Title: The Eternal Ones
Author: Kirsten Miller
Publisher: Razorbill
Pub. Date: 8.10.2010
Genre: Paranormal YA
Keywords: Reincarnation, Destiny, Love, Mystery
Pages: 416
Description (from GoodReads):
What if love refused to die?
Haven Moore can’t control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother’s house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.
In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves, before all is lost and the cycle begins again.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this novel! Since there was so much hype surrounding it, I feared I'd crack open the cover to find a stereotypical tortured love story with the only unique element being reincarnation. That was definitely not the case.
My favorite aspect of Miller's novel was the well-rounded and believable characters. With Haven, she struck a perfect balance of lovesick, confused, and smart. In my mind, those characteristics conflict, making it difficult to incorporate them all into one character, but Miller was successful.
There seems to be a trend towards unsupportive and rather annoying best friends in YA literature, but THE ETERNAL ONES seems to have left out that unfortunate element. Haven's best friend, Beau, ended up being one of my favorite characters, even beating out her love interest. He's was so unique and confident - loved it!
It was, however, the fact that Miller keeps her readers guessing that really made this novel memorable. I can honestly say that I never once felt sure about who the villain in the novel would end up being. I caught a weird vibe from the entire cast of characters, but could never pinpoint which was most malevolent.
To some, the epic romance of reincarnation will be the main draw of THE ETERNAL ONES, but, for me, it was the mystery and amazing characters. I love that this book has the ability to appeal to fans of either focus!
Grade: A
Review copy provided by publisher.
