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!
*Review copy is my own
*Cover image taken from Goodreads
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