Review: Betrayal by Mayandree Michel

Betrayal
The Descendants #1

Author: Mayandree Michel

Publication Date: March 28, 2011

Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal/Mythology

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Synopsis:

Where there is love and power, there is always... betrayal.
At seventeen, Cordelia is an ordinary teen with an extraordinary and frightening secret. A secret that induces vivid dreams which she not only experiences true love, but crippling fear while barely escaping with her life each night.

After a life altering event, Cordelia has an unexpected encounter with Evan, the mysterious boy from her dreams, who reveals who and what she is, a descendant of the Greek gods. At that moment everything she knows of her world is a lie, and she must leave the present and go into the past to assume the role she was put on this earth for, safeguarding her ancient empire amidst evil forces that toil hastily to destroy it.

In a race against time, Cordelia must decide if she is truly a part of this dangerous world, or risk defying the gods, and ultimately lose the boy who has put a claim on her heart.

My Thoughts: Wow, this book was definitely a strange ride through. It is the first book that I recall reading that had the following fantasy themes: Gods, demi-gods, werewolves, vampires and time travel. It was a strange mixture that just didn’t seem right at first; in fact, some of it still doesn’t feel right. When I was first introduced to all of these themes I admit I thought: “Wow, why can’t the author just pick one or two and stick to it?”. It did feel a little like she wanted to have a bit of everything in there for good measure and it came out really strange.

We start off here, in the twenty first century with your average everyday girl – who just happened to accidently shoot lightning out of her fingertips, eyeballs and other areas when she felt threatened by stupid shadows. Then, one day, she died. That is when the story really starts – well sort of. I really felt the story didn’t really start until the end.

The characters are all unique and I really loved them. I think that one of the things that kept me going on this one is how much I cared about Cordelia (the main character). Even side characters I found that I really enjoyed seeing. I really liked Cordelia most, again, at the end of the book. Before that, she is a little whiney at times and is kind of a huge eavesdropper (though I totally get it in her situation).

They have a botched love-triangle around the middle that I didn’t really get and felt completely strange and unrealistic. Luckily, the author ties that up near the end and a whole new, exciting and interesting triangle emerges; thus, I feel (and hope) that the next book revolves around that and is better.

The story starts off slow, remains pretty slow to me but then picks up near the end. The ending of this book was its only redeeming part and it was enough to make me curious about the next one enough to check it out.