Title: Portia
Author: Christina Bauer
Series: The Offspring Series, Angelbound #2
Publication Date: December 31, 2013
Page Count:304
Genre: YA, fantasy, romance, magic, paranormal
Format: Paperback
Source: ARC
Rating:
SYNOPSIS (FROM GOODREADS):Rating:
Unlike her famous older brother Maxon, Princess Portia isn't known for killing demons or attracting admirers. The reason why is simple: a spell was cast on Portia, and the magic has marked her to one day transform into a dreaded Void demon. To fight this horrible fate, Portia’s spent her life hiding in libraries and learning magic. But when the Void demons threaten to destroy all the after-realms—and the handsome dragon Emperor Tempest offers his help—then Portia suspects that her future holds more than just a demonic metamorphosis. Fate is calling the bookworm princess onto the battlefield, and it’s a fight against both deadly enemies and her heart’s desires.
MY REVIEW:
Ten thousand stars!
Just kidding.
It's just some perfect five stars.
I received a free copy for an honest review
I loved this book! Absolutely LOVED IT! And I thought I cannot love the Angelbound more just from the original series featuring Portia's parents' original story.
I've read books where the author tried to give the character 'alive' dialogue and humor, but failed and instead made their writing seemed horrible. That did not happen with this book.
I was very impressed from how Christina manipulated the characters in our eyes, by making readers doubt everything, looking at our backs and constantly trying to figure out who we can and cannot trust. For example, when we were first introduced to Tempest, although there is no questioning his hotness, his loyalty is unclear and judging from the warnings of Maxon, it seems like Portia needs to watch her back and pay attention to not getting hurt. This added dimension to the character, which added the depth to help a reader become more involved in the book and its situations.
And this also led me to Portia, our High Princess of the Thrax and the Granddaughter of the President of Purgatory, who was also unfortunately marked to one day become a void, a dreaded demon. Among the family of military strength and muscle, she was the brain. The 'bookworm'. Because of this, even if it's unintentional, the family excludes her in times of crisis, which we were shown to from how they completely ignored her existence and any of her advises when they first realized the Firmament was falling apart, much to her dismay. The one time she can help, with the one thing she has been studying for her entire life thanks to her curse, and yet she was still excluded. And throughout the story we see her transform, and in the end how she was able to speak for herself among her family and save the world ultimately.
Beside from the characters themselves, I really admired how Christina wrote and expressed the relationships and the development between our timid and insecure Portia and his sexy, powerful emperor as we go on into the book. It's not overwhelming, and we get to be there step-by-step and watch Portia slowly falls for him, and eventually revealed how Tempest had waited for her all these years (I won't elaborate on this because of spoilers, read the book yourself).
Anyway, Christina outdid herself again in this book, and I absolutely enjoyed it. I can't wait for more of her work! This book earned itself a perfect score of solid five stars.
