This story had a lot of good elements: magic, teenager with a missing parent, a secret society. It has all the markings of a good beginning to a series, which is good because this is apparently book one.

While there were a lot of good points, I felt that there were a few other things that detracted from the story that, had they been rectified, could have led to a stronger narrative overall.


The Good Parts


The plot has a great scope and could very well become at least a trilogy, if the author decides to go that way. There's a lot of history that could be explored, particularly regarding Julia's family.

The concept of powers that come and go was interesting, even if it did have some difficult parts. It's bad enough, right, when you're suddenly saddled with magical powers, but to not even know when they'll appear or how to control them? Scary.

Minneapolis was an interesting choice for the majority of the setting. I don't think I've ever read a book set there, so that was a nice change. I hope to hear more details about the town Julia lives in next time around.

The mythology set up was another unique aspect that I think was really interesting and could be really great if it's expanded. Julia's mother's family is Turkish in history and that opens up a world of legends that haven't been explored in recent young adult literature. These days there are a lot of works about Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology. What would an in-depth exploration of Julia's family reveal?


The Not So Good Parts


The first 50% of the book dragged on quite a lot. There was too much focus on Julia's ordinary day when it could have been summed up much quicker. The plot would have benefited from this in that it would have moved along quicker and gotten to the point.

There were a couple characters that I didn't feel were fleshed out very well. Graham, for instance, did not seem to have much going so far as a personality. I would have liked some time taken to discover more about what he was like. All I've got is that he's a guy who got into a bad situation, left, and is the love interest.

Samantha was another character that seemed out of place. She felt like little more than a plot device and not a particularly successful one. I see it as this: everything she "taught" Julia could have easily been Googled. There were some connections regarding the trains that were important, yes, but her development felt weak.

Julia was a bit trying at times. She read younger than seventeen a lot of the time in her words and her thoughts.

This part might not be a bad point per say, but it is a thing that I had a problem with. There were a lot of questions that were left unanswered that should have been wrapped up within this book. Now they may get wrapped up in the second book, but these didn't feel like things that are being stretched to another book, rather things that were forgotten about or not thought out.

Aydan, Julia's dream guide, is never really explained. Who is she? Why is she appearing in Julia's dream? The only clue we get is that they're related somehow.

Why does Julia dream about Graham's past and the things that happened to Clara? This doesn't really get explained either. I assume it has something to do with the Phoenixes and her powers, but that's simple guesswork on my part.

Is Julia's mother really dead? There's speculation that whoever was supposed to kill her might not have. Which is it? This, while unanswered, is something I can live with waiting for until the next book.