Review Detail

Arclight has to be one of my most anticipated books of 2013 and I was not disappointed. Despite the fairly predictable plot twist, Arclight does offer strong writing and imaginative creatures: The Fade. Which basically means this review will be a lovefest of all things Fade.

The strongest point in Arclight is without a doubt Josin's writing style and her beautiful descriptions. Every scene was so visual in my head and this was so important because by only reading the blurb, it's hard to understand what the book is really about. The world is so different and it's covered in darkness. Josin slowly reveals to the reader how things came about while still maintaining some sort of ambiguity. I really think that is where a lot of dystopian novels fail to grab me. Some don't seem to let the reader know anything about their world. It's just usually a "My world is terrible, people die. Deal with it." kind of thing. But not in Arclight. The reader finds out more as Marina does and that part was not predictable.

You may have heard that there is a love triangle and that is true, but it's not a bad one. There are two guys who are vying for Marina's affection, Tobin who I wasn't really sold on and the other is... "Honey Bunches". (That is what I will call him because he was filled to the brim with sweetness!) Both guys do have their faults. Tobin carries a chip about on his shoulder and blames Marina for something that happened in the past. And on the other hand, "Honey Bunches" is the jealous type, but I honestly can't blame him for his anger (you'll have to read the book to see what I mean).

And then you have the Fade themselves which was nothing short of brilliant. I absolutely love them and it's what really sold me on this novel. They are so different and fascinating. I especially love the way they communicated and their ability to say so little, but their words packed so much punch. It was the way they viewed the world and each other and the way their names transcended human language that made me truly believe Josin did an AMAZING job developing them.

Now that isn't to say that Arclight was perfect. It's one of those books that dives into the whole "I'm the new girl in this strange world and I don't know who I am." I really love those books for the mystery and for finding out the story behind the main character's memory loss. The problem is when you already see it coming and that anticipation that should have been building for a good period of the novel is all for nothing. However, even though this was Arclight's biggest problem, it didn't really bother me that much and gave me similar feelings to how I felt about the plot twist in Cinder by Marissa Meyer. By the time the Big Reveal came around, I was already so invested in the story and the characters.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Arclight is fresh, unique and engaging. I can't wait to find out more about the characters in the sequel. Would I recommend it to others? Absolutely.