DNA And Action Packed Drama | Spark Trilogy Review

by - Friday, January 27, 2017

Hey lovelies!

I am back again with another review but this time instead of a book review, it’s going to be a series review of the Spark trilogy by Rachael Craw. This consists of Spark, Stray and Shield.

I was really intrigued by this series because it was #ozya and I’ve been wanting to pick up more books by local authors (even though Rachael is technically from New Zealand!). I had also heard some absolutely amazing things about this series and it sounded absolutely amazing! (Crazy science experiment gone wrong and now these people have superhuman DNA? Sign me up!)

Also, can I mention the covers and the spines? I think this is one of the most beautiful series ever because the covers match so well together and THE SPINES OH HOLY GODS THE SPINES CREATE A TREE! (Well at least it looks like a tree to me – more realistically though it’s probably something to do with DNA!)

Spark Trilogy Book Review | sprinkledpages

ALSO with this review I am going to have a spoiler – free and spoiler section so if you haven’t read the books don’t worry, I’ll have a warning for you!

About the series. 

Books: Spark, Stray and Shield
Series: Spark
Author: Rachael Craw
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Synopsis: Evie doesn’t have a choice.

One day she’s an ordinary seventeen year old, grieving for her mother. The next, she’s a Shield, the result of a decades-old experiment gone wrong, bound by DNA to defend her best friend from an unknown killer.

The threat could come at home, at school, anywhere. All Evie knows is that it will be a fight to the death.

And then there’s Jamie. irresistible. off-limits. (source)
Genre: Young Adult, Sci-fi
Recommended for: Anyone 12+.

Thank you to Walker Books Australia for sending me review copies of these books however all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own!

My thoughts.

SPOILER FREE SECTION


{ WRITING }

The writing of this series was fast paced and addictive. It was so hard to put this series down because I HAD to know what was going to happen next. There were a few cliff hangers here and there and it kept me on my toes the entire time.

I had gone into this series having heard there was a huge plot twist somewhere and I found when I got to it that it didn’t do too much for me. I also found the writing itself wasn’t all that standout-y but I did enjoy it overall so it evens out.

I also feel the writing was a bit info-dumpy at times. There were huge sections of information and I feel staggering it would have not only made it easier on the reader, it would have created an even more suspenseful read. It felt like Craw was trying to get all this backstory and world building out in one go just to get to the plot and while I appreciate that, I would love to see it a little less full on.



{ IDEA + PLOT }

I ADORED THE IDEA FOR THIS SERIES! I have never, ever read books like this and it was so wholly unique. Because it brought something new into the scene, I felt myself more drawn in and wanting to know how everything pans out because it was so hard to guess. It was well researched and Craw seemed to know what she was talking about!

The world was also created quite simply which I liked because over-complicated world building really does my head in. However, I feel it could have zoomed out a little bit by showing us more about the world past Evie and Jamie and their struggles.

As mentioned before, the plot was so fast paced and addictive and it was so difficult to stop reading. New situations kept arising and Craw just knew how to keep her readers on their toes. However, I will say I feel the plot was quite repetitive.

I’ll talk about it more in the spoiler section but the characters kept going back and forth and the same situation kept cropping up and it felt like not that much happened in the three books because the characters always ended up at square one.

Also, I feel like the special snowflake trope just came into play again with Evie. And while I don’t hate that trope, it’s a little overused and I know someone cannot stand it so I thought I should add a warning that this trope is very evident in this series!

Spark Trilogy Book Review | sprinkledpages

{ CHARACTERS }

I did like the characters in this series but I didn’t connect with them unfortunately!

Evie wasn’t too bad but I couldn’t see myself in her at all so I just felt I couldn’t empathize with her. There is always a distance between her and the reader. I also felt she acted really bratty and completely stupid in some situations which I can also understand because Craw is trying to portray a realistic character but for some reason, it just didn’t click with me.

Although Jamie can be swoon worthy at times, I didn’t like him. I felt he treated Evie quite poorly at times, continuously choosing his family over her even though I felt his family were not in that much danger! But don’t worry, I’ll also talk about that in the spoiler section!

The side characters did not stand out for me at all. I didn’t like Kitty because she was so helpless and didn’t even thank Evie once. Miriam was okay and so was Ethan but meh, not many feelings for them.

However, I did quite like the romance! It was really lovely in the first book but then I had a lot of problems with the characters in the next two books.


{ FINALLY… }

I know this seems like a lot of criticism and I am sorry because I really did want to love this series after having heard such fantastic things about it! But I am sorry to say, I was quite disappointed by it because it didn’t live up to my standards.

HOWEVER I DID ENJOY IT! I am meeting Rachael at the YA Matters Conference later this year and I follow her on Twitter and I absolutely adore her! She is such a fun, friendly author and she wrote a really lovely series!

There were aspects that I really loved such as the writing, idea and plot but unfortunately because I didn’t like the characters I wasn’t able to love the series. This is more a personal preference though and I do recommend you read it because it really is enjoyable!

OVERALL RATING:

½

Have you read this series? Are you planning to?


SPOILER SECTION

If you have not read this series do not read this section and just skip ahead to the comments!

Okay, so a lot of my problems are relating to the characters. All these dot pointed below are from what I felt during the second book Stray which carried over a little to how I felt in the third book Shield.

I’m just going to dot point all my burning feels and thoughts here because I can’t keep them inside! These are going to be a little incoherent so I’m sorry, don’t hate me!

·        How does Jamie supposedly love Evie if he handed her into Affinity? Does he not understand that Kitty and Evie are best friends and he would not harm her?

·        How does the entire Gallagher family still not trust Evie even though she has done so much to protect Kitty?

·        How can Jamie be fine with Evie risking her life for his sister even though he is a shield himself but can’t trust Evie with Aiden and Kitty meeting?

·        How can Jamie want Evie to do anything and everything for his family including nearly die (she got shot twice thanks very much!) for his family but he is so unwilling to help her with Aiden?

·        Aiden is an actual sweet heart and how the hell is it his fault he was genetically programmed to kill? Why is everyone so mean to him even though he went against his basic nature?


·        Kitty has never, ever thanked Evie for saving her life. Instead she tries to keep Jamie and Evie apart and bursts into tears saying Evie is supposed to pick her.

·        On the other hand, I found it really hard to believe Kitty and Evie are best friends because they sure don’t act like it. The only time they seemed like best friends is at the very start in Stray.

·        The on and off relationship with Jamie and Evie was really, really frustrating. They were together at the end of Stray and then broke up by the beginning of Shield.

·        I actually don’t understand why everyone was trying to keep them apart.

·        Why does Evie keep pushing Jamie to deactivate even though he clearly doesn’t want to!?

·        I kinda wish the two talked about their childhood so I could aww at how cute they are!

OKAY THIS WAS A LOT MORE DOT POINTS THAN I EXPECTED I’M SORRY! But if you have read this series then make sure to chat to me about all this either via email or DM on twitter or Instagram! Or if you can be spoiler free in the comments then go for it!

But I just had to get all that out there because this series frustrated me at times!

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18 happy thoughts

  1. Love your review Nisha! (Can I call you that?) I'm hoping to pick it up and the spines look amazing together omg. I never noticed they formed a tree sort of picture!

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    1. I mean you can if you want but I feel like I have one of those names where if you create a nickname it just creates a whole new name! And YES OMG THE SPINES THOUGH *insert heart eye emoji*

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  2. I love this review. I've never heard of it before now but I'm going to add it to my TBR list now! Really great post!

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    1. Thank you so much for reading and commenting Kirsty! And yay glad to hear that!

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  3. I loved this series Anisha and so glad to see you enjoyed it as well. I felt the opposite and was able to connect with Evie as a character, seeing her insecurities and often lack of confidence made her feel more realistic for me. I'm a massive fan of forbidden romance but loved LOVED Aiden. Wasn't he gorgeous! That just about broke my heart. I'm so glad you were still able to enjoy the series Anisha, wonderful review! <3

    Oh, have you read the shorts out on eBook? They might help bridge those gaps and answer a few burning questions as well.

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    1. No I have not yet read any of the novellas but I might try that thank you so much Kelly I actually had no idea there were novellas for the Spark trilogy!

      And AIDEN OH MY GOSH MY BABY <3333 I JUST LOVE HIM SO MUCH!

      Thank you so much for reading and commenting Kelly! You are the best :)

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  4. This is a new series to me and I'm loving those spines! The world and concept sounds like something I would gravitate to but I completely understand not enjoying as much due to not connecting to characters. Thanks for the lovely review, Anisha :)

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    1. Thanks so much for reading and commenting! And yes I adore the spines so much omg!

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  5. Loved your thoughts on this series! It's not perfect by far, but definitely hard to put down. And it's so true that Rachael is absolutely lovely - her Twitter banter is what I aspire towards haha. How exciting that you get to meet her, too!!

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    1. YES OMG CANNOT WAIT FOR IT EMILY! And thanks for reading and commenting, I'm a big fan of your blog! <3

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  6. I've heard so many great things about this series so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it as well - even if it wasn't quite perfect. Thanks for reminding me to pick this up! ;) Fabulous review, as always. <3

    ~ Zoe @ Stories on Stage

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    1. Thank you so much Zoe! Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

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  7. I've never even heard of this series but it sounds so good! And those covers!! That definitely looks like a tree to me, but I cannot science, so... Great review!

    Tracy @ Cornerfolds

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    1. Thanks so much for reading and commenting Tracy!

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  8. I hadn't heard of this series before coming across your review, but wow, they sound like such great books! I love the covers and spines of these - they look beautiful in the picture you posted. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts (and including a spoiler free section! This is really helpful because a lot of times people just load up their reviews with spoilers). I'm definitely adding this to my TBR list!

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    1. Aww that's okay Kelly! Thanks for reading and commenting and hope you enjoy them when you do pick them up!

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  9. I'm glad you liked this series overall, Anisha! It was one that I genuinely enjoyed, but it's not a favourite, for a few of the reasons that you mentioned.

    I always felt like I was the only one who didn't swoon over Jamie! I mean, there were times when I liked him, but for the most part I thought he was controlling and didn't appreciate Evie enough. It was one of those situations where I just wanted them to be together because Evie wanted them to be together, if that makes sense, haha!

    OMG Aiden. I really liked his character, too! I wasn't a big fan of what happened with his character, to be honest :(

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    1. OMG CHIARA! I AM SO GLAD TO FIND SOMEONE WHO FEELS THE SAME WAY BECAUSE EVERYONE SEEMED TO BE SWOONING OVER JAMIE BUT I DIDN'T FEEL THAT WAY! Thanks so much for reading and commenting and so glad to find someone who feels the same way!!

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