#Monday Review - Illuminate by Tracy Clark #YALit #Fantasy

Series: The Light Key Trilogy # 3
Format: Paperback, 444 pages
Release Date: August 25, 2015
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Source: Library
Genre: YA, FANTASY

Can one girl be the light in a world spiraling toward darkness?

Haunted by the loss of her loved ones, Cora Sandoval, one of the remaining few of an extraordinary race known as Scintilla, holds the key to disentangling the biggest conspiracy in human history...and its link to the fate of the human race. As Cora follows a trail of centuries-old clues and secrets, she collides with a truth not only shocking, but dangerous.

With enemies both known and unknown hot on her trail, Cora must locate each of the ancient clues hidden in the art, religions, and mythologies of humankind. And through it all, she must keep her heart from being torn apart by the two boys she loves most. One is Scintilla, one is Arazzi.
Save herself. Save the Scintilla. Save the world. Or die trying...

"There is no home for the Hunted."

Illuminate, by author Tracy Clark, is the third, and final installment in The Light Key Trilogy. Illuminate picks up right where Deviate left off. The action picks up right from the first page of the first chapter, and drives straight towards the final chapter which will leave you stunned. The story takes the reader from Ireland, & Chile, & Italy. Cora Sandoval has been left with pain and loss. She's watched those she loved fall by the wayside in a never ending war between Scintilla and Arazzi. Now, is time to seek answers, and find a way to save her race before it's too late.

Illuminate is actually told through the adventures of three different characters, which I've already mentioned above. Let's start with Cora. Cora has been betrayed by one boy (Giovanni), and had her heart ripped out by another (Finn Doyle). But, the main mystery is who is actually behind the Arazzi, and why are they so intent on killing off all Arazzi? Cora's world is getting more dangerous by the day. Natural disasters are spreading world wide because of an energy imbalance. Cora and her allies still haven't a clue what religious organization is driving the Arazzi to commit genocide against the Scintilla, but she's not going to just sit back and let them come for her again. 

Cora, who has psychometry abilities that leave tattoos behind on her body, may be the KEY to everything. She travels alone to Italy looking for answers as to who is behind the Arazzi and the murder of her parents and cousin. Her adventures lead her to hook up with a journalist named Edmund Nustber in Vatican City, and answers to why the key that she wears around her neck is so important. Edmund and Cora, along with her friend Dun, make for a pretty good team. It is Cora's action at the Vatican that stir up a whole lot of twists to come. 

While Cora travels to Italy in search of answers, and gets more than she bargained for, Giovanni heads to Chili with his daughter (Claire) and Cora's grandmother Mami Tulke to yet another shocking surprise that blows the lid off this series. This shocking revelation had me open mouthed and stunned. Giovanni becomes the de facto leader with Cora gone. I do believe that he truly intended to redeem himself for the lies that he kept from Cora. By taking the bull by the horns, as they say, he steps up and becomes a totally different character.

Finn, on the other hand, has been doing his best to redeem himself in the eyes of Cora. What's interesting about Finn is that his family, especially his mother, pay key roles in this story that will lead to several twists, surprises, and shocks when all is said and done. Finn, like Giovanni, know they have done Cora harm. With Finn staying in Ireland, and with his mother's help, he discovers something that may help Cora, and end the war between Scintilla and Arrazi. Finn, though, still makes some silly mistakes, especially in who he should trust. 

One of the things that I have to discuss is the religious aspects of this story. While I have some issues with once again blaming the Church for which I was brought up in, I am not going to whimper, whine, or throw a hissy fit because someone dared to smeared my faith. Most of us in the Roman Catholic Church can take the truth about our faith without wanting revenge against those who believe it is corrupt and irredeemable. If you want to talk about the villain of this story, then it really does make sense in that his goals are no worst than radical fundamentalists in any other religion who are intolerant of others, and want to see them eliminated from the world.

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#Friday Review - Deviate by Tracy Clark (Young Adult, Fantasy)

Series: The Light Key Trilogy # 2
Format: E-Galley, 356 pages
Release Date: March 3, 2015
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Tormented after a daring escape, Cora Sandoval must find a way to stop the Arrazi from murdering innocent people and from violating, using, and killing the Scintilla for their powers. She must also accept one bitter betrayal: Finn Doyle—the Irish boy who has both a piece of Cora's heart and soul—is Arrazi...

On the verge of extinction and sought by those who would either consume or destroy them, Cora and the remaining Scintilla survivors must solve the mystery of The Light Key. If they fail, the truth will stay buried forever and mankind will pay the ultimate price.

No longer will she hide. No longer will her loved ones be hunted.
And she will have her vengeance...even if she shatters her heart in the process.

Deviate is the second installment in Tracy Clark's The Light Key Trilogy. The trilogy features 17-year old Cora Sandoval as the main protagonist. If you have read Scintillate, or read my review, then you know that a whole lot of pain, suffering, and heartbreak found its way into Cora's otherwise quiet life. Cora has found out that she is a rare human called Scintilla, and discovered that she wasn't truly alone just yet. She also discovered that another race called the Arrazi are itching to wipe out the last remaining Scintilla from the Earth.

