This year it's like a goal of mine to read more YA books that feature lead black males. I think with my bookshelf, I've managed to find sooooo many books featuring B-racial(mixed with black) and Black female characters but my shelf is definitely lacking African American males. I'm not really sure why this is, especially since the book features an interracial couple and where I live, black guys date white girls all the time. It's time to start reflecting that with books!
The story follows Cole, a girl who gets all these strange,realistic visions she later finds out are memories from past lives she's lived. A mysterious boy that she feels really drawn to, enters her life and informs her that she's an Ahket, a very special person who can access memories from past lives and collect the information to better the world in the present time.
I think the legends and lore the author used is pretty interesting. It featured a bit about Egyptian myths and has a strong focus on reincarnation. Griffin also wasn't some sparkly, stronger than average stalker. Being an Ahket just makes you a normal person.... well a normal person who's extremely knowledgeable.For interest if one spoke German, Russian or Zulu in a past life, when they "reawaken", those abilities become accessible to them.I've never read a YA that featured cool details like that!
On Cole:
I wasn't exactly captivated by Cole, but I didn't dislike her. Griffin on the other hand was...umph!So fine! Even though her character didn't move me, I did really like their relationship and I found them cute together. If the book would have been just about her,I prolly would have been bored.I'm not sure if that's the best thing in the world to say, because it perpetuates the idea that a girl is not interesting enough without a man, but that's just the way I felt about it. I hope she becomes more lively in the second installment, I really want to fall in love with her character like I did with Griffin.
On Griffin:
I loved Griffin!I think I'm a little biased because I saw a bit of my boyfriend in Griffin because like Griffin , my boyfriend is a mixed race person.He's always complaining about how he never sees or reads about mixed race people in media, so I was glad to finally prove him wrong with this book.Mind you my boyfriend is not as brown as Griffin, in fact he's pretty much as light as a "white" person, but he still really connects with people who can claim to be "bi-racial". Griffin wasn't stereotypical, in fact he was actually kind of mature for his age. I think it's because he was an Ahket(someone who knows about their past lives) My only complaint was that he made Cole seem more interesting and I would have liked to see her more interesting on her own.
The cover is really gorgeous and appropriate. When I went to Barnes and Noble and seen this cover on the bookshelf, it spoke volumes to me!A brown boy on the cover in a sea of book covers with white girls in pretty dresses made me gravitate to this book. I think the girl on the cover is pretty blah, but the boy.....just gorgeous!
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