Marked (Soul Guardians, #1)

by Kim Richardson

[Briana @ Pages Unbound]

Marked could be a mildly amusing read for someone with the right sense of humor, but nothing more. From almost the beginning, things in this book are just strange—and it appears to be that way solely because Richardson had the freedom to do it. For instance, the elevators in Horizon are run by various types of monkeys that have a penchant for eating skin cells they grab from Kara’s scalp. There is no reason for this. Apparently Richardson thought it was funny. Similar elements are sprinkled throughout the story.

And although this book is about angels, even they do not strive for anything of higher quality. To start, they are not particularly angelic by anyone’s definition. Mostly they possess the same personalities they must have had while they were alive and human, arrogance and attitude and all. They even fight and have grudges. Basically, there is nothing related to Christianity here, besides an appropriation of names of levels of angels—cherubs, archangels, guardian angels, etc. In fact, there is even some sort of reincarnation at work in the world.

Kara and David are also disappointing, as angels and as characters. Supposedly they are both incredibly amazing at their jobs, but their actions leave a lot to be desired. They go on missions to save human lives with minutes to spare—and with absolutely no plan. When they succeed (and they tend to keep failing, ironically) it is pretty much by accident. Later, when Kara is entrusted with an incredibly special job by the Chief (God) himself, she displays her brilliance by running into a high-risk situation screaming “Stop!’ at enemies who outnumber and out-power her. Apparently sneaking in and using the element of surprise to attack never occurred to her. Yet everyone in Horizon believes she has the potential to become the greatest warrior ever.

The rest of the plotline is not much more satisfying. The “dramatic” moments either happen suddenly without any sort of buildup or come after foreshadowing that was a little too obvious. The conclusion only emphasizes the angels’ inability to make logical decisions. Where they think Kara will be safe is exactly where anyone else would suspect she is in the most danger.

Finally, this e-book was sprinkled with a number of typos and strange punctuation. Readers will encounter “cold” instead of “could” and “angle” instead of “angel.” There never seemed to be a comma after any nominative of address, and question marks were frequently used when periods should have been: “It tastes weird?” “I’m not sure what that means?” Poor editing can sometimes be overlooked in a good story, but this book was already struggling. A good copy editor will really improve Richardson’s opportunities to market her book seriously.

Marked strives to be a read that is entertaining, more than anything else. Readers with a similar sense of the absurd or amusing will probably appreciate Richardson’s quirky vision of Horizon. Readers without one will most likely be confused. Anyone expecting actual angels instead of normal teenagers tramping about the afterlife will be very disappointed.

This review was also posted at Pages Unbound Book Reviews.