped by their pasts as divinities who were once the objects of worship. This is a nitpicky point, though, and certainly nothing that spoiled the book for me. Such a change would probably alter the intended audience, too, so all in all, you should probably forget I even said anything. After all, not every story can involve a vampire/werewolf hybrid trying to come to terms with his troubling past and occasionally lashing out violently during the quest to recover the last remnants of his humanity... ;)
The only real issues I noted in this book are fairly minor and did not detract from my overall ability to enjoy it. It could use some more editing (there are instances of typos, wrong words, repetition of words, etc), but these were minimal. The author relies a bit too much on adverbs rather than strong verbs, something that is discouraged in the writing world. But her strength lies in her storytelling ability, which outshines any of these other things. I would definitely consider reading any future books by Ms. Mackenzie.
MY RATING:
4 booksies
Author's website: http://carinamackenzie.com/
Find Eternal Night on Amazon
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