Andrea Domanski

There seem to be a lot of people publishing young adult series based around Greek gods, and I wonder how many more we need, but this book is at least showcasing a female hero, and has more important female characters besides as well. Marissa is a normal teenager focused on dresses and school stuff and all the rest of what normal high school girls do in the US. She has a lot of martial arts training and her father has made sure she has firearms training, so she's a bit odd for a teenager, but I'm sure many teens fantasize about being more like this character. When she turns 18 she discovers she possesses special powers, and that she has a destiny involving battling supernatural bad guys and their minions.

If this book was more fully developed it might read more like the Wheel of Time series' first book, only with a female lead character and set in modern day. The youth coming into strange new powers, frustrated by the way adults hold back information and don't listen, and the first great battle against a big bad guy, a battle that establishes the hero's place in the world echo Jordan's Eye of the World, and many other similar books. I wish that Crossfire was a bit more like Jordan's series, actually, because I found the story in this book to be awfully rushed, and more than a little contrived. The structure of the first half of this book, with a young girl being guided by two experienced men, annoyed me a bit too. If Marissa is an Amazon, why is her trainer and Guardian a man? Why are there not more women involved in this book, considering the fact that it is centered on the Amazons?

So, I had my issues with this book, but it was still a fun bit of adventure, and for teenagers who do sports or martial arts this could be a particularly fun read. I am interested in what happens next, enough to read the next book if I find it available when I have a few hours to spare to read it.
(I received a complementary copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.)… (lisätietoja)

There seem to be a lot of people publishing young adult series based around Greek gods, and I wonder how many more we need, but this book is at least showcasing a female hero, and has more important female characters besides as well. Marissa is a normal teenager focused on dresses and school stuff and all the rest of what normal high school girls do in the US. She has a lot of martial arts training and her father has made sure she has firearms training, so she's a bit odd for a teenager, but I'm sure many teens fantasize about being more like this character. When she turns 18 she discovers she possesses special powers, and that she has a destiny involving battling supernatural bad guys and their minions.

If this book was more fully developed it might read more like the Wheel of Time series' first book, only with a female lead character and set in modern day. The youth coming into strange new powers, frustrated by the way adults hold back information and don't listen, and the first great battle against a big bad guy, a battle that establishes the hero's place in the world echo Jordan's Eye of the World, and many other similar books. I wish that Crossfire was a bit more like Jordan's series, actually, because I found the story in this book to be awfully rushed, and more than a little contrived. The structure of the first half of this book, with a young girl being guided by two experienced men, annoyed me a bit too. If Marissa is an Amazon, why is her trainer and Guardian a man? Why are there not more women involved in this book, considering the fact that it is centered on the Amazons?

So, I had my issues with this book, but it was still a fun bit of adventure, and for teenagers who do sports or martial arts this could be a particularly fun read. I am interested in what happens next, enough to read the next book if I find it available when I have a few hours to spare to read it.
(I received a complementary copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.)… (lisätietoja)