Rating:


Author: Megg Jensen

Publication: February 5th, 2011

Add: GoodReads | Amazon

Description: Forget prophecy. Make your own destiny.

Sheltered from the outside world with no hope for escape, slave girl Reychel dreads her fifteenth birthday - when her master’s symbol is burned on the back of her bald scalp. Her best friend disappears the night before, leaving her to face the branding ceremony alone. She soon discovers nothing is as it seems when people desperate for freedom beg for Reychel's help.

Can Reychel learn to believe in herself?
Via GoodReads.

My Review: 

The first book in the Cloud Prophet Trilogy, Anathema introduces us to a world full of slavery and people with extraordinary gifts. I got Anathema for free on Amazon (Where it is still free, by the way. Hey, wait! You haven't read my review yet! ... *sigh*) While I can never turn down a free book with an intriguing description, I haven't had many good experiences with free books. But Anathema was better than I had expected it would be.

Why I liked it:

1. The unique storyline.

Just like any other poor book lover with a Kindle, I love freebies. Because of some bad experiences with freebies, however, I don't just take any old book that I come across. Anathema's unique storyline caught my attention though, and it was that storyline that kept my attention through the whole book. Oppressed slaves forced to shave their heads and be branded like cattle by their masters. Both the slaves and masters alike harboring magical powers. A prophecy that puts one slave girl in the center of a rebellion. I've been really into the dystopia genre lately, and this had the dystopian and fantasy combined. I haven't seen anything simular and I enjoyed reading and watching the story play out. The entire Cloud Prophet thing I especially liked. I think that Anathema could have been an amazing read if some of the aspects of that story were tweeked.

What bothered me:

1. A "light" read. Light reads are fun and pass the time, but they never take the gold. How could've it transcended the "light"-zone? More life and death situations. Make me feel genuinely afraid for the characters. Everything came too easily for them and worked out with a cherry on top. And having more character development. I want to understand my characters and become invested in them.

2. The writing. It wasn't terrible, not one of those freebies littered with mispelled words and grammar errors, but it was still just sort of awkward. I'm sorry I don't know how to explain it any better than that.

3. Instalove. This sort of ties in with the character development that I mentioned earlier. While the book did say that they fell in love over the span of a few months, these months happened in just a few pages of the book, so it felt rushed and unrealistic.

None of these things were make it or break it, but together they lessened the quality of the story for me. I really enjoyed the unique storyline and as a whole, Anathema was much better than what I have come to expect from on-sale free books. While I am not fully invested in the characters, I am interested in learning how their story will play out and will likely read the other two books in the trilogy sometime. There was a chapter of the next book, Oubliette, at the end of Anathema as well, which was interesting. I would 100% recommend this book because, well, it's free. And like I said, Anathema was really great for a free book.

Summed Up:

This was a fun, entertaining read that I got through quickly. I liked the unique storyline and interesting story that I wasn't expecting since the book was free. But, I didn't like how "light" it was, the less-than-perfect writing, or the instalove.