Thursday, September 5, 2013

Review–Omens by Kelley Armstrong

Omens

by Kelley Armstrong

Series – Cainsville #1

Publisher – Dutton Adult

Publication Date – August 20, 2013

Rating 3 Stars

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Omens started out really strong. I was immediately drawn in to the drama surrounding Olivia finding out the truth about her birth parents and how her family reacted. I was fascinated with how she came to find Cainsville and with the town itself. I was loving the story all the way up through the halfway point but then it started to fall off a bit. What I had, up to that point, thought was going to be a paranormal thriller ended up being more of a conspiracy filled suspense drama. The paranormal elements were mentioned throughout but then went unexplored kind of leaving the reader hanging. The "reading omens" aspect was one of the best things about the book so when it went in a completely different direction than what I felt I was promised, I was left feeling a bit disappointed.

I enjoyed the interaction between the two main characters. I like the relationship that's building between them and that it is not one of those instant-love situations. It took me a while to warm up to Gabriel, it happened at about the same rate that Olivia started looking at him differently, so I thought that was really well done. Gabriel has a lot of annoying traits and habits and Olivia views him very realistically which is refreshing. He is the more consistent of the two characters in the way his actions match his personality as I was led to understand it. Her actions are a bit more all over the place.

It seemed like Omens promised one thing but delivered something very different. Maybe if I had been looking forward to suspense with a ton of conspiracy theory and convenient coincidences, I wouldn't have been left feeling underwhelmed by how Omens ended. I may still read the next book in the series with the hope that the paranormal aspects will be more prominent in future books in this series. I can see the potential for this to be an amazing series. I love the concept of a town like Cainsville and I do want to see where this series goes.

Rating - 3

Comments (7)

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I definitely could have used more background on Cainsville and why it's so...odd.
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1 reply · active 604 weeks ago
Yep, I was fascinated with the town and that is what will make me pick up the next book in the series. Also, the fact that until the story went left, it was actually REALLY good.
O, sorry you were disappointed. Kelley even said she was hoping readers wouldn't expect it to be centered around the paranormal element that she intends the series to be more mystery/thriller based with just a light splash of fantasy. Since I suspected that is what it would be going into the book I loved it and it gave me just that small touch of fantasy I wanted. It reminded me of my mystery/thriller phase I went through a few years ago.

I agree I think Gabriel is way more consistent
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1 reply · active 604 weeks ago
Ahhh I wish I wouldn't have had those expectations going into it. The paranormal elements were just so good though Pabkins, I wanted to see where they went! I often get frustrated when a book doesn't go where I want it to. Still though, I thought some of the mystery/thriller parts were a bit over the top too. I didn't hate it though and I enjoyed the writing so I will definitely pick up the next book in the series.
I probably would have expected more of a paranormal thriller too, especially based on the description. It's a shame that you didn't quite get what you wanted in the end, but I'm glad that you didn't totally dislike the book. I'll probably still read this, but I'll be sure to tweak my expectations now. Lovely review!
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1 reply · active 604 weeks ago
Thanks Sam. I would still suggest that you read it. You'll probably enjoy it more once you've changed what you'll expect from it. The town of Cainsville is fascinating, it left me wanting to know more about that so I'll continue the series.
You know, for some reason I haven't been able to get into her adult books as much, and I would have been disappointed by the things you found lacking as well. I'm glad you liked it enough to continue with the series at least--sometimes the UF series seem to take awhile to warm up. Though they shouldn't, hah.

Wendy @ The Midnight Garden

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