Book Review: Nameless by Jennifer Jenkins

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Nameless
Book #1
Author: Jennifer Jenkins
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Released: October 6 2015
Review Source: Month9Books

Four clans have been at war for centuries: the Kodiak, the Raven, the Wolf and the Ram. Through brutal war tactics, the Ram have dominated the region, inflicting death and destruction on their neighbors.

Seventeen-year-old Zo is a Wolf and a Healer who volunteers to infiltrate the Ram as a spy on behalf of the allied clans. She offers herself as a Ram slave, joining the people who are called the “nameless.” Hers is a suicide mission – Zo’s despair after losing her parents in a Ram raid has left her seeking both revenge and an end to her own misery. But after her younger sister follows her into Rams Gate, Zo must find a way to survive her dangerous mission and keep her sister safe.

What she doesn’t expect to find is the friendship of a young Ram whose life she saves, the confusing feelings she develops for a Ram soldier, and an underground nameless insurrection. Zo learns that revenge, loyalty and love are more complicated than she ever imagined in the first installment of this two-book series.

Zo, a young Wolf, willing to go behind enemy lines if that means helping the Allies. Not wanting to live under clan rules and sick of the Ram's raids on the innocent and vulnerable Zo goes in disguised as a Nameless healer. One her way to finding information she makes unlikely friends with Joshua and Gryphon. Two Ram's who are starting to prove her wrong about everything she ever believed a Ram member to be. Gryphon, a Ram, who is only worried about getting his family's honor back and will do anything to obtain it. Until he meets Zo and gets to know her. Is he willing to give it all up for a Wolf or is he willing to fight for the Ram?

Wow....WOW, WOW, WOW! I have no words to describe how much I love this book. Jenkins writes characters who are just so easy to love, and when you love a character it makes the book so much better. And I loved all the characters. Zo, Tess, Joshua and Gryphon. Gryphon is definitely my favorite - but who wouldn't love Gryphon? Of course I do have a soft spot for our heroine, Zo.
Zo is just such a strong character. A young girl who goes into her enemies base and pretends to be a Nameless. She goes through so much, you can tell that all Zo wants to do is fight back, but she doesn't because she knows she must protect her little sister Tess. Zo, while being so strong, is also so vulnerable. She is weak, but she perseveres and does everything in her power to stay strong.

Honestly I think the main reason why I love this book is Jenkins' strength as a writer. For me to feel Zo's strength and vulnerability is amazing, only few authors have ever been able to make me feel that with their characters. Jenkins' as well brings emotions to her writing; in other words she makes you feel everything that happens. Everything Zo goes through, what happens with Gabe, every decision that makes Gryphon find out who he is meant to be. You feel everything. And within this Jenkins' is able to make me love the Ram. Joshua and Gryphon are both characters in which you grow attached to. Yet they are Ram. From Zo's first chapter you are told to hate the Ram. They are the enemies, they are the one we must fight against. Yet we learn more and more about Joshua and Gryphon, and we fall more and more in love with them as the story continues on. How can I love the Ram, yet hate them too?!

And the romance....the one thing that usually brings me to a book because the book revolves around the romance. Nameless does not revolve around a romance, I mean...it's there, but the main worry is how the Ram will maintain their power, and how the Allies will be able to bring them down. The book starts with action, adventure and danger. Slowly it evolves into a romance. And not an overpowering one either. Which honestly made Gryphon and Zo's romance that much better. There's little moments when they each realize they like the other, but they know they must not like the other. They are enemies, it isn't possible to love the enemy. And while they're fighting this certain things happen, and when they do I'm like a girl reading Twilight - smiling because Gryphon did this, or because Zo said that. Their relationship is honestly one of my favorite book relationships that I have read - which is saying a lot.

I am ready for the sequel, I cannot wait to see how Gryphon, Zo, Tess, Joshua and their group get through their next adventure!
 I am so excited for everyone to read this, and I am going to recommend it to everyone I know. I hope that you read it, and I hope that you all enjoy it just as much as I did!