Title: Netherworld
Author: K.N. Lee
Publisher: Booktrope
Publication Date: May 11, 2013
Pages: 224
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy, New Adult
Source: ARC
Book one of the critically acclaimed #1 international bestselling series critics and fans are calling Blade meets Ocean's Eleven.
Demons, ghouls, vampires, and Syths. The Netherworld Division is an organization of angels and humans who are there to keep the escaped creatures from the Netherworld in check in this action-packed paranormal thriller.
Introducing Koa Ryeo-won, a half-blood vampire with an enchanted sword and a membership to the most elite vampire castle in Europe.
A vengeful demon threatens everything Koa has worked hard to protect. Not even Halston and his legendary infinity gun can stop him, but Koa's mother might be strong enough to do it--if only her curse can be broken.
There is one vampire that can help.
First stop, the Ivory Tower, where only the most notorious supernatural beings are kept. But even that won't be enough. Koa must prepare herself to return to the place that nearly killed her. The Netherworld.
Demons, ghouls, vampires, and Syths. The Netherworld Division is an organization of angels and humans who are there to keep the escaped creatures from the Netherworld in check in this action-packed paranormal thriller.
Introducing Koa Ryeo-won, a half-blood vampire with an enchanted sword and a membership to the most elite vampire castle in Europe.
A vengeful demon threatens everything Koa has worked hard to protect. Not even Halston and his legendary infinity gun can stop him, but Koa's mother might be strong enough to do it--if only her curse can be broken.
There is one vampire that can help.
First stop, the Ivory Tower, where only the most notorious supernatural beings are kept. But even that won't be enough. Koa must prepare herself to return to the place that nearly killed her. The Netherworld.
MY REVIEW
I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it. This review MAY contain SPOILERS. Read at your own risk.I really enjoyed this story as a whole, but I had some issues with it as well.
Starting off with what this book does well, it has a very unique take on vampires and Nephilim. I can honestly say that I haven't read anything resembling this world that Lee has created before in other books. The concept of the story is very good and I think with some polishing it could be incredible.
I felt like this book was way too short and lacked detail. It felt like the bare bones of what a book should be. It has the main concept, the characters, and the plot, but it lacks the details needed to fully understand the scope of the story being told. This also brings me to the characters. While I liked these characters, I didn't love them. I didn't feel a connection to them that would make me fall in love with them. At times I didn't feel like I knew them at all. This is where details would have been most advantageous in the story. As far as the world-building goes, more details is never a bad thing in a fantasy book. There were points in the book, especially when the main characters enter the Netherworld, that were confusing to follow. The author was telling instead of showing. An instance of this is when Lee tells the readers that the main character can fly. There is no explanation as to why, nor is there a description of her attempting it. She just flies. It didn't go into any details regarding this power that the main character has. Every time she flew I just pictured Superman, but I know where Superman's power comes from so his power of flying doesn't confuse me. Every time she flew it was very unconvincing and ridiculous to me. Details are the backbone of a story. Without them, the story falls flat and doesn't engage the reader.
I found the narrative a bit choppy and unconvincing at times. I also think that this book could use a serious sit down with an editor. There were misspellings and mispunctuation galore, and sometimes there was even the wrong form of a word used. While these things may not bother some people, they sadly impacted the enjoyment of the story for me.
The ending was a bit abrupt. I wouldn't really call it a cliffhanger though because there wasn't anything really hanging in the balance. I think that I would have preferred a cliffhanger, to be honest. The story just stops. I kept scrolling through my e-reader thinking that I didn't have the complete file downloaded to my kindle app.
This book (and this series) has great potential. It definitely has some missed opportunities in regard to the world building and character growth, but the story is original and catching. I think that with some refining this story could be so much more. I will definitely be continuing the series. I know that this book is the first by this author, and I think that over time her writing can only get better. I am excited to see what else K.N. Lee has to offer. I would recommend this series to those that enjoy action-packed urban fantasy stories.
This book is written by an indie author. Do you read indie authors? Why or why not?
My name is Vanessa a.k.a. Queen Alchemy. I am a 30-something-year-old mother of four nerdy, fantastic children. We live in the Midwest. I have a reading addiction, and I hope that I never recover! I'm the hugest nerd you can find with interests not limited to the following: comics (Batman and Captain America for the win!), science, computers, zombies, unicorns, Harry Potter, cartoons from the 80's & 90's, Frankenstein, history, crafting, cooking & baking, Star Wars, digital scrapbooking, D&D, Minecraft, Hello Kitty, horror, metalcore, royalty, tattoos & piercings, bright colors, and so much more!
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