Make Yourself

Book Review Eternal Cynthia Leitich Smith


Book Review Eternal Cynthia Leitich Smith
"At last Miranda is the life of the party: all she had to do was die. Elevated and adopted by none other than the reigning King of the Mantle of Dracul, Miranda goes from high-school theatre wannabe to glamorous royal fiend overnight. "

"Her reckless and adoring guardian angel, meanwhile-fighting in guise as the princess's personal assistant-has his work cut out for him with the Master's Death Day gala fast approaching. Can Zachary save his girl's soul and redeem himself before all hell arrives, quite literally, on their doorstep?"

Eternal has a fair romantic element that I enjoyed. Zachary and Miranda are two lost souls overnight, and finding each other was their only real solace. I fell for the romance factor, I admit. It's a little bit mellow, and there was not much humour in their dialogues, but their attraction towards each other was believable, even from Miranda's point of view. Again, it's that 'forbidden love' which I enjoy so much.

One thing I thought the book could have done better on was the characterisation. Even within the characters' narration I felt the lack of individuality in the charactertisation. It was especially frustrating to read Miranda's transformation without any element of realism - by that I mean surprise, shock or trauma. She didn't feel real in a sense that I haven't quite pin-pointed when she finally believed her life is changed. Zachary was well, "mellow". He seemed helpless most of the time and I thought Joshua was a better character. He had better humour. Some other characters were thrown in the midst, some more important than others, but they were not fully developed. Just a line or two about their history, nothing more.

I adored the blog/classified ads interlude in-between chapters - I thought that added a bit of reality to the fantasy element of the book.

And I must credit the book with its final resolution and good pacing. The ending was partly predictable. There are times when you think you could have guessed what would happen, but there would always be that one thing that you would miss. It's a hopeful end, but it does have an element of sadness.

THREE STARS.



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