Destiny is a freight train rolling along on a set course that only the conductor knows. When we get to the railroad crossing in our car, we can choose to stop and wait for the train to pass us by, or try to pull out in front of it and beat that bad boy across.
That choice is our free will.
If we choose to rush ahead, the car we're in might stall on the tracks. We can then choose to try and start the car or wait for the train to plow into us. Or we can get out to run, and fight the destiny of the train slamming into us and killing us where we stand. If we choose to run, our foot could get caught in the tracks or we could slip and fall.
We could even say to ourselves, "there's no way I'm dumb enough to fight the train" and hang back to safely wait. Then the next thing we know, a truck rams us from behind, throwing us straight into the train's path.
If it is our destiny to be hit by the train, we will be hit by the train. The only thing we can change is how the train turns us into a hamburger.
This analogy on free will...it's so
1) appropriate for this book that I'm at a loss for words
2) appropriate in general--I've never given free will too much of a thought but this, this got me thinking...thinking that this may be my own view on the idea as well
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
The Judgment: First Mate {You, fine piece, are my right hand. I cannot live without you, and neither can this ship. Thank you so much for your beautiful existence. You cannot leave this ship, no can do.}
At fourteen, Nick Gautier thinks he knows everything about the world around him. Streetwise, tough and savvy, his quick sarcasm is the stuff of legends...until the night when his best friends try to kill him. Saved by a mysterious warrior who has more fighting skills than Chuck Norris, Nick is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters: immortal vampire slayers who risk everything to save humanity.
Synopsis:
Nick quickly learns that the human world is only a veil for a much larger and more dangerous one: a world where the captain of the football team is a werewolf and the girl he has a crush on goes out at night to stake the undead.
But before he can even learn the rules of this new world, his fellow students are turning into flesh eating zombies. And he's next on the menu.As if starting high school isn't hard enough...now Nick has to hide his new friends from his mom, his chainsaw from the principal, and keep the zombies and the demon Simi from eating his brains, all without getting grounded or suspended. How in the world is he supposed to do that?
Judging the Book by the Cover: Love, love, love the font and design of the title. The rest...well, it's a good cover in general. Nothing about it makes me want to rave about it, but it's good as far as covers go. The cover model fits my mental image of Nick, but the sigil seems unnecessary, which is a judgement based on after reading the book--there wasn't any mention of any sigils, magic circles, etc so I don't see the point of it, but I suppose it gives a hint that the book will deal with the paranormal. All in all, good cover.
My First Thoughts: This was my...second? third time? reading this book so of course I started off with a lot of thoughts. Most of these thoughts consisted of me trying to piece the book by memory. I'd remembered bits and pieces, but not enough to skip the book and move on to the next one. I looked forward to rereading it though. If anything, I definitely remembered that Nick was one of my favorite characters. I was too excited to hear his sass and sarcasm again. The boy has a way with words.
Other than that, I was eager to jump into the world of the Dark-Hunters. From the few bits I'd gathered through teasers and reviews, the world of the Dark-Hunters enticed me. The world-building seems so complex, yet seamless. I want in. And speaking of world-building...The World-building: There's two levels here: on one hand, we have the physical location of New Orleans, the place of mystery and mysticism, a perfect backdrop for the secondary, yet main world: the paranormal world of the Dark-Hunters, gods, etc. I'm going to make a leap and attribute Nick's quick adaptability to the weirdness in his life to growing up in New Orleans--he'd lived around people with sixth senses, zombie hunters and such. Initially, he sees himself as the levelheaded one, but a quick demonstration of magic from Acheron dispels that idea and he comes to wrap his head around the idea of another world among their own.
Little is done to introduce me to the world of Dark-Hunters *boooooo* but we are given a small sampling of what's to come. As far as I can discern, Nick has met all the major players in the game, the people who are going to be around him for a while. Each seems to have their own agenda concerning him though, and no one but I seem to know of this. Poor, poor Nick--is what I would say, but this puppet seems to be guiding their fingers instead.
Acheron: We're told, for the very beginning, that this man will both be Nick's best friend and his worst foe. Whether betrayal is involved is something for a later time. My guess? The dude exposes him to a world of danger, which leads to Nick losing loved ones.
More than that, somehow, some way, Nick had glimpsed his true god form.
How?
Kill him and be done with it.
That was probably the most logical thing to do. But Kyrian, for whatever misguided reasons, had his heart set on saving the kid. Closing his eyes, Acheron used his powers to see into the future--to what would happen if he killed Nick.
Nothing was there.
Just a vacuous space of nothingness.
Crap...Kody: I would never, never would have thought that little miss fluffy here would be a warrior of light.
Buuuut I was surprised...pleasantly surprised. Badassery is always a plus, and being a warrior of light kinda puts you high on the badass list. Anyways, onward to her plans...
No matter what, she wouldn't be so stupid again.
"Have no fear, Sraosha. I've learned from my mistake. This time, I won't fail. If we can't turn him, I will kill him."
"You better remember that. Because this one is even stronger than his father and now he's being embraced and trained by the Dark-Hunters. If we don't turn him, he will be the one who finally destroys us all."
And she would be the one to blame for the death of humanity.Ambrose: Ambrose...he is clear-cut. He makes on effort to hide his purpose: make sure Nick doesn't end up where he himself has ended up. And it doesn't seem like this is his first effort to do so. Or his second.
Ambrose stared at the wall, where he saw himself as a boy. Nick Gautier had no idea how the random small decisions he was making right now would turn him into the beast Ambrose had become.
I have to save myself.
More than that, he had to save the ones he loved. Before it was too late.
But how>
God, how could I have been so stupid, even at fourteen? It was hard to look back and see the faces of his friends and loved ones, especially since he knew what would become of them if he didn't alter history. It cut so deep that it alone was almost enough to make him insane.
How do I stop it?Kyrian: Now he...he is a strange one. We know nothing of him, besides what he tells Nick. Time will tell which side he's on.
"Nick..." Kyrian's voice was strained. "Look around. I'm not going to miss it. You were headed the wrong way down the street, when, for whatever reason, you made a right turn. No one made you do it. You did it by yourself. My goal is to keep you on the right path. And I know that desperate people do desperate things, so this job will help eliminate some of that temptation. You're a good kid and you deserve a break, which I'm sure life hasn't given you much of."But, there is something that allows me to make a hypothesis on Kyrian...something Acheron said:
"Nick isn't Jason. It's a different time and place, General. Don't let the past ruin your future."Kyrian is obviously a man carrying some sort of baggage, baggage he feels he can absolve through being a mentor to Nick.
I don't think I need to worry about him...*weeeell, I worry that he might be heading into a future much, much worse than what is planned by those with good or bad intentions, but I'm trying to have faith in him--don't blame me for having a hard time; forgive me if it's hard to completely, blindly trust a fourteen year old being guided by his raging hormones*
She's dangerous to you. Avoid her.
He scowled at the deep, scary voice in his head. It sounded almost demonic. WTH?
"I'm going crazy with boredom." Only a lunatic would want to avoid a girl as nice and pretty as Kody.
Reading about a fourteen year old, who holds the fate of the whole world in his gaming hands, is all well and good, but may the lawd have mercy and never let this be a real-life situation kind of thing. PLEASE.
The Guy:
" I am a socially awkward mandork."That is the first sentence in chapter 1, and it also happens to be the least apt description of Nicholas Ambrosius Gautier *Nick*. Case in point. Poor Nick is subjected to bullying at school [which his mother naively writes off: "No one's going to pick on you, Nicky. The school has a strict no-bullying policy."...ah parents and their ignorance on the actual workings of high school] But despite the bullying, to make his mother happy, he wore something of
...color and style were bad enough. The fact it was covered in l-a-r-g-e pink, gray, and white trout (or were they salmon?) was even worse.The boy has more courage than I ever would. Does this mean he's a socially awkward mandork? Hell to the no. The boy can manage to get the cute, new girl to like him WHILE wearing that monstrosity.
"I like a man who takes fashion chances. It's the mark of someone who lives by his own code. A rebel."10 points for Nekoda! In all seriousness, i'm scared of the prospect of the female population being in his vicinity while he's dressed to the nines. Hearts shall be broken, my friends.
But more than that, Nick has a heart of gold when his mother is concerned. He'll wear ugly shirts for her, be embarrassed in front of his rich, entitled classmates [Nicky's smart! #scholarshipkid], and take the fall to protect her feelings.
It'd always been just the two of them in this world. Team Fabulous. That's what she'd called them as far back as he could remember. Together they could make it through anything.Being the only child, and having his murdering (surprise!) dad out of the picture, Nick has the be the man of the family...or else, according to daddy dearest:
Take care of your mom, boy, or you'll answer to me. You lip off to her and I'll cut out your tongue. You make her cry and I'll kill you myself.Now THAT is some serious motivation, but in Nick's case, he takes care of his mother more out of his love for her than the threat by his dad.
Not all is perfect about Mr. Nick though...desperation makes him vulnerable which makes him prey in the eyes of the street kids he calls his "friends" [between you and me, Nick, those a'int your friends--Caleb, Bubba, Mark, now THOSE are friends...tough that you learned that distinction the hard way, kid]. But in a way, he should be thankful for these so-called "friends"--if it wasn't for their mugging job they'd tried to rope Nick into, Nick wouldn't have met Kyrian or have been exposed to the Dark-Hunters. Whether this is a good thing remains to be seen, as Ms. Nekoda aka warrior of light, views it as a bad thing. But then again, I also know next to nothing about these "good people". Who is to say they are not the bad ones? Do their ends justify their means?
Okay, yeah, derailed a bit there.
I, personally, don't believe in this crap. I say I control my destiny and my life.
No, nothing controls me.
Ever.And more than anything in this world, I want this to be true, for both in general, and for Nick. I want there to be a chance that Nick doesn't have to end up like Ambrose, alone and demonic. Oh, there I go again, derailing. BACK ON TRACK. Nick can't be sugary good like Kody expects him to be or be pure evil like Adarian is hoping him to be. He's...human. He's both. At one moment, he is helping out old ladies take out their trash, but the next moment, he's imagining how he'd kill the bastards that betrayed him. And that's okay. Because these tiny actions are what make him a master of his own fate, the actions that would determine where he would eventually end up. At one time, those actions would lead to a total tragedy, with him losing everything and everyone he ever loved. But this time...this time, no one knows where they are headed. The puppeteers have lost control and are scrambling to have the strings on their fingers again, but Nick is finally free and damn if anyone can control him ever again. Nick, you're a good kid in my book. I hope you end up happy.
On that note...
Captain's Log: Great, great book. I rarely enjoy reading a male perspective because not many female authors carry it out properly. It can't be helped; there is a difference between writing the book with after a lot of research and writing the book after a lot of research AND having a knack of pulling it off. And Ms. Kenyon, pull it off you did. Looking forward to reading, ooooh, pretty much all your books. Oh, and Sherrilyn Kenyon and Infinity, WELCOME TO THE JOLLY ANNE! I have high hopes that the future books will join the loot, with a full five stars.
-Captain Kaelyn
PS: Favorite lines
- Wow. They were both rays of sunshine that broke through the darkest cloud...
- Kyrian put the phone in his pocket. "I learned a long time ago not to judge people by what they look like, sound like, or by the clothes they wear. Just because a house is nice and shiny out front doesn't mean it's not rotting on the inside. Your mom's a good woman with a good heart and I'm glad you're mature enough to appreciate that about her."
- "It's okay. You'll see. Just when you think nothing get better, it always does. Trust me. My akri says that tragedy and adversity are the stones we sharpen our swords against so that we can fight new battles. This is just a minor skirmish and you'll be back in the fight. You'll see."
- "Intentions don't matter. It's the end result we're all judged by. Evil in the name of good is still evil. And when you dance with the devil you seldom get to pick the tune."
- "It's something my dad used to say when I was a kid. To infinity, meaning you'd see something through the end."
Nick didn't get it. "Infinity is never-ending."
"That's right, which means you keep going and going no matter what happens or what obstacles you meet. Over, under, around, or through. There's always a way. And if you have to chase something to infinity, strap on your big-boy pants, hiking boots, and go."
