Review: Firespell (Dark Elite, Book 1) by Chloe Neill

Firespell (Dark Elite, Book 1) by Chloe Neill

Signet (January 5, 2010)

256 pages, Young Adult

$6.99 (Mass Market Paperback, Amazon) $5.59 (Kindle)

Procurement

I received this ARC from Signet for review.

My Grade

Plot: 4

Setting: 4

Writing: 4

Originality: 4

Characters: 5

Passion: 4

Overall: 25/30 = 83% - B

Cover/Title Bonus: 5

First Line

They were gathered around a conference table in a high-rise, eight men and women, no one under the age of sixty-five, all of them wealthy beyond measure.

Summary (Amazon.com)

New Girl.
New School.
Old Evil.
From the author of the Chicagoland Vampires novels.
A new series about a boarding school filled with something worse than homework.
Lily's parents have sent her to a fancy boarding school in Chicago filled with the ultra-rich. If that wasn't bad enough, she's hearing and seeing bizarre things on St. Sophie's creepy campus. Her roommate, Scout, keeps her sane, but keeps disappearing at night. When one day Lily finds Scout running from real-life monsters, she learns the hard way that Scout is involved in a splinter group of rebel teens.
They protect Chicago from demons, vamps, and dark magic users. It's too bad Lily doesn't have powers of her own to help. At least, none that she's discovered yet...

Plot

The summary above does a great job at explaining the premise of this book. I enjoyed the story a good bit.

However, Chloe seems to be a fan of incorporating a mystery into the plot, which was awesome in her adult books but just didn’t keep my interest in this one. I feel this way because the story was a bit slow but I forgave this because it was a first of a new series.

Setting

Chicago. Chloe is a huge fan of Chicago. The school is an awesome setting. Loved it. Can’t wait to read more of this series in this setting.

Writing

Chloe is an awesome writer. It flows so easy. I just wish the plot moved along a little faster.

Originality

Some of the kids in the school possess special powers and those were cool to learn about. The school its self was really neat.

Characters

Lily is the main character and she’s a pretty normal child. She has a set of weird parents. She’s new at the school so she tries to fit in as best as she can.

Lily makes friends with Scout. Scout is an awesome character. She has connections to the all boys school down the street. She introduces Lily to Michael and Jason. Jason and Lily make a connection and begin a blossoming relationship that I can’t wait to read more.

Passion

This is a very teen book. The slight romance between Lily and Jason is such a minor thing that the passion was very minor. However, it’s something I paid attention to and can’t wait to continue reading about it.

Overall

A good first book to a new series. A bit slow. Interesting subject matter. I’m thinking the second book will flow a lot better.

Cover/Title Bonus

A great cover. The title is good once you actually get to the part about the Firespell. I, again, felt that it all flowed a little too slow.

I have to mention the format of the book. It’s in Mass Market Paperback, which I felt sort of weird reading a YA book in that format.

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