Alongside Cora is fellow Scintilla/Italian Giovanni Teso, her cousin Mari, best friend Dun, as well as her mother Grace who had disappeared for 12 years while searching for answers. Now, with the Arrazi in full beast mode to hunt them down, and a devastating loss that has left Cora reeling, Cora & group need answers. But, without Grace's research notebook, they are up the creek without a paddle. Plus, there is an even bigger challenge awaiting them and will be lucky to get out alive.

One of the more interesting aspects of this series is Cora's psychometry powers. Whenever she touches something, a tattoo forms some where on her body after giving her a vision of what the object hold. This makes things rather interesting and dangerous when she is trying to hide who she is. Deviate is actually a bit different from Scintillate in that Clark alternatives narratives between Cora and Irishman Finn Doyle who just happens to be one of the Arrazi. 

Finn's narrative is from a boy who doesn't want to be like his parents or his demented Uncle Clancy who can astral project and discover where Cora's group is found. Finn has some choices to make. He can either give up and not feed or kill anyone, or he can accept his fate, while trying to also help Cora who he still has feelings for. Finn still has a desire to try and help Cora and her group even after they suffer some really heartbreaking losses that will leave you breathless. 

I dare say that there are a whole lot of surprises waiting for readers once you get past the second half of this book. Surprises that leave you with a very, very interesting ending that pretty much forces you to read the final book in the series called Illuminate. By the end of this book, Cora has really taken a huge leap forward as a character, and has become a the groups leaders thanks to all the losses and betrayal. I am eager to see how Clark manages to wrap this series up!  

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#Thursday Review - Scintillate by Tracy Clark (Young Adult, Fantasy) @TracyClark_TLC @EntangledTeen

Series: The Light Key Trilogy # 1
Format: E-Galley, 304 pages
Release Date: February 4, 2014
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

"A mighty flame follows a tiny spark."

Cora Sandoval's mother disappeared when she was five and they were living in Ireland. Since then, her dad has been more than overprotective, and Cora is beginning to chafe under his confines.

But even more troubling is the colorful light she suddenly sees around people. Everyone, that is, except herself—instead, she glows a brilliant, sparkling silver.

As she realizes the danger associated with these strange auras, Cora is inexplicably drawn to Finn, a gorgeous Irish exchange student who makes her feel safe. Their attraction is instant, magnetic, and primal—but her father disapproves, and Finn's mother orders him home to Ireland upon hearing he's fallen in love. After a fight with her father, Cora flees to Ireland, both to follow Finn and to look for her missing mother.

There she meets another silver-haloed person and discovers the meaning of her newfound powers and their role in a conspiracy spanning centuries—one that could change mankind forever…and end her life.

Scintillate is the first installment in Tracy Clark's The Light Key Trilogy. The trilogy features 17-year old Cora Sandoval, a quiet, introspective, book lover who is half Latino (Chilean) on her father's side and half Irish on her mother's side. A mother who disappeared without a trace when she was five. A girl who basically only has only two real friends in her cousin Mari, and Dun, he who is of Indian descent. After finding herself in the Hospital with an extremely high temperature, Cora finds that she can now see colors around people.

What's even stranger for Cora, is that there are apparently different colors for different moods a person is feeling at the time. Cora's own aura is silver. Something no-one else apparently has. Here's where things get a bit crazy. First, why did her father take blood from her when she was in the hospital? Second, why has he been keeping secrets about what is happening to her, and what happened to her mother so close to his chest? Third, why does a stranger say to her "A mighty flame follows a tiny spark?"

The final curiosity in this book was the insta-connection between Cora and Irish McDreamy Finn Doyle which sort of goes through a strange rollercoaster ride that left my head hurting. Who is Finn really, and why after getting close to Cora, does he jet back home to Ireland without any explanation? If that doesn't raise several red flags, I dare not say what will. So, again, what does this all mean? Does what Cora is going through have anything to do with her mother's disappearance, or the research she was supposedly doing at the time of her disappearance?

Without any word of warning to her father, Cora jets off to Ireland in hopes of following the trail of her mother, Grace Sandoval. A trip that opens Cora's eyes into the fact that there are those people called Arrazi, who are hunting down and killing those like Cora, called Scintilla's. Have you ever wanted to scream because author's love to screw with readers heads by introducing yet another romantic possibility into the story? Meet 19-year old Giovanni Teso who Cora meets at the airport.

OK, so, even though Giovanni has his own secrets. Even though he is supposedly the one with the information that Cora is searching for, I think their relationship is more of a friendship, and the fact that they are both being hunted for what is inside of them. I will say that the second half of this book was the most exciting and entertaining for me. Especially when things really start to get dangerous, and even more secrets, and stunning revelations are thrown at the reader like rapid fire.

Since I requested this book, and the sequel Deviant from Entangled: Teen, I shall be continuing right until the final page of the final book. One of the biggest questions from this first book, is who can Cora really trust outside of Mari, and Dun? There are a whole lot of things that need to be explained. A whole lot of villains that haven't been revealed. And, whether or not Clark chooses to allow any of the core members of this cast to survive or not is truly up in the air at this point.

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