Looking for Dei by David A. Wilson (ARC Review)

Fifteen-year-old Nara Dall has never liked secrets. Yet it seems that her life has been filled with them, from the ugly scar on her back to the strange powers she possesses. Her mysterious father refuses to say anything about her origins, and soon, she and her best friend must attend the announcement ceremony, in which youths are tested for a magical gift.

A gifted youth has not been announced in the poor village of Dimmitt for decades. When Nara uncovers the reason, she uses her own powers to make things right. The decision sets her on a path of danger, discovery, and a search for the divine. In the process, she learns the truth about herself and uncovers the biggest secret of all: the power of broken people. 

Book Overview:

Author: David A. Wilson | Series: None | Format: eBook - ARC | Length: Unknown | Publish Date: March 23, 2018 | Genre: YA Fantasy | Rating: ★ ★ ★ | Recommend: Maybe

And the phyili was put asunder; separated, but not destroyed. Each defied the other, bringing conflict, pain and death to many. In the end, only one remained. - Cataclysmos 18:10

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you again, Netgalley for the opportunity to review ARCs. I love this chance, and I'm always ready to read the books you have available.

Now, on to the book.

The premise was pretty interesting, at least I think so. There are certain people in the world that either has gifts (they are called gifted if they have more than one special power). Then there are others that are plain, and others that are considered cursed. The ones with powers are conscripted to the government, whatever entity their abilities would be the most useful, and it gives them an opportunity to send money back to their village. The cursed are usually killed almost immediately as they are seen as an abomination to the church that needs to be put down. Pretty nice, right?

So it seems like the main character, a young fifteen-year-old girl named Nara, has so many abilities that she's developed at such a young age. Her father figure, a man named Bylo, told her from the moment he saw her exhibit some powers to keep them a secret from the rest of the village. It seems like she has a combination of all the known powers, and yet she is so much stronger than what she seems. So when her power is discovered on the day the village finds out that her best friend is cursed, that's when things hit the fan.

I feel like the book got way too descriptive about things that didn't seem really important. There was a character that was introduced in a chapter, only for that character to be killed off mere pages later. And it wasn't just a mini introduction. It was more like the character's life story. So you feel like you have to invest in one more character, and then they are ripped away from you in seconds. It's so hard to read a book that does that, or to introduce characters that don't seem to have any significance until later - or never - and still keep track of everyone.

I understand that this is an ARC, so I'll be forgiving about the grammatical errors I've found. I'm hoping those will be fixed by the time the final comes out. All in all, I think it could have flowed better, but it wasn't terrible. I wouldn't mind reading something else from this author, but this book just wasn't my cup of tea.

Author Spotlight

Courtesy of Goodreads

Born: The United States

Website: http://www.davidawilson.com

Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction

Goodreads Member Since: May 2017

David A. Willson lives in the great land of Alaska with his wife and five children. His passions are faith, movies, books, coffee, traveling with his beautiful lady, and hanging out with his wonderful kids.