VEX (Celestra #5) by Addison Moore
The Reading Cafe is featuring the books of Addison Moore. Stay tuned for our Interview and Giveaway with Addison on Wednesday March 28, 2012
VEX is the fifth novel in Addison Moore’s Young Adult Celestra Series. Once again, we follow 17-year old Skyla Messenger, Logan and Gage Oliver and the crew of ever growing Countenance, Celestra, Fems and Sectors.
Vex begins as Skyla finds herself as the sacrificial lamb-on a stone altar- about to be served up as Logan’s promise to the Countenance, but her strength as one of the few remaining Celestra on earth is stronger. Knowing that Logan was willing to ‘use’ Skyla hurt deep, but his refusal to acknowledge or let her in on the secrets that could save her life, have cut even deeper. Logan and Gage withhold more information from the one young woman, both claim to love beyond the heavens, but it is Logan’s betrayal that hurts more.
Chloe continues her physical and emotional assault against everything Skyla, as well as maintaining a scheme of blackmail against Gage. Gage and Skyla’s growing relationship is constantly tested when Chloe demands that Gage be her boyfriend, much to Skyla and Gage’s dismay. The sorrow is heartbreaking, but blackmail is evil. But there is a pull between Logan and Skyla that cannot be denied, and betrayal is hard to forgive, even though, Logan has his reasons for protecting Skyla from ever knowing the truth. While Gage’s love for Skyla grows, it is the truth about his visions of the future that will be tested in the end.
Marshall Dudley’s constant play for Skyla is questionable. He claims that she will one day birth his children and they are destined to be together, but it is his ability to twist the ‘truth’ that is a concern. Skyla must never reveal the truth about Marshall’s powers, but when Chloe spills the truth, everyone involved will be punished. And it is the attack against Marshall that will set a string of events in motion that will tip the scales of love-choosing life or death for one.
Several fatalities once again surround Skyla and her attempts to defend and protect. An accidental beheading on a winter ski vacation, Holden finally finding a body – close to ‘home’ and several visits to the past reveal the evil that Chloe has inflicted on everyone on Paragon Island. Chloe is more than a victim of Countenance rage—she may even be the Grim Reaper and strychnine is her weapon of choice.
But it is the truth about Skyla’s true parentage that reveals more than anyone had previously known. Logan’s involvement with Skyla’s real father and Skyla’s meeting with her birth mother will reveal much needed information to help in the faction war against the Countenance and the Fems. And Skyla’s continuous Light Travel will reunite the woman she thought was her mother-with the man she knows to be her father. But a man from her adopted-mother’s past may be darker and more powerful than anyone she has yet to discover.
There are new revelations about the many families and people who live on Paragon Island. The history is steeped in death, power struggles and an on-going war between good and evil. The Celestra Council has rules that must be followed, and breaking those rules, can be punishable by death or worse. To live your life as an immortal would be better spent, in the guise of a human, rather surrounded by feathers and a cage. But it is the love between Skyla and the Oliver boys that will break your heart knowing only two will see it through—to the end.
One of my complaints, about this particular storyline, is the continuous attack by Skyla’s ‘family’ accusing her of becoming pregnant. Regardless of her attempts to persuade otherwise and the truth, no one is willing to listen. Everyone presumes she is sexually active and pregnant, without benefit of a physician’s appointment. Her parents, her siblings and many students refuse to believe Skyla, and that is a concern, especially with something so detrimental as a teen pregnancy. Although, in the end, the truth will reveal the real pregnant teen, it is the lies that perpetuate and grow into a firestorm of emotions, that ate away at my senses. When Skyla’s step-father lashes out and all but destroys her life because of this misinformation and then he remains fairly placid when the true ‘teen parents’ are revealed, leaves me shaken. Sexism still exists, and it takes TWO to make a baby. Skyla’s younger sisters are manipulative and controlling, using the potential pregnancy to gain an upper hand. Blackmail is a regular theme in Addison’s storylines. The constant name calling, accusations, mistrust and disrespect is humiliating, both for the characters and to me as a reader. To be honest-this particular storyline surrounding the issue of teen-pregnancy was difficult to read.
Like the previous 4 novels in the Celestra series, Vex is fast paced and rarely a moment to breath. New revelations are continuous and I highly recommend that the series be read in order. Missing or reading out of order, will leave the reader confused and lost. Ok…waiting for Expel-New Release March 22, 2012.
Reviewed by Sandy
