The Eternal Ones Review #69

Author: Kirsten Miller
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 411
Source: Chapters
Available: Now
Rating:

Haven Moore cannot control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother's house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.

In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves, before all is lost and the cycle begins again.

Ah---I'm in love!!!! This story was so romantic, adventurous and a real page turner. I was so hesitant, it seemed so many people were not liking this book and I was afraid I would be the same way. I've been googly eying this since it came out. I think every time I've been to the book store since August I've been picking this book up and putting it down. A week ago I decided enough was enough and chose to try it out. To my surprise--and relief---I loved it. I definitely recommend it as a winter read :)

The story starts out with seventeen year old Haven Moore who lives under her Grandmother's dictator reign in Snope City, Tennessee. For most of Haven's life she has been the odd one. Why? Because she has visions of the past (really she has memories of a past life) and they're all about a young couple name Constance and Ethan. Her only true ally is her dress making partner, Beau (who is seriously one of the best characters in the book). The book deals with reincarnation, faithfulness, trust and the devil.

The first part of the book is set in Haven's daily life in Snope City