ARC Review: Spirit by Birgid Kemmerer

Spirit by Birgid Kemmerer

Publisher: K Teen
Series: Elemental #3
Pages: 301 Pages (Paperback)
Genre: Paranormal, YA
Release Date: May 28, 2013
Summary:
With power comes enemies. Lots of them.

Hunter Garrity just wants to be left alone. He’s learned the hard way that his unusual abilities come at a price. And he can’t seem to afford any allies.

He’s up to his neck in hostiles. His grandfather, spoiling for a fight. The Merrick brothers, who think he ratted them out. Calla, the scheming psycho who wants to use him as bait.

Then there’s Kate Sullivan, the new girl at school. She’s not hostile. She’s bold. Funny. Hot. But she’s got an agenda, too.

With supposedly secret powers rippling to the surface everywhere around him, Hunter knows something ugly is about to go down. But finding out what means he’ll have to find someone he can trust…

Rating:


Review: 
I don't usually say this, but this time, it really is me and not the book. Sounds lame, doesn't it? *sigh*

If you go into the Elemental series for the plot alone, then sorry to disappoint, but you wouldn't find any significant advances in the department. Sure, there are Guides threatening to kill the Merricks and then there is Hunter who has been trained by his father to kill Pure Elementals but he befriends that one Merrick brother for his personal gains, only to find that they aren't really "the evil guys" everyone paints them to be, and then comes the part with loads of hasty decisions, scornful glares, unnecessary punches, crap loads of misunderstanding (which is too darn predictable..come on, admit it already!) and you have book after book of Merricks trying to lead a normal life but getting dragged into the supernatural because apparently every other kid and Guide hates them. Oh, where does Hunter fit into it? The poor baby gets caught in the crossfire. Literally!

You know, what I actually like most about this series you already know the things I don't..errmm.. appreciate..*glances at above rant* is, how original the characters are. Many authors have the tendency to overdo a simple plot or a simple scene, however, Kemmerer knows just how to make the plot work with the right amount of emotional punch and engaging story line (read character growth... well, for the most part). And talk about scenes! The woman can write steamy scenes in a way that will leave you waiting for the next one. I think she might need to work on action scenes better, but oh well, getting everything wrapped in a single story would be too much to ask, eh?

But I digress! You might be wondering why didn't this book do it for me? I was actually expecting to like Hunter's story as much as I did Gabriel's. Hunter always came out as a smart, quiet and composed guy (who had too much on his plate and had trust issues) and in Gabriel's story, he had an important role to play. So unsurprisingly, I was excited to read an entire book from Hunter's POV and I actually got everything I was looking for; yet...something went wrong.. And that something was (view spoiler on GR).

If maybe not for that one unnecessary character involved in the story, who served as nothing but a distraction, I would have cared more about how royally Hunter had screwed up everything again. Don't get me wrong here. I understood why Hunter did what he did. I could relate to his anger, frustration, loss and desperation. He had been told to believe something all his life and then it was all taken away from him. He was lost and given everything he had to face, I'd say he did a pretty decent job keeping it all together. However, if I look at the bigger picture, like maybe what happened in the story if not for Hunter finding out more about his parents and coming to terms with which side he actually was on? I come up with nothing.

Okay, yeah there were a bunch of teenagers causing trouble and killing people with no real motive behind it other than being delusional about killing Guides. Oh and how can I forget Silver (whose name btw keeps reminding me of Silver Surfer for whatever reasons) who was ruthless and your everyday villain killing people like a robot.
But other than that was there any real build-up towards the end?
No, the action definitely was missing.
Was that one death really necessary? Or better yet, did I even care about the said death?
Definitely not.

I know I sound like a meanie, that's why I said, it's not the book, it's me, because I simply couldn't bring myself to care. Anyways, that about sums it up from my side. But does this one book hinder me from reading other books in the series? Nope. Actually, I'm very excited about how things turn out for Nick. You are too, aren't you? *nudgenudgewinkwink*

ARC was provided by Publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

You can find Den's review of Spirit at Reader's Confession