Book Review: Lost by Donnielle Tyner

My Rating:

Book: Lost (The Caelian Cycle #1)

Author: Donnielle Tyner

Page Numbers: 346 pages

Publication date: November 20th 2013

Synopsis:

During WW1, a meteorite crashed, releasing a mist that changed the DNA of all who were exposed. One hundred years has passed and society is divided between the Norms and the Caelians, whose changed DNA awakened dormant gifts, called Talents.
Sadie is over it!
She’s an orphan, her boyfriend was murdered, and she’s the only Caelian at St. Vincent’s without a Talent. Once she turns 18, there will be no place for her in the world. That is, until a chance encounter with Kian, a Caelian boy who makes her feel uncomfortable and alive at the same time.
Secrets of her past are uncovered and Sadie’s latent, rare Talent is exposed. With great power comes the hunters, hired by an egomaniac who wants to use Sadie’s power to establish Caelian dominance. On the run with Kian and her friends, Sadie will have to decide: hide or fight.
Will Sadie accept her new reality or will she stay lost?

My Review:

I received a copy from the author to read and review in return. 

YES! I can finally give away my 5-stars again! Finally a book which completely thrilled and excited me! This book was a proper addiction, and as I had mentioned in my previous Teaser Tuesday, if it weren't for my full time job, this book would have been finished within a day! I absolutely loved everything this book had to offer.It had such a nice flow to it, and everything that was described in the book was done in such an immaculate and pleasant way which never at any point left me bored and longing for more.

The story starts up with full excitement from the very first page. The reader is engulfed with mystery where a dystopian world is introduced with a population split between Norms ('normal' people) and Caelians. Caelians are almost like humans but can have physical differences (like distinct and unusual skin, hair, eye color) and have an extra spark to them, in fact called a Talent. This Talent developed when a meteorite hit Rome during the WW1 and soldiers were infected by its mist. The Talent has been continually passed down to their children and so on. Each Talent is unique and personally bonded to  human's essence; so if one we're to lose their Talent in any way, they would die. 

And in comes Sadie, our protagonist. She is absolutely fabulous, in my opinion. She is my ideal protagonist! She is a no nonsense, to the point, brave and believable character. What I love so much about her is that when an issue arises, she addresses it immediately; when something is a mystery in her head, she gets straight to the point and asks valid and valuable questions. Since the book is written in her perspective, it made the book such an easy and fast read. 

Despite Sadie's suffering (through the murder of her boyfriend and her lost feeling of not having found her Talent at the age of 17) she possesses amazing strong characteristics, such as bravery and perverseness.  Also with the help of her awesome friends, Rebecca, Madison, John, Michael and Lacy and Kian, who all on their own hold magnificent Talents, Sadie crawls more and more out of her shell and let's the adventures begin. The group together are completely genuine an endearing. From the very beginning I had a deep connection with the group, as if they were my own friends, and I found myself laughing, being excited and crying along with them throughout the entire book.

The dystopian world which Ms. Tyner creating is so refreshing. Yes their is a division and partial discrimination between the two groups, but the freedom which Sadie has, being a Caelian, is very original and actually quite pleasantly unexpected. Most of the dystopian related books I have read are societies where the population, or part of the population, is (strictly) restricted to certain things. Other than the Caelian's having to stay alert due to some Norms not agreeing with their being or ways, they have quite the 'normal' life. Until... things start to alter and shift in Sadie's world and she finally discovers her fascinating but powerful and dangerous Talent...

This book just left me consistently on the edge of my seat and I fell head over heels with all of the characters. Madison is such a spunky and cool character, Rebecca ever so smart and lovable, John super comical, Michael and Lacy so familiar and genuine, and Kian... Sadie's mysterious crush... he is just absolutely AWESOME!

I really do recommend this book to everyone who loves a great YA dystopian and paranormal book! This book has it all, and I literally can't WAIT for Ms. Tyner to come out with her sequel! I miss the characters and their world already so please, Ms. Tyner, haste yourself!! :D