Thrall

Thrall is the first title in the YA paranormal trilogy, The Daughters of Lilith

THE BLURB:

Braedyn is a normal girl just trying to survive high school with her two devoted friends, Royal and Cassie. Together they’re doing a pretty good job of shrugging off the slings and arrows cast their way by the popular crowd when a new boy, Lucas, moves into the house next door. Suddenly Braedyn finds herself falling in love for the first time.

But as her sixteenth birthday approaches, Braedyn discovers humankind is at war with the Lilitu, an ancient race of enticing demons that prey on human souls. Her father is a member of the Guard fighting against the Lilitu - and so are the new neighbors, including her crush, Lucas. 

As her world starts to unravel at the seams, Braedyn learns the right answers aren’t always clear or easy. And as for “good” and “evil” – it all depends on how we choose to act.

Inspired by the ancient Mesopotamian myths of Lilith and her offspring, Thrall explores first love, strong friendships, and taking on adult responsibilities against the backdrop of powerful supernatural forces and life-and-death stakes

MY THOUGHTS:

• This was pretty good! An enjoyable young adult paranormal novel that managed to avoid many of the pitfalls I see in others of its type these days.
  
  Braedyn was a likable main character, and didn't make any of the illogical or silly decisions other protags sometimes do in the current YA fantasy fare. I liked her two besties, and only wish they weren't shunted to the periphery of the story so much when Braedyn learns about who she is and the part she must play with the Guard. Perhaps they feature more in the following installments of the series? I liked Lucas, too, although he sort of fizzled out after a while in the story. You still like him, but it's hard to remember why we're supposed to be in love with him.
  
  The story was fun, exciting, and fairly original. The enemy are succubae (is that the plural of succubus??), descendants of Lilith. They seek to regain their rightful place in the world, as Lilith was shunned for not being satisfied to stay Adam's biddable doormat of a partner in the Garden of Eden. This includes revenge on the sons of Adam. The archangels attempt to keep things in order, but they also have other business they must attend to, and so much of the work is left in the hands of the humans who know of the demons' existence and seek to stop them. But are the Lilitu truly evil, or just jilted and jaded? I suspect we'll delve into this question some more in the next books.
  
  I definitely plan on picking up the sequel some time!

MY RATING:

4.5 booksies!

Author's Website: http://jenniferquintenz.com/