Devastated by the death of her boyfriend, Lucas, Sophie moves in with her mother in Edinburgh, hoping to grieve quietly. But since meeting Lucas, nothing about Sophie's life has been quiet, and his death doesn't change this. If anything, life has become more complicated and confusing than ever. Her mother is determined that she get over him. A strange, compelling man seems to be stalking her. And she's begun to have visions she doesn't dare believe. Because, if she does, it means that Lucas isn't dead at all. Instead, he's entangled in a fate worse than death. And only she can save him.Riven is the sequel to the amazing Bound, which I reviewed last month and absolutely loved. I really enjoyed Riven but it did seem as though it was written by a totally different person at times. What I loved about Bound was the tone set by the writing and setting and for me Riven lacked this a little, the weather in the last book was stormy and it set this really dark and ominous tone, the setting changes for Riven and this meant that the tone changed and for me the focus was on the story and character and not the writing.
I found it so much easier to get to grips with the characters because we already know Sophie, Ailsa and Lucas and I also got into the book quickly because I was already on the edge of my seat after the heartbreaking conclusion to Bound. At times, the pace dropped but for much of this book I was gripped, so pacing in this book was definitely better than the last book.
Riven draws in a lot of mythology, some which is used quite often in YA books and some which was original. What is unique about this series is that even though it's about fallen angels and battles for the balance of good and evil it isn't religious, it manages to use religious symbols in a completely non-preachy way and I love that about it.
I did feel that the ending of this book was a bit of a let down, we were building up for this massive confrontation with the bad guy and all we get is a harp playing competition... errr, a bit of an anti-climax for me and I was a little bit taken aback by the epilogue, it was cute but it took me while to understand what was going on. however on a whole this book was exciting and gripping and I am so excited to read the third in the series, which is released in 2013.
Overall Rating: A
Book released May 1st 2012 by Snow Books
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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