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A review by lazygal
Life Eternal by Yvonne Woon
4.0
Any book that takes place (mostly) in Montreal is going to get 2-stars from me, and this earned a solid 1.5 more (which I'm bumping up to a 4) by 1. being the second in a series yet accessible to those who haven't read the first book and 2. by being a little more interesting than a mere Twilight-esque love triangle.
Renée is recovering from her soul-swapping adventure with Dante and her parents' deaths when she starts having some strange dreams. They feel real, and to her shock and horror, one actually does become real... but it can't be because she was no where near the scene-of-the-death at the time. Then she learns that Gottfried Academy is going to be solely for the Undead, while all the Monitors there will now be at St. Clement, in Montreal. So there's no reunion for her and Eleanor (what with Eleanor being Undead, etc.). Somehow Renée ends up being the top Monitor in the school, much to her new enemy Clementine's anger. There's a hot Monitor guy, Noah, who comes close to making her forget Dante, and Anya, a Russian-Canadian friend who helps her figure out what's happening with the dreams.
No plot spoilers here, but suffice it to say that the love triangle wasn't as annoying as other recent ones have been, and despite the paranormal elements Renée feels like a real teen. The questions of who the Ninth Sister is and how the whole Monitor/Undead tension will play out is left unresolved - yes, there's a cliffhanger ending. There's a part of me that thinks the resolution to that cliffhanger may end up being obvious, and I really hope the author does something different. We'll see.
ARC provided by publisher
Renée is recovering from her soul-swapping adventure with Dante and her parents' deaths when she starts having some strange dreams. They feel real, and to her shock and horror, one actually does become real... but it can't be because she was no where near the scene-of-the-death at the time. Then she learns that Gottfried Academy is going to be solely for the Undead, while all the Monitors there will now be at St. Clement, in Montreal. So there's no reunion for her and Eleanor (what with Eleanor being Undead, etc.). Somehow Renée ends up being the top Monitor in the school, much to her new enemy Clementine's anger. There's a hot Monitor guy, Noah, who comes close to making her forget Dante, and Anya, a Russian-Canadian friend who helps her figure out what's happening with the dreams.
No plot spoilers here, but suffice it to say that the love triangle wasn't as annoying as other recent ones have been, and despite the paranormal elements Renée feels like a real teen. The questions of who the Ninth Sister is and how the whole Monitor/Undead tension will play out is left unresolved - yes, there's a cliffhanger ending. There's a part of me that thinks the resolution to that cliffhanger may end up being obvious, and I really hope the author does something different. We'll see.
ARC provided by publisher