Book Review: The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

Title: The Eternal Ones

Author: Kirsten Miller

Publisher: Razorbill

Publication Date: August, 2010

Hardcover: 416 pages

Stand Alone or Series: Series–this is the first in a series.

How I got this book: Bought

Why I chose this book: I’ll be honest.  I bought this book since it came out in 2010.  I’ve just been putting off reading it since I got it, because I didn’t think I’d enjoy it.  A couple days ago, I was on a shortage of books I hadn’t read, and decided to pick it up.  Man, am I glad I did.

Synopsis:

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.

Review:

The Enternal Ones was spellbinding.  From the very first page it
had me hooked.  The story, while taking a concept that is fairly
mainstream in literature – reincarnation – spun the story into
something wholly original.  I’m going to start off by saying that
I’m giving this novel 4.5 out of 5 stars.  Now, I’ll explain.

I honestly couldn’t put this book down.  There was never a dull
moment.  I loved how the chapters and flashback scenes were short
and to the point.  Sometimes authors tend to drone on, especially
when the protagonist is having a vision or flashback.  But not
Miller.  She really knows how to encompass a reader’s full
attention and never let go.

The characters…wow.  They had my emotions going the entire
time.  Even the smaller ones.  The stereotypical high school mean
girl.  The not so typical grandma who believes you’re possessed
by a demon.  The heartbroken mom.  The gay best friend.  And
Haven.  It’s always important for the protagonist to be at least
relatble, if not likeable.  However, Haven was both.  I found
that in some ways I could relate to her, and in many ways I liked
her.  I wanted her to find happiness and get the hell out of
Snope City.

Wow, Snope City.  Let me tell you, this is not a place I want to
be.  Miller was so detailed with the city, and led the reader to
be able to picture the place so perfectly.  The extremely small
town dominated by religion.  Hatred and hypocrisy everywhere. 
Almost like my own hometown. 

Now here’s where I’m going to mention the part that keeps The
Eternal Ones from being 5 stars.  And I’m not saying that this is
a bad thing.  It’s just that I personally felt it was misleading.
 When reading the synopsis for the book, the reader really thinks
this is going to be some heart-pounding, bodice-ripping romance. 
And in it’s own way it was.  But throughout the storyline there’s
so much mystery shrouding the romances that it’s hard for the
reader to get attached to any one relationship.  Just like Haven,
we’re clueless as to who to trust.  Near the end of the novel,
when most everything is revealed, then we start to get a true
taste of the romance.  So I have a feeling the sequel, All I
Desire, is going to pretty spectacular.  So once again, I’m not
saying the mystery took away from the story.  On the contrary, I
quite enjoyed it.  I was trying to figure out the clues along
with Haven, and that was intriging.

So this novel was amazing.  I think you should read it.  I can’t
wait to get my hands on a copy of the sequel (since my local
bookstore doesn’t have it at the moment.  Surprise, I think not).