Review: The Unseen by J.L. Bryan

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The Unseen

by J.L. Bryan

10/31/13

Format: eARC

Source: author

Cassidy is a young tattoo artist living in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta. She’s always suffered terrible nightmares, and sometimes the hideous creatures seem to follow her out of her dreams and into her waking life, though she’s the only one who can see them. Drugs and alcohol can blot them out, but never entirely chase them away.
When a demonic cult begins to take control of the people in her life, including her younger brother, Cassidy discovers that the unseen world of monsters is very real. She can no longer avoid it. To protect those she loves, she must accept her own hidden supernatural talents and face the forces of evil before the sinister cult achieves its twisted goals and casts the world into darkness.

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I received an eARC of this title in exchange for my honest review

J.L. Bryan does creepy and dark well…really well! The Unseen is a creeptastically dark, gritty read full of the macabre and the unexpected. The Unseen’s heroine, Cassidy, is a young tattoo artist, drug enthusiast, and, as she discovers, surrounded by the supernatural. Cassidy finds herself and her loved ones caught up in the deadly doings of a demonic cult and its dangerous disciples. Cassidy must learn to trust and tap into her own supernatural powers to save the people she loves.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, J.L. Bryan is an enthralling and talented storyteller, and in The Unseen he weaves a scary awesome story! At times it seems like everything supernatural has been done, but Bryan has infused his world of demons, angels, and paranormal elements with invigorating originality and thrilling twists. As usual, Bryan’s world-building skills are excellent and he creates an atmosphere that is alluring, addicting, and creepy in the best way possible. The unseen world Cassidy finds herself unwillingly immersed in is full of both the familiar (demonic possession, astral projection, witches) and the sometimes startlingly and imaginatively new (spirit sucking hellbugs, tattoos that come to life). I love how smartly crafted the history and layers of this demonic and supernatural world is; this is a richly developed and complex world that feels very real.

The Unseen starts off a bit slow, with some superfluous character description, but quickly finds its flow, and once the action and real story-building begin, they don’t slow down for a second! Another thing I’ve come to expect from J.L. Bryan is relatable and well-developed characters, and he didn’t disappoint in The Unseen. I love how un-heroine like Cassidy is! She’s incredibly flawed- she drinks too much, does too many drugs, and can be quite selfish and thoughtless- and is perfectly content with ignoring the supernatural world around her and her place in…but this is what makes her feel so real and relatable. I like her rough, jagged edges and how she’s an unconventional heroine. There’s an eclectic cast of supporting characters, all of whom are well-developed, but I think my favorite is Ibis. Sweet, funny, dorkily charming Ibis *swoon*. And Bryan really brings the awesomeness with his nasty, nefarious demonic characters, which made me delightfully shiver!

MY FINAL THOUGHTS: The Unseen, with its originality, great characters, and captivatingly creepy, dark atmosphere, is the perfect Halloween read and it thoroughly entertained me! 

MY RATING

J.L. Bryan

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Review and Giveaway: Nomad by J.L. Bryan

Nomad releases today!

Nomad

by J.L. Bryan

Pub Date: 7/26/13

Format: e-ARC

Source: author

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They took everything: her family, her home, her childhood.By the age of nineteen, Raven has spent most of her life in the sprawling slums of America, fighting as a rebel against the dictatorship. When the rebellion steals an experimental time-travel device, she travels back five decades to the year 2013. Her plan: assassinate the future dictator when he is still young and vulnerable, long before he comes to power. She must move fast to reshape history, because agents from her own time are on her trail, ready to execute her on sight.

 I received an eARC from the author in exchange for my honest review

If you've read my reviews in the past you've probably noticed that I generally stick to middle-grade and young-adult books. I don't read much New Adult. Honestly, I'm not really a fan of most New Adult...but, when I heard that J.L. Bryan wrote a new New Adult book AND it was a cool mix of dystopian and time-travel, I knew it was one New Adultish book that I wasn't going to pass up. And I'm so glad I didn't because Nomad is just as awesome as I hoped it would be.

I'm a huge fan of J.L. Bryan's Song of Magic series (which is for younger readers), so I was excited to delve into one of his books for older readers (and Nomad is definitely meant for the older YA and NA crowd), and he continues to impress and enthrall me with his fantastic storytelling and ability to weave entertaining, intriguing stories.

Nomad is a gripping, richly complex, and fresh story with a thrilling mix of dystopian and sci-fi and captivating doses of action and romance. I'm always fascinated by time-travel and love when authors aren't afraid to take this concept to some complex and thought-provoking places. So many time-travel premises are severely lacking simply because they aren't well thought-out or their authors create too many plot-holes. In Nomad J.L. Bryan has thought of everything and boldly takes on the concept of time-loops and paradoxes. Bryan's time-traveling premise is so smartly crafted, multifaceted, and anything but simple. For the most part I found the complexity and intricacy of the story to be easy to follow, and certainly intriguing, but at times it could be a bit overwhelming.

One of the things I love best about Bryan's writing, is his vivid and layered world-building abilities. Nomad takes place mostly in our present day (Yale University to be exact), with flashbacks (flashforwards?) to Raven's dystopian future. Normally, I'd be frustrated with a book that didn't spend the majority of time in its more intriguing dystopian future, but the way Bryan sets his story mainly in present day and sprinkles brief glimpses into Raven's future throughout, works really well for the story being told; and the world-building of Raven's dystopian future doesn't suffer at all. Bryan is deftly able to create and explore this dystopian future, with more showing than telling, without creating a disjointed flow between the “then” and the “now”. I'd love to read more about Raven's dystopian future though...perhaps in a new book set there... hint hint wink wink Mr. Bryan ;)

Raven is a great heroine and I really liked her. She's smart and capable, with an engaging mix of strength and vulnerability, compassion and logic, relatability and badassary. Raven finds herself in an unfamiliar time and place, caught between desire and duty, and has the balls to do what she has to to get shit done. She also finds herself caught up in an unexpected romantic entanglement and I really like what Bryan does with this storyline and where he take its. The interaction between Raven and her guy is amusing and addicting, and the sexytimes are hot and fun.

Nomad has a clever and really satisfying ending that brings the story full circle.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS: Nomad is an awesomely original and well-written dystopian, with a complex time-travel premise, entertaining story, and J.L. Bryan's signature world-building and witty dialogue. New Adult fans looking for something a bit different, but still craving great characters and sexytimes, will definitely enjoy Nomad.

MY RATING

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J.L. Bryan

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

J.L. Bryan studied English literature at the University of Georgia and at Oxford, with a focus on English Renaissance and Romantic literature. He also studied screenwriting at UCLA. He lives in the metro Atlanta sprawl with his wife Christina, where he spends most of his day servings the toddler and animal community inside his house. He is the author of the Paranormals series and the Songs of Magic series.His novel Jenny Pox is currently free on Kindle, Smashwords, Apple, Sony, Kobo, and Nook!  

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Thanks to J.L. Bryan, I have on e-copy (mobi or epub) to give away.

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