Ethereal (Celestra, #1)

by Addison Moore

[inlibrisveritas]

This is another Kindle freebie that I’ve hoarded away and finally got around to reading. I initially started it because of a few fellow bloggers saying that they really enjoyed it, and my hopes were high. So I feel back into the ‘angel pattern’ that I have and I’ve been hoping to break. I see great reviews, those I know enjoy it, I start reading…and disappointment. I’m starting to think I’m too picky when it comes to these things, I’m not entirely sure why me and angel books are so incompatible. I love angels and see a ton of potential both in the creature and in this story, but it seems to never come to fruition.

I struggled to come up with a rating on this one, so it truly floats around a 1.5 or 2. The plot is fairly good and has a nice unique feel to it, however I’m not sure the actual execution did it justice. I like the idea of having Nephilim descendents running about, and I love the fact that they have a kind of cast structure based on ability. There are the Countenance, Noster, Levatio, Deorsum, and Celestra. They each have their defining characteristics which are pretty numerous and they kind of overlap on one another. The most ineresting of the powers are time travel and ‘the knowing’ which is just future sight. I had no clue that time travel was going to be involved in this and while it was kind of cool, the main character really brought it down for me. Not very much is explained in this as a whole, you do find out about the angels and you find out that they have enemies…but you never find out what exactly is going on and why.

The characters in this were really frustrating and to be frank, idiots. Skyla is the main character and while she does have some wit when it comes to verbal exchanges she really seems to have trouble with really obvious things. It was just one stupid thing after another and it had me really irritated. So many things could have been avoided if she would have taken a few minutes to think about it and ask herself if it was a good idea…or maybe that’s why she didn’t because the answer would have always been no. Breille is the instant best friend…there is little to lead up to why these two would hit it off merely minutes after meeting but they do. Gage and Logan are pretty interesting but they are also ‘perfect’. I find Logan to be a tad smarter than Skyla but not by much, and while Gage is not as over bearing as Logan he is a bit puppy doggish. No matter what the these three do to each other, it’s always forgiven and brushed over. There are also the inevitable high school enemies that Skyla obtains and that is pretty instantaneous as well. No one in this book ever takes the time to get to know anyone, they just are. The whole plot involving a girl named Chloe was interesting but the one part of her story that I wanted to know more about was never even touched. There is also the fact that these girls party like they are in college…in fact I’m pretty sure they party more than college students. It seemed like every other social moment revolved around some party that was being held.

Overall I wasn’t really impressed with this, there was a lot of potential and it failed to deliver. I’m glad others have enjoyed this but it simply was not for me. I won’t be purchasing the next book but if it ever becomes free I might download it just to see if it improves.