Review: The Lost Saint

The Lost Saint by Bree Despain

publisher: EgmontUSA

release date: December 28th, 2010

hardcover, 416 pages

intended audience: Young adult

source: received for review

sequel to: The Dark Divine (2009) - my review

rating:


Warning! Description and Review may contain spoilers for the first book in the series! Only continue if you've read The Dark Divine!
Description: The non-stop sequel to The Dark Divine delivers an even hotter romance and more thrilling action than Bree Despain's first novel. Grace Divine made the ultimate sacrifice to cure Daniel Kalbi. She gave her soul to the wolf to save him and lost her beloved mother. When Grace receives a haunting phone call from Jude, she knows what she must do. She must become a Hound of Heaven. Desperate to find Jude, Grace befriends Talbot - a newcomer to town who promises her that he can help her be a hero. But as the two grow closer, the wolf grows in Grace, and her relationship with Daniel begins to crumble. Unaware of the dark path she is walking, Grace becomes prideful in her new abilities - not realizing that an old enemy has returned and deadly trap is about to be sprung. Readers, ravenous for more Grace and Daniel, will be itching to sink their teeth into The Lost Saint.

Review: The Lost Saint was an exciting and intense follow-up to The Dark Divine. Grace is slowly coming into her powers as an Urbat. Her and Daniels relationship has only been intensified by the fact that she risked her life and his to cure him of the werewolf curse, not to mention lost her brother in the process. The once stable Divine family, the center of the community, is now falling apart with her father constantly off trying to find Jude, her mother seemingly on the edge of insanity over Jude's disappearance, and the community beginning to lose faith in the leadership of their pastor. Not to mention, a strange rash of burglaries happening around town that are pulled of with impossible speed and stealth. This book definitely has a different feel from the first---like I said, very INTENSE.

Grace is still a strong and determined character is this one, allbeit somewhat stubborn and naive. She wants to use her new found powers to become a true Hound of Heaven, and when Daniel stops training her because of the obvious dangers in using the wolf powers, she finds someone who will. I found it a little odd that she would be so naive about how the wolf takes over by urging her use her powers in anger after everything she'd already been through with Daniel and Jude (Hm..where, oh, where is that inner monologue coming from? The angry voice that sounds nothing like me but encourages me to act on my most primal fears and angers? I wonder...). Still, her pursuit to learn about her new powers and her determination to find her brother and bring him home makes for an excellent story.

Daniel is just as illusive and mysterious as last time---he really is a great character. Noble and protective and loving. Grace's best friend, April, comes back into the story---still didn't like her this time around. :) She can be funny at times, but I just feel so sorry for Grace that she needs a confidant for all the serious things happening to her and all April can think of is how to design a superhero costume for her. Oh, and Talbot...the new guy. I thought I saw his place in the story coming a mile away, BUT he surprised me in the end. I liked that!

While admittedly, my attention waned once or twice in the middle of this one, the ending was phenomenal. Exciting, suspenseful, dripping with the danger of a violent battle, and Daniel's part in it can only be described as epic.

Visit Bree Despain's site here.

Purchase The Lost Saint at: Amazon • BN.com • BookDepository

Trailer: