{Review} Lost (The Caelian Cycle #1) by Donnielle Tyner

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: June 19th, 2015
Finished Date: August 10th, 2015

Publishers: Self Published
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Source: For Review
Format: eBook

Pages: 209
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US

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?

The Review: Lost is the first book in The Caelian Cycle series and straight off the bat we have the mystery of who is Sadie?

We are brought into a world where a meteorite had crashed to earth and released particles that changed the DNA of those exposed. It’s now a century later and there is a clear divide between the ‘Norms’ – normal humans – and the Caelians – altered humans – because the Caelians have ‘Talents’ that have passed on through the generations of those exposed to the meteorite. You may think that Caelians would rule the world but you would be wrong and most are sent away from their families and adopted by schools that are funded by some of the more affluent Caelians and at 18 they can chose to work for those families. That doesn’t look like it’s going to happen for Sadie because although she is clearly Caelian, she has no apparent Talent which is just her luck considering she’s an orphan who has never know her parents and her boyfriend was recently murdered.

After being dragged out to a party one night, she meets a mysterious young man – Kian – who she is strangely drawn to and it seems he knows more about Sadie than even Sadie herself because he knows just who her father is. Things start to get even more strange for Sadie when her Talent finally appears because not only is it rare, it makes her a target and when the hunters start to come out of the woodwork…. She has no choice but to run with the only person who knows anything about her – Kian.

I really enjoyed this introduction into the world of Caelians, I thought the premise about the meteorite crashing and altering the DNA of those around, giving them Talents was really interesting and believable. I was glad that it was set in modern times with a chance to see how it affected the world. I liked Sadie’s character, I thought it was easy to connect with her because she was an orphan and with her having no Talent, that made her an outcast amongst outcasts. During the prologue we read of Sadies birth which gives her an air of mystery straight away because I immediately wanted to know who her parents were, why she couldn’t be with either of them, was she powerful? And why was it kept secret? She was put straight into St. Vincents and has been there ever since. She was quite solemn to begin with but got more confidence as the story progressed and became more of a fighter due to her circumstance. I really liked the connection with Kian, that added some hotness to the story and a little sexual tension that I always appreciate. I thought there was going to be a love triangle but it never amounted to anything so I’m happy to see what happens next for them both.

The storyline was great, I think we all know when someone doesn’t have powers that they should…. They will end up being someone special and that’s how it looks for Sadie. For the most part we are getting to know the characters and the world they live in, about the Talents and how they’re used plus we have the parentage mystery to contend with but when Sadie comes into her powers – everything changes and a huge amount of danger and action is added to the plot. Sadie will be forced to defend herself in fight scenes, run from the danger that follows her, deal with her dangerous burgeoning powers, accept that she may not want to know who she is related to, that her friends will always be in danger because of her and deal with even more loss than any girl should. This was a great book with great potential and I do look forward to more – hopefully finding out a bit more of her parentage!

Thank you to Donnielle Tyner for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.