Title: The Day of First SunAuthor: Sheryl Steines
Genre: Young Adult
Publication: January 1 2011
Pages: 379 pages, Ebook
Source: Blog Tour
When Princess Amelie of Amborix is murdered by magical means, Annie Pearce and Bobby “Cham” Chamsky of the Wizard’s Guard are called in by the FBI. Their job is to help solve the crime while keeping the non-magical world from discovering the existence of the Wizard Council.During their investigation, Annie and Cham discover that Princess Amelie’s death is connected to a series of other crimes in the Chicago area. A larger plot involving, a vampire, a rogue wizard and an army of soul-less zombies is revealed, but can Annie and Cham discover who is responsible before The Day of First Sun?I was quite excited to read The Day of First Sun, the blurb let on that it was going to be a fun, magical read, however the blurb was quite wrong. I did not find this book fun to read at all and I struggled through the whole book, hoping that it would get better, alas it didn't. A lot of people have really enjoyed this so don't let this review stop you from reading it!
The beginning of this book had promise, the characters were cute and it flowed at an easy pace, sadly that only lasted a couple of pages into the book. The beginning didn't grip me as I was hoping it would but I persevered, only to be further disappointed. As the novel progressed I found my boredom increasing and I was really struggling to finish it. I did finish it in the end though because I always think that maybe if I didn't give up on a book maybe it would've gotten better, but I felt like I should've put The Day of First Sun down, we just didn't connect.
The novel was written in third person and I found it extremely hard to get into the story. With third person you don't really get into the character's head, you don't feel like you are living as them or really experiencing their thoughts and emotions. It felt like i was just skimming over the edge of the story and not dewlling in the core of the story, where I like to be when reading. I have read some books written in third person and they were enjoyable and easy to delve into, this time around that wasn't the case.
I must admit I really didn't like the characters that much, Annie, our main character, was almost on every page yet I feel like I barely know anything about her. I know she has brown hair and eyes, she has a sister, a fairy and a boyfriend. That's literally all I know about her, after almost four hundred pages of reading all I know is a couple of facts about our main character. The characters were very underdeveloped and I just felt like I was watching a play with actors not knowing which part they were playing. Their actions towards each other seemed robotic and too sudden, which I'm not too fond of. I wanted to like the characters, but I just couldn't. Annie was a kick-butt heroine which I love in a story, but I just found her too harsh. She barely ever showed emotion. I know she is a witch but she is also human and I just felt like I was reading about an emotionless drone. She was also a really harsh person I found, I understand when a character is tough and has a reason, but I just felt like Annie didn't care about anyone or anything, not even herself.
The romance was...bad. They had been friends for years and then when they're in their twenties, they suddenly realize they're in love. She also discovers she's in love within a couple of hours and then she calls him over the phone, telling him she's in love with him and then he comes over and they sleep together. The romance wasn't explained, the author didn't build the romance up to the discovery of their love for each other, so it was like insta-love, but not in the way where they just meet and BOOM! And they're in love.
The villains weren't that scary. I was hoping that they would show their extra nasty side soon to see if they were good villains but unfortunately that didn't happen either. It also felt like I was staring at an emotionless drone that knew he was supposed to be ominous but didn't paly his part quite right.
I didn't really enjoy the plot, I found myself reading chunks of writing that I had already read, the events that played out were quite monotonous and I struggled through reading it, hoping that something would jolt me out of my boredom. There were no twists and when something did happen it didn't seem like it was told in the right way and that it was slowed down immensely where it should have been told in fast, short sentences.
There are two things I did enjoy about the book though, the story idea was unique and interesting and the description in the book was beautiful. However, the writing didn't flow which made me struggle through the book and it made me lose interest in the idea. At times I also felt like there was too much being described and I found my self skimming the words because the extra amount of detail.
The Day of First Sun had a fresh, unique idea that would've worked if the characters displayed emotion and human like qualities. The pacing was slow and there were no twists in the tale, which left me skimming the pages hoping to find something interesting. This book was like cupcakes, there are some cupcakes that suit your taste and others that don't satisfy what you seek for. The Day of First Sun didn't satisfy my taste. Most of the reviews on this book is good, so try it, you might like it. :)
I give it: 2/5 CUPCAKES!
