Power (The Descendant Trilogy, #1)

by Theresa M Jones

[Raven]

Read this and other reviews at my blog.

Alison is a young single mother who has just had her Power awakened. A descendant, born with the Angel's Power in her, Alison is thrown into the world of the Order. Training with Order member, David, so that she can face the leader of their enemies, the Rising, she discovers her strength and Power as she learns to control her abilities. The Rising leader, Damien, fears her to be the Descendant, the prophesied one who is descended with all the Angel's powers, and the only one who can kill him. He will stop at nothing to see her dead, but Alison isn't going down without a fight.

Being that I have known Theresa Jones since she was about 10 years old, I was granted the pleasure of cheating. I was allowed to read the very first draft of this novel, and I have to say, the changes since then are fairly large. This novel has truly transformed. Seeing my name in the acknowledgements was the best gift I could have gotten.

This novel is really easy to read. The writing just flows, taking you on the journey. I would have liked to see a bit more emotion building. I got a tear in my eyes once or twice, but I would have really liked to be consumed by the novel. I thought at first, that maybe since I had read it before, that I was uneffected, but enough had changed that I feel I should have still been more moved. The lack of it wasn't enough to kill anything, just to make me miss having it there. I also would've liked a bit more uncertainty. There is a point where things are slightly predictable, thought that might be confidence leaking off the pages.

I really like the characters. Alison is a sweetheart who is just so full of love. Her reactions to things can be a bit heated, but she seems like the type who feels all her emotions quickly and strongly. Although she was forced to mature early for her age when she became a young mother, she still is the type to feel an emotion first and ask questions or find rational thought later. David is wonderful, though felt stiff at times. It might have to deal a lot with his age though. Samantha is precious, and I really would've liked to have seen more of her, but I know that this wasn't her story. I felt like Damien could've been more fleshed out as a character, but I was generally happy with him.

The plot is really easy to follow. Things are explained well, in a way you can grasp them easily without it making you feel like you are being talked down to. The story was really nice. Angels and Demons aren't usually my thing, but they are there in the history of this novel and not so much in the pages of it. I loved the way the powers were explained and described. It was really easy to imagine it in your head and just made me happy. More characters need awesome magic like this. The basis of things were simple. I feel like there will be much more to this, but that it will unfurl more in the future installments. I wish the tension building for the climax had been a bit more drawn out. While it was needed, the set up of the novel was just a little long compared to the climax, and the climax started off right after a short time skip, giving the tension less time to build up. The climax was well written, once again, would've liked a bit more tension, maybe a some more action, I was just left longing for it.

This was a really good start to the series, a great novel, and a fabulous debut. Completely worth picking up. Definitely recommend this to everyone.