dramastef's Full Review: Cynthia Leitich Smith - Eternal
During a slight bout of pregnancy related insomnia in the wee hours of the morning, I went to my library stash and pulled out Cynthia Leitich Smith's YA novel Eternal, a book I'd plucked from the Just-In on a whim based solely on the name and the cover. I started the book at about 3:30 in the morning and didn't stop until I was finished.
Zachary is a Guardian Angel, currently assigned to seventeen-year-old Miranda, whom he adoringly refers to as ‘my girl.' One night when Miranda's best friend Lucy leads her into yet another troublesome situation, Zachary breaks the rules and reveals himself to her for a quick moment in order to stop her from falling and breaking her neck, dying before he felt she had a chance to live. Unfortunately, because she lived, she was around when an eternal (they don't use the ‘V' word) came to turn her into his daughter and heir. Without making him aware of Miranda's fate, Archangel Michael stripped Zachary of his wings and powers and banished him to a life on the mortal plane.
A little over a year later, another Guardian Angel appears to Zachary telling him that he has a chance at redemption, but he has to destroy something of tremendous significance. When he follows the signs and ends up as Miranda's human assistant, he assumes his role is to destroy her sire and save what little bit of her humanity still remains.
Smith's Eternal captured and held my attention from the very first chapter. The chapters jumped back and forth between Miranda and Zachary's first person point of view, which kept the story moving. Though I'm often drawn to vampire novels and battles between the ultimate good and evil, Eternal offered these things in a much different way than I'm used to and I truly appreciated the change of pace. Very few characters are wholly good or wholly evil. They are flawed and constantly conflicted, which makes them so much more accessible to the reader.
Nothing in Eternal would keep me from giving this to my Young Adult reader. It rides the line between a deeper, thoughtful novel and YA fluff very well. There is an underlying love story between Zachary and Miranda, but nothing happens that would raise a flag to all the book banners waiting in the wings. Those who are well read will recognize numerous nods to famous literary works. If they're not recognizable, Smith does give due credit in an afterword, acknowledging that much of her inspiration came from Stoker's definitive Dracula, but also, in smaller ways, from the likes of Johnny Cash, Anne Rice, J.K. Rowling, Leonardo da Vinci, J.R.R. Tolkien, Joss Whedon (yay!) and more.
I admit that it's nice to finally read a wonderful book that isn't part of a series. The book stands up well enough on its own. Great writing, flawed characters, a good story, star-crossed lovers, a beginning, middle and definitive end. I'm quite pleased to have found it and recommend it without hesitation.
You can read more about author Cynthia Leitich Smith at her website: http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/
With diabolical wit, the author of Tantalize revisits a deliciously dark world where vampires vie with angels. In alternating points of view, Miranda ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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