Title Destined to Kill Author Jourdyn Kelly Cover Art Jourdyn Kelly Publisher 2013 First Printing 2013
	Title Destined to Love Author Jourdyn Kelly Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing --- Printing Status ---
	Title Destined to Meet Author Jourdyn Kelly Cover Art --- Publisher --- First Printing --- Printing Status ---
	Category Young Adult Warnings None Main Characters Anala Geil, Thomas, Sam, Amanda Main Elements Vampires Website jourdynkelly.com

Destined to Kill

My first reaction to this book was that it reminded me of Buffy. Not in the sense that the idea was taken from there, in fact it is quite different, but it just gave me the same kind of feeling I used to get from the TV series, and I considered this a good thing! It felt familiar to me, even when it wasn't.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The writing was easy and flowing, I liked the characters, and the storyline was quite intriguing. While I'm about to list a few flaws, in the end they didn't bother me much. I noticed them, but ultimately I found I didn't care, I just enjoyed the read.

So as I mentioned, I did have a few issues with the book. For example there were some things that were not explained but that should have been, such as how Bernard was able to control another person (was it shapeshifting? possession? mind control? No other character has this power, not even Anala). There was also the hard to believe coincidence that the descendents of the Hunters, which were based in England, would all find themselves in an LA high school. It's a big world, how did they all end up in the same place? And finally, the origins of the Hunters didn't add up for me. I can't go into details without giving away spoilers, but if you look at Cassandra Claire's The Mortal Instruments, for all it's flaws, at least you accept the nature of the Shadowhunters. Created through angelic blood, it explains why they were a bit more than human, and were also fighting an enemy that has been around since the dawn of time. There is no such explanation for the Hunters that would make the detectable by Anala 600 years later, and to help us accept that a random group of high school students could within a few weeks become top notch vampire slayers. Even Buffy was at least a "chosen one".

I very much enjoyed the take on the nature of vampires. These aren't your sparkly Twilight, or even non-sparkly True Blood vampires. These vampires, with the exception of Anala, are true monsters, barely capable of speech and coherent thought. Every now and then it is refreshing to read a book where vampires aren't just humans with fangs.

Now this is pretty much a young adult novel, so there has to be a romance, and you can't even avoid a triangle. However unlike many female heroines, Anala is one tough girl, yes she occassionally questions herself and she has her weaknesses, she would be a boring character otherwise. But she doesn't go around moaning about how she's not good enough for the boy (well, in this case it was a man which made it more interesting) and she didn't break into tears every two seconds! So for all the logic errors, this makes up for it a bit, at least it isn't sappy! Well, at least not all the time, perhaps a bit at the end...

I must admit that from the blurb on the back of the book I expected something much darker, and I'm not sure she actually did break all the rules? There wasn't a lot of conflict around Anala's ability to choose to give up her immortality, so while it sounds like a major part of the story, there's only one minor character I would call a "drug addict" to eternal life.

I'd like to see how the story gets resolved though, so I'll be keeping an eye out for the next installment.