Hidden (Five Fates, #1)
by Amy McKinley
November 2nd 2015
by Champagne Book Group
243 pages
Cursed since birth, hunted by gods, and desperate for love—Jade never stood a chance.
Half-demon, half-goddess, Jade’s fate makes her a pawn in an epic battle among the gods. Hidden on Earth with her sisters, she successfully avoids the Oneiroi—the dream gods—bent on her destruction until the prophecy, long dormant, awakens a dark shadow within her.
Roen, a reclusive Worr demon known for his battles against the Oneiroi, is called to protect Jade. Together they must unlock their mysterious connection and find a way to beat back destiny. Can she outsmart the prophecy, change her fate, and find love—even when she learns who is connected to her destruction?
Amy McKinley’s Five Fates series centers on the lives of supernatural female quintuplets. With a god for a father and a darkness demon for a mother, each girl possesses a potent cocktail of magical potential; a potential feared by none other than Zeus himself. Plagued by a mysterious prophecy telling of the fall of gods at the hands of the five, Zeus sets out to destroy the sisters and secure his safety. However, the girls have managed to remain hidden. The girls’ security is threatened when Jade, one of the quints and the heroine of Hidden, missteps. Jade’s misfortune, however, also becomes her salvation when Roen, a member of an obscure demonic tribe, provides Jade protection, training, and romance.
Hidden is a rather vast series opener teeming with mythological context, plot, and characterization. It’s incredibly imaginative, but at times overly dense. Descriptions of Nightmare’ s dreamscapes or Jade’s magical paintings, while creative, were puzzling. I enjoyed the novel’s set up. Ever eager to learn, I brushed up on my Greek mythology and researched the cast of established characters. However, I found a lot of the book’s description to be rather confusing, including the prophecy that propels the plot. I like the fullness of characters; the bad guys aren’t one dimensional, but rather both good and bad with back stories and varied motivation. This will lead to interesting developments in future books.
Ultimately, my reading experience stalled out a bit with this book, particularly during the last half. I didn’t love Jade as a main character and Roen was pretty typical alpha male. Their romance was a foregone conclusion. I give McKinley points for trying something different; while the characters are humanoid, they retain demonic physical characteristics. Roen is described as having black horns, and Jade claws. While this doesn’t appeal to me personally, as I don’t find horns and claws sexy, it’s different and I admire that. The set up in Hidden is long and the conclusion comes swift, and without much revelation. I appreciate this is often the curse of a series opener and so I’m curious to see what’s coming in the world of the Five Fates.
Three Sheep
Bianca Greenwood
About the Author:
blog
Amy McKinley is a freelance writer and author. She lives in Illinois with her husband, their four talented teenagers, and three mischievous cats. Hidden is her first novel in the Five Fates Series with Taken, the second, due to release in the spring of 2016. She is excited to finish the series and begin the next that's already demanding attention.
