Sunday, August 1, 2010

Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Whew! I just finished reading another book, Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith. Alright, the synopsis.

At last, Miranda is the life of the party: all she had to do was die. Elevated and adopted by none other than the reigning King of the Mantle of Dracul, Miranda goes from high-school theater wannabe to glamorous royal fiend overnight. Meanwhile, her reckless and adoring guardian angel, Zachary, demoted to human guise as the princess's personal assistant, has his work cut out for him trying to save his girl's soul and plan the Master's fast-approaching Death Day gala.

First of all we have seventeen year-old Miranda. All her life, she never knew that she was being watched, and loved by a guardian angel, Zachary. He has known her since birth, got to know her, and fall in love with her over the years as she grows into a beautiful yet shy and quiet young woman. Miranda has a best friend Lucy who is so much more than her and Miranda stands under her shadow. She's just the usual teen girl, quite insecure, crushing on the perfect boy and trying to make it in theatre for the school play. As said before, Zachary is always there with her, invisible to her eyes, watching, protecting. Until one night he keeps seeing this shadow of Death swirling around her, he knows something is wrong. Then another night came. And that's when everything changes for Miranda and Zach.

That is when Zach does the unforgivable thing that an angel could do. That night, he admitted his love for Miranda by showing himself to save her life. But he's too late and fails. Instead, Miranda is taken by the king of vampires, the Dracul into his underground world where vampires are called "Eternals", and he converts her into one of them, and as his heir. As for Zachary, he becomes a fallen angel. But he's been given a chance to redeem himself. Miranda's new life involves Dracul who Miranda calls "Father" while she forgets about her life as a human. She has her killer and fancy wardrobes, servants and a sleek SU. It's all so different! But then Drac tells her to get her own Personal Assistant. Zach is told about this so he jumps at the chance to help Miranda find her redemption too.

The book is told in two perspectives, Zach's and Miranda's. The story really builds up when they both reunite. I like the interaction between them two, especially Zach's humorous and delightful personality. Of course that bloomed into something more. But the story is more than the love between them. In this book I get to explore more of the mythology about vampires, angles that I've been reading about from other books. There are also some references to other classic literature, and I also love the funny and witty phrases that I find. Eternal definitely has the gothic theme to it, and it's got more of a bloodthirsty vileness to it which sets it out from the usual vampire books. Altogether, Eternal was quite the page-turner, a story of redemption, salvation, love, loyalty and grace. Cynthia has wrote a book that turned centuries of lore about these mythological creatures into something unique and spooky.

Grade: B

xoxo,
Maya
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