Review Detail

SIGN OF THE SLAYER is an intriguing YA fantasy about a girl who finds out she has more power than she could have imagined. Raven is on a bus with her band when it is attacked by vampires. There is one person helping to destroy them, and she finds herself more capable than she would have expected. Reeling from the loss of her friends, she is surprised to find that she will have to give up life as she knows it with her grandmother, as she has the mark of a slayer. The stranger who helped her disappears after trying to make her forget he was even there.

Raven is soon taken to a special school, where she learns about slayer society and about vampires, whose hierarchy is more complex than she could have expected, but she is unusually powerful and seems to have a knack for the things that typically take a long time to learn. In fact, before long, she is expected partner with a royal, one of the vampires who control their society, to uncover what is happening amongst their lower and more violent ranks. What they will uncover is something even more dangerous, a plot that goes all the way to the top.

What I loved: The premise of this was really fascinating, and I loved the idea of the slayers and vampires as well as how they move forward, reluctantly work together, and striving for peace - at least the way things are on the surface. As Raven and Khamari, the vampire price with whom she begins to work and develop feelings for, dig deeper, they find that danger is only growing and plans that have been building for centuries are coming to a head. These twists and turns were quite shocking, and I loved being surprised by what was happening and the roles that Raven and Khamari were expected to play.

The book is primarily told from Raven's point-of-view, and she was a snarky teen who has had a lot of trauma in her life from losing her parents at a young age and now witnessing the deaths of all her friends at the hands of the vampires. She carries a lot of ferocity and some bluster because of it, but that also hides her deeper feelings of wanting not only revenge but to prevent the same loss from happening to others. She is certainly marked as special from the start, and this grows in complexity as the story continues. Like any teen, she is trying to find her place in the world as well as a purpose she can care about.

The reader gets a bit of Khamari's perspectives throughout, with a few interludes from his world and side of things. His life is complicated by being half-vampire and in training to become the next king of his clan. He really wants peace for all with deep roots in humanity, seeking a better future for everyone through compromise. As you can imagine, this is a tough ask. His story is one of betrayal and lies with defining who he will want to be when the dust settles (though he is pretty self-assured in this area of morality).

The romance was cute with plenty of back-and-forth and twists that keep the readers on their toes. It definitely has a forbidden feel, which ups the ante on their bond. With magical powers and teen hormones, it was much more steamy than I expected, but this will appeal to older YA readers and new adult book lovers.

Themes around reactions to trauma, family, friendship, betrayal, destiny, and collaboration were all really thought-provoking as readers enter this world. It will be interesting to see how these continue to develop in future books.

What left me wanting more: The pace of the story felt quite slow, with a bit of meandering during the school time and with the way that Raven is brought in on it all. Her talents made it a bit challenging in some ways, as she just naturally seems good at everything which does not always seem practical and gave some Mary Sue vibes in places. That being said, I would still be curious to see where the story will go, so it was still an overall enjoyable read.

Final verdict: Action-packed and full of supernatural suspense, SIGN OF THE SLAYER is an enjoyable YA fantasy about trauma and vampires. Recommend for fans of books with strong themes of destiny and forbidden romance.