Author: Eliza Crewe
Publication Date: November 5th 2013
Source: An advanced copy was provided by Strange Chemistry in exchange for an honest review.
Well, technically, she eats their soul. But she totally promises to only go for people who deserve it. She’s special. It’s not her fault she enjoys it. She can’t help being a bad guy. Besides, what else can she do? Her mother was killed and it’s not like there are any other “soul-eaters” around to show her how to be different. That is, until the three men in suits show up.
They can do what she can do. They’re like her. Meda might finally have a chance to figure out what she is. The problem? They kind of want to kill her. Before they get the chance Meda is rescued by crusaders, members of an elite group dedicated to wiping out Meda’s kind. This is her chance! Play along with the “good guys” and she’ll finally figure out what, exactly, her ‘kind’ is.
Be careful what you wish for. Playing capture the flag with her mortal enemies, babysitting a teenage boy with a hero complex, and trying to keep one step ahead of a too-clever girl are bad enough. But the Hunger is gaining on her.
The more she learns, the worse it gets. And when Meda uncovers a shocking secret about her mother, her past, and her destiny… she may finally give into it.
They can do what she can do. They’re like her. Meda might finally have a chance to figure out what she is. The problem? They kind of want to kill her. Before they get the chance Meda is rescued by crusaders, members of an elite group dedicated to wiping out Meda’s kind. This is her chance! Play along with the “good guys” and she’ll finally figure out what, exactly, her ‘kind’ is.
Be careful what you wish for. Playing capture the flag with her mortal enemies, babysitting a teenage boy with a hero complex, and trying to keep one step ahead of a too-clever girl are bad enough. But the Hunger is gaining on her.
The more she learns, the worse it gets. And when Meda uncovers a shocking secret about her mother, her past, and her destiny… she may finally give into it.
Stuck in an asylum for the past two weeks, what Meda's
anticipated since then has finally arrived, and as her mother used to say, she's
hangry. To live and to survive, Meda must eat a living soul, it's messy and
bloody, but she's equipped and enjoys it. She makes it a point, on her mother's
wishes, that she only kills bad people. Which, brings us back to the slimy
asylum, in which she admitted herself to get closer to the target of a girl
ghosts' murder.
She doesn't like the tables being turned.
Seeing through new eyes, she's thrown into a different
world, with secrets and honor, and finds that sometimes the blur between good
and bad isn't as simple as it should be.
What I loved about Cracked, was the fact that the characters
were full on centre, and they're not apologetic about it either.
Meda's hell of a character (half literally), and Eliza Crewe
isn't scared to make her so, whereas other certain half species characters who
are bad but want to be good, Meda isn't. So much that you kind of like her for it.
She's bad, she's sarcasm reincarnated,
and has quite a dark sense of humour (my
kind), she's not afraid of crossing a line and she's unapologetic (I had
to get a Rihanna reference is here somewhere). She is what she is. Bad, a
little unstable, making sure she stays alive, but she's determined, and though
if it was her or some of the others, she would pick herself first, but she also
doesn't want to get the others killed if she can help it.
I think she relies on her sarcasm and her coldness because
that's all she has left, she hasn't got anybody to look out for her anymore, so
she's not used to it. She's used to doing what she wants, when she wants,
without having to listen or look after anybody but herself. She's not selfish,
it's just how it works, and when you add on top of who-and what- she is, you
understand it..
Speaking of the others, let's start with my least favourite,
and favourite, both of which as the same person! Yup, I'm talking about Chi.
Now, he's my least favourite because, really, how naive can you be? Since he's
a demon hunter in training and supposed to be this golden boy, the boy's all
smoke, and Chi, *shakes head* such a rookie mistake. It wouldn't annoy me so much if it wasn't for
the cringe-worthy scenes at the beginning with him and Meda, which brings me to
why he's also my favourite. For those exact scenes, because though they're the
rolling your eyes/cringe scenes you love to hate in movies, it was funny, and
saved by Medas' inner dialogue, which is
hilarious.
I liked Jo too, though she is a little bitchy, she's been
through a lot, but she's fighting, fighting herself more than anything, but
she's determine to not let her disability define her. She's not fooled by Meda
at all, though I think that was kind of obscured by the green eyed monster. I
warmed up to her though, she clashed with Meda, but they also kind
of...clicked.
Uri...well, you can't really dislike someone like Uri, can
you?
The storyline is a little, what I like to call, fade out,
there then not type. There is one, your usual good vs evil. We have demons that
suck the soul out of people for fun, your demon buying souls variety. We have
the good, the fighters that gain strength powers once they're ready, but they
don't just fight and kill demons, they also protect 'Beacons.' Your 'charges'
of the Charmed, you could say.
Then there's Meda, and she's a little stuck in the middle.
What I wanted to know, since there are Beacons, who are
supposed to do insanely good things for mankind, and where you have good, you
always have to have bad, wouldn't there be bad, the opposite of Beacons?
Hitler, politicians...*cough* David Cameron *cough*
Although we do have a story, and a somewhat plot inside an
underground world, it wasn't the strength of the book, the characters were, and
because they were, it was enough to carry the book to the end.
Cracked was a really fun read, with characters that demand
attention.
Rating: 4/5
Be sure to check back tomorrow, there's a special surprise! :)
