Book Review: Talented by Sophie Davis

Talented
Talented #1
Author: Sophie Davis
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal | Fantasy
Released: January 23rd 2014
Review Source: Indie Inked

When Talia Lyons was just a child, her parents were murdered before her eyes. Offered a choice between accepting their fate and exacting revenge, Talia trains to become one of the country’s deadliest assassins in order to kill the man responsible for their deaths: Ian Crane. Luckily, Talia was born with a gift- the ability to read and influence the minds of others. At sixteen, Talia is poised to graduate from the McDonough School for the Talented, where she learned to control her abilities. Now there is only one obstacle standing between her and the retribution she craves... Talia herself.

Her greatest asset may also be her undoing; while a formidable weapon in the field, Talia’s talents prevent her from both shutting off the mental connection she shares with her questionable boyfriend and blocking out the thoughts of a beguiling fellow recruit. But Talia can’t afford to have the feelings and distractions of a normal teenage girl, when her life is far from normal.

She must regain the single-minded determination that has brought her this far, or it may cost Talia her life when she finally faces Crane. And even after being molded in to a weapon of war, she’ll still have to find the strength it takes to pull the trigger.

Talia: hunter in training. Her ultimate end goal is to avenge the death of her parents and with the help of Erik and Henri, fellow hunters; she trains to become a hunter good enough to successfully hunt the man who killed her parents. Throw in some missions, heartbreak and relationship issues and you have yourself Talented.

Talented lost points in my eyes for the emotional confusion. Emotion-wise, I didn’t know what was going on; my eyebrows were drawn down in confusion a few times. One minute Donavon loves her but she never says it back, then when she eventually does tell him she does love him, he tells her he’s too young to love and he doesn’t know what he feels about her… what? There is quite a lot of emotional confusion regarding love.

I found the development of the story to be slow in the first 45(ish)%, I thought I would be getting more action and insight to her training and the need to avenge her parent’s death would be more evident, but found the plot to focus more on the love aspect which I didn’t expect. I feel the summary was slightly misleading. The book took its time to come into play but when it did kick off, I couldn’t put my kindle down. Again, there were some confusing scenes during fighting scenes and ability-wise, as in the talents themselves, we don’t get much insight on them. But if you’re enjoying the story nethertheless, it was quite easy to look past.

What I liked: The friendship. Despite the messing around and all the joking, it’s clear that they all have each other’s back, though it isn’t said in words, it doesn’t need to be as it goes without being said which I loved. Also the mystery. The closer you get to the end you begin to realize that something isn’t right and there is more going on than what meets the eye. At this point I became excited, eager to dig deeper and find the truth. At the end my mind was reeling with the prospect of what could happen.

I think that the build in suspense towards the end made the story. It really gets you asking ‘what if’ questions, doubting motives and thinking of all the other possibilities which have just been opened. I’ve conjured up my own theories and can’t wait to see how close to the mark I am.