Review: Unbreakable by Kami Garcia

Unbreakable

Author: Kami Garcia
Series: The Legion #1
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Genre: YA Paranormal
Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
Release Date: October 1, 2013
Source: Mid-Columbia Libraries
Rating: 4 Stars
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Synopsis from Goodreads:

I never believed in ghosts. Until one tried to kill me.

When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn’t know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy’s room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon — a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.

Now Kennedy has to take her mother’s place in the Legion if she wants to uncover the truth and stay alive. Along with new Legion members Priest and Alara, the teens race to find the only weapon that might be able to destroy the demon — battling the deadly spirits he controls every step of the way.

Suspense, romance, and the paranormal meet in this chilling urban fantasy, the first book in a new series from Kami Garcia, bestselling coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures novels.

My Review:

This book was super creepy! I read it the week before Halloween and it was the perfect October book. I’m a total chicken and was kind of nervous when I picked this one up, but I ended up really liking it! Were there parts where I was cowering in fear? Yes. But I didn’t get nightmares after reading so I’m counting it as a win!

Kennedy is just a normal teenage girl trying to live a normal life. The only thing unique about her is her photographic memory. (How cool is that?) Or so she thinks. Until one day her mom is murdered and her whole life changes. She meets some hot twins who explain that her mother’s death was no accident. It was at the hands of an evil vengeance spirit. A what? Exactly. The twins explain that they are members of a group called The Legion that hunt down these evil spirits and kill them. Apparently Kennedy is the fifth member, a gift inherited from her mother. But that can’t be right. Her mother never mentioned anything about being a ghost hunter. But the twins are hot so Kennedy decides to run away with them. Haha, no really it’s because she’s being hunted by more vengeance spirits, but they are pretty sexy…

Kennedy was a great main character. I loved that she didn’t immediately trust everybody. She remained skeptical until proof was thrown in her lap. Too many times in YA novels, I feel like the MC just goes along with whatever is happening, just accepts it for fact, but Kennedy doesn’t do that. She’s got her head on straight and uses all her wits to figure things out for herself. But even though she is super smart, Kennedy is extremely unsure of herself. She really wants to belong somewhere (teenage angst…) and she has MAJOR abandonment issues. But I watched her work through some of these issues throughout the book and am excited to see where she will go next.

The whole cast of characters was really great though. The twins are hot. I liked Lukas better than Jared. Jared is just too standoffish for me whereas Lukas was like a friendly puppy dog. I normally go for the bad guy, but this time I just never fell for him. There was a bit of a love triangle between the two brothers and Kennedy which I hated. I don’t mind a love triangle, really, I don’t, but when two brothers are pitted against each other? That’s not cool. I strongly disliked it. Because whoever Kennedy chooses, the other one loses two people: the girl he likes and his brother. So sad.

The two other members of the Legion, Alara and Priest, were awesome. Alara was such a badass and Priest was your typical younger kid looking to be seen as an equal. Both of these characters really helped make the book what it was.

There are some really cool ghost scenes in this book. Kami Garcia did an awesome job of describing things and I could really picture the various settings in my head. Of course, this really creeped me out, but it is definitely a testament to her writing.

The plot line moved really quickly and the world-building was really good. There were lots of twists and tons of mystery. Of course, Kami Garcia left us on a horrible cliffhanger and now I can’t wait to get my hands on the second book. If you love ghosts, paranormal, or horror stuff, I can’t recommend this book enough. A great October read or an anytime of the year read! Kami Garcia’s first solo project is awesome. Happy reading all!

Have you read this book? What did you think? Did you like it better than Beautiful Creatures? I did!