Review: Marked (Soul Guardians #1) by Kim Richardson

Title: Marked (Soul Guardians #1)

Author: Kim Richardson

Category: Teen/YA

Genre: Paranormal

Book Blurb

Sixteen year-old Kara Nightingale’s ordinary life is suddenly turned upside-down when she dies in a freak accident, and she wakes up in a strange new world with a new career—as a rookie for the Guardian Angel Legion. Kara hurtles towards dangerous missions with the help of her Petty Officer and friend, David. 

But when she discovers a Mark on her leg, the entire Legion accuses her of being a Demon spy. Angels are dying, and David begins to pull away from her. Can Kara prove her innocence as she becomes the Legion’s only hope?

It’s going to take a miracle to save the Legion, and Kara’s luck has just run out...

My Thoughts

Who would have thought that monkeys have their own place in Heaven? Think again because as weird as it may sound, Kim Richardson’s depiction of heaven made the whole idea seemed possible and intriguing yet eccentric in her debut YA fiction, Marked: Soul Guardians. When I read the blurb, I thought the story would be somber, dark, serious and everything in between. I never would expect Marked will have some ‘monkeys’ to accessorize things up. Besides, a girl who tragically dies in a freak accident and then ‘reborn’ spiritually a guardian angel somewhat gives the initial idea of such circumstances.

Kara Nightingale is an aspiring painter whose life is cut short in an accident. When she wakes up from death, she finds herself in a strange place called Horizon. This is where pretty much of everything starts. Sounds typical, eh? Kara becomes a guardian angel and is assigned to an officer, David.

First of all, angel stories will never complete without a handsome angel. In this case, David, whose character sometimes irritates me with his melodramatic antics. I liked him most of the time (considering that anything related to divinity is usually over-rated and solemn), he adds a combination of sweetness and rogue to the story. I had only wished that David’s persona could be made more mature rather than irritatingly and unnecessarily reckless. Kara on the other hand, really amused me because I could never categorize her in a ‘typical female’ group no matter how typical she always feel. And it baffled me too that somehow I couldn’t connect to her. As a main character, I thought Kara lacked the necessary charisma that a main character should possess. On top of that, her origin is quite unclear despite it is mentioned that her mother is a guardian angel as well. Perhaps, everything about Kara will be clarified in the next book. Who knows?

The plot in general is satisfactory; it is fast-paced and straight to the theme. So far I hadn’t encountered any bumps though I found a few spelling errors that the author and editor might have overlooked. Overall, as a first book, I couldn’t ask for more since it had sufficient amount of thrill, suspense and wickedness to complement the story without being too overwhelming. Sometimes angel stories do tend to overwhelm the readers with excessive suspense that eventually become depressing and exhausting to keep up with. Marked didn’t have all that fortunately.

I even enjoyed Kim’s conceptions of heaven, oops, Horizon. The primates brought humor and quirks to the setting, plus other surprising elements such as sky-car and elevator too. However, did the idea fully appeal to me? No. I only enjoyed it but didn’t buy it. Because let’s be a bit realistic here; the afterlife is supposedly a mystery, a world we can never, ever picture. To make it sounded futuristic with sky-car and elevator is quite of an insult to the dead. Those things are luxuries of the mortal world. But then again, why not? After all, it all comes down to creativity. And for that, I respect the author for her effort. Apart from that, romance amongst angels is in fact a big NO-NO even in fiction. I could accept it if an angel falls for a human, and in this case, I was hoping that the author had avoided it and do the otherwise instead. So a big reminder for authors out there, ‘NO MORE ROMANCE BETWEEN ANGELS, PLEASE! THANK YOU!’.

My Thoughts in Brief – The Conclusion

Overall, Marked: Soul Guardians did captivate me with its humor and swagger. Though I wasn’t impressed with some factors of the story, I would never hesitate to read the sequels because honestly, at the end of the day, I still want to follow Kara and David in the ride full of mystery and thrill. And last but not least, the spectacular ending had made me to reflect on my own déjà vu moments, which is quite fascinating matter-of-factly.

Target Readers and Recommendation

Teens and fans of YA fiction would love to get their hands on this book. Though this book is about angels, it should not scare those who don't favor reading religious fiction since this book contain very minimal religious connotation.

Bornean Bookworm rates: 4 stars of 5! 

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*Review copy is my own

*Cover image taken from Goodreads