Book Review: Fractured Light, a Paranormal Romance by Rachel McClellan

The Short Version

Fractured Light is a fun, easy read with fantastic imagery and an interesting story line. I did have some qualms with the formatting and editing, and some plot elements either predictable or glossed over. However, I did enjoy the story and I connected with the characters. I would recommend it for paranormal fantasy nuts without hesitation.

The Details

I’m hosting Rachel McClellan on a blog tour today for her novel Fractured Light, a paranormal fantasy that I think we can safely label as YA despite its couple murders. There are some chilling images that left me writing notes in all caps, I was so excited. I really hope it’s okay to post a block quote, because I want to share my favorite moment from the whole book (McClellan let me know if I can’t do this):

Me: Eeeeeeeeeeeee! I don’t even think you need context for that. For those of you who didn’t read the synopsis (you always should, silly), I will give you context anyway.

Fractured Light is about Llona, a girl with a secret: she’s not normal. She has a gift that gets those like her killed, and life has become a deadly game of knowing who she can trust. Because she’s afraid of dying at any moment, she pushes everyone else away…until she meets love interest Christian Knight.

So, on to the review.

McClellan sets up the chilling images like the one I mentioned in the quote pretty well. Imagery is really her thing, and she took us to some great locations throughout the book. Setting up the background and the sense of “where” is not easy, but she does it with grace. The story itself was interesting, and while I was lost in parts just learning all the rules of this new world, I was still curious to learn more.

There were plenty of moments that induced chuckles. I love it when a book can make me laugh. There were jokes littered throughout the book, and they caught me at the right moments. There are also great details, especially in the beginning of the book, that describe Llona as an outcast. Maybe she gets her name from being a loner (her name is pronounced “LONA” haha) or maybe it’s has something to do with the word “lunar” since her power is tied to the moon (which we discovered in a weird and slightly confusing manner, but whatever, it worked).

I liked the main character, which is frankly rare for me when it comes to first person narrations. I usually can’t relate, but I liked Llona’s spunk. Llona did have a stupid moment or two, which I’ll touch on later, but all in all she discovers the joy of truly living and just wants a chance to have a full life. I can definitely stand behind that and, consequently, was rooting for her. She’s a smart ass, which I also love, and often hides nerves or other emotional messes behind quips and laughter. I can definitely relate to that. She had some bad ass moments where she just took control, and I adore her for that. She is a good heroine (most of the time) and a strong role model (usually).

The other characters were pretty believable, too. The love interest was an adorable roller coaster, one which I honestly wasn’t expecting, so I enjoyed that. The friendships Llona creates when she breaks out of her shell are wonderful to see and really shape her as a person, rather than a character, which made me love her. So yes, characters get bonus points in my book.

The drawback to characters was the villain. I just…I hate to admit it, but I totally called it from the first time we meet this particular character. It was too easy, in my opinion, and we even got a monologue at the end. While monologues are great for explaining what’s going on, it makes the villain look like a cliche hunk of wood. The villain was fearsome until that moment, and then I kind of balked. The way evil is portrayed here and earlier in the novel is just too cookie cutter for my taste. Evil is evil and that’s that sort of thing. I made a couple notes along the way to the tune of, “so that’s how evil works, huh?”

The climax itself had a Twilight too-stupid-to-live twist (you’ll see what I mean when you read it, because I still recommend this book even though I’m being hard on it). While I like Llona’s growing spunk and spark, I just thought she was smarter than that. I was writing angry notes to her telling her, in so many colorful words, just exactly what I thought of her at that moment. The perk is this led to a pretty great climax scene, one which differentiated this novel from Twilight in a distinct manner.

Spinning off that, I thought the ending was great. It had the perfect balance of resolution and tension for subsequent novels.

As for the writing style, I liked it most of the time. There were a few cases of flowery language (the use of “for” instead of “because”) that made me twitch a little…that usage doesn’t come to me naturally and thus looks forced when I read it. There were tense breaks (present instead of past), some formatting issues with dialogue from different characters being on the same line (and once, a character answered themselves as if the other character had spoken, it was weird). There were also some mistakes that irked me, like a few misused words (“who’s” instead of “whose”) and dramatic language:

Mmmm pretty sure that’s not true, but whatever. High schoolers can be a little dramatic; I just thought Llona above that.

This book covers Llona’s entire senior year, which means a lot of time is covered in one book. Because of this, weeks sometimes sped by in a few paragraphs, leaving me grasping for a when and where. On occasion, details aren’t expounded upon enough. A few times, the transitions were too rocky to give me a set sense of time and place. Some plot developments also seemed forced, which kicked me from the story at times as I questioned the characters’ motivations to do such a thing. This sometimes-rocky narrative knocked off the points in the style/voice section.

Click here for spoilers–ye be warned

I know it sounds a little like I tore the book apart, but I didn’t. I really enjoyed reading Fractured Light, and I will most likely pick up the sequel (there’s a teaser in the back of Fractured Light when you grab your copy). I mean, I usually drag my feet if I don’t like the book and I read Fractured Light in a day. A day! I’m proud of me. It’s okay. You don’t have to be.

I just mentioned these nuances because they made Fractured Light slip out of the 5-star rating spot for me…and it was close. I do really love Llona, Christian’s grown on me, and May is my homegirl. So scratch what I said before. I’m definitely going to read the sequels. I’ll run off and put Fractured Soul on my TBR list now.

McClellan, if you still like me after this review, I’m game for an ARC of Fractured Soul. *pleading grin*

About the Author
Rachel McClellan was born and raised in Idaho, a place secretly known for its supernatural creatures. When she’s not in her writing lair, she’s partying with her husband and four crazy, yet lovable, children. Rachel’s love for storytelling began as a child when the moon first possessed the night. For when the lights went out, her imagination painted a whole new world. And what a scary world it was…

Where you can find Rachel:
Website
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

Grab Your Copy

 Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Barnes & Noble

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Giveaway

Want to win an eBook copy? Enter the rafflecopter below. Dark Mind Book Tours, the site hosting this blog tour, is also hosting a big giveaway on their site.

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