Review: Dark Descendant by Jenna Black

Published Date: April 26th, 2011

Finished Date: May 3rd, 2011

Publishers: Pocket

Format: Paperback

Pages: 325

Series: Descendants book 1

Blurb from Goodreads: From the acclaimed author of the Morgan Kingsley, Exorcist books comes the gripping first novel in a new series about a private eye who discovers, to her surprise, that she’s an immortal huntress.

Nikki Glass can track down any man. But when her latest client turns out to be a true descendant of Hades, Nikki now discovers she can’t die. . . . Crazy as it sounds, Nikki’s manhunting skills are literally god-given. She’s a living, breathing descendant of Artemis who has stepped right into a trap set by the children of the gods. Nikki’s new “friends” include a descendant of Eros, who uses sex as a weapon; a descendant of Loki, whose tricks are no laughing matter; and a half-mad descendant of Kali who thinks she’s a spy. But most powerful of all are the Olympians, a rival clan of immortals seeking to destroy all Descendants who refuse to bow down to them. In the eternal battle of good god/bad god, Nikki would make a divine weapon. But if they think she’ll surrender without a fight, the gods must be crazy. . . .

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My Review: Cool plot, cool synopsis, sool idea, and of course, cool heroine!

Nikki has been a PI for quite some time, but her friend comes to her one day and screw everything up for her, and now she's hated by whole hordes of powerful people(both pyhsically and politacally), and by both the good and bad people, which practically leaves her on no-man's land. She's also an outcast at the only safe sanctuary she was offered. All throughout the book, she has to prove her worth and loyalty to Anderson and co. cause otherwise they would not protect her or her family from the bad people who wants her desperately(away from Anderson,the head of the good people, anyway) cause she's the rare Descendent of Artemis, Greek goddess of the Moon, the Hunt and Patron Goddess of all virgin maidens. Anderson, the only one who could butt heads with the main protagonist Konstantin, asks her to find someone for him, and it somehow became a test to prove her loyalty, and someone was bent on thinking her the betrayer. So when Nikki's sister, Steph, was threatened and Nikki had to rush to save her, that annoying someone held her back, thinking to ambush her and give her a good beating HE thought was his right to mete out and HE thought she deserved. So yeah...poor sister... The ending was kinda a happy one, and it hinted at a little romance for Nikki and also a hell of a conflict brewing up(ok maybe not hinting for the conflict, but downright shouting it at us).

Nikki was the usual heroine-nice, intelligent, carried the rare and sought-after genes, but strangely, her looks were only average. Y'know, usually the main girl's all pretty and kind and gay and stuff? She sucked up all the misfortunes that befell her like a man and she's really independent. I was disappointed about her powers tho. You would expect the rare Descendent of the cool Goddess to be all "oooh here is my magic bow and self-refilling spiritual arrows" and no one ever being able to sneak up on her because of her uncanny tracking powers...But nooo, everyone, including and especially that irritating someone, Jamaal, kept getting past her rather laxed guard and ambushing her. And throughout the whole book, she only managed to track 1 person(if i remember correctly).

Steph, Nikki's sister, is too pretty and too kind to be true. And seriously, after getting brutalized and almost raped, i would expect more of a reaction from her; what with her pampered, sheltered life and all. This type of people is kinda too impossible so...yeah i didn't really like her. And i seriously don't think she's the girl for Blake.:(

Anyway, learning about Anderson's parentage had been a real kick. Haha it was kinda cool. I thought we could've read more about Logan tho...He seemed to have much potential to be an enteraining lead hero.:/

OK, i confess that i've been procrastinating doing this review up so the feelings are not fresh anymore, and i can only remember 2 of them clearly now, which are:

OK firstly, this book has some serious fighting mojo(is this how you use this word?) going on. It's literally one fight after another, like 接二连三 kinda thing, which is definitely a good thing. Also incorporated with those awesome greek myths, that is the total cherry on top of the freaking cake. haha. After readong the synopsis about how the protagonist is Artemis' Descendent, i started looking frantically for the ebook...and i think i half-spoiled my mouse in my haste:( Anyway, the action was totally jam-packed with cool moves and choreography. But it was kinda weird, but also kinda cute that Nikki apologizes after the first few times she shoots at someone who's with the good guys(not purposely, but rather in self-defence). It was like 'BANG!', the guy falls down with some crazy chest wound(he's an immortal Descendent so he'll heal) and she goes up to him with a chagrined expression(in my head anyway)and says,"I'm sorry." Hah! Oh oh, and i think the part where she accidentally stabs Jamaal's eye with the heel of her stilettos was just plain lame(hey, it rhymes). Haha, but cute at the same time. I don' harbor any sympathy since he was the one who cause Steph(Nikki's sis)to be brutalized by Alexis(bad guy's right hand man)by holding Nikki up. Totally uncool...

And secondly, most YA books, if not all, would have a little romance in it and this one only just subtly hinted at it in the end-for Nikki anyway. And let me tell you, i am so not happy with the way things are developing. For all the things that he had done and caused,like bashing and choking Nikki and causing her siser to be ruffed up so badly and all, Nikki actually started developing, i don't know, a soft spot for Jamaal! Ew. Gross. He was my least fave character because of his unstable mental condition and hater-attitude, and she just goes traisping off with him? That's just wrong dude. And...ok this is probably gonna sound racist, but i kinda prefer the same races of people being paired up, and this is like Darke Academy by Gabriella Poole all over again, which is just plain weird. And why pair someone of her calibre with someone at the bottom of the food chain?>:/

Not as interesting as Percy Jackson, but definitely worth a shot. Try it. I mean, i don't regret picking it up, but it just wasn't the best book that i've read and with PJ as a comparison, that's tough cause PJ is just plain unbeatable. Haha. For greek myths anyway.

My Rating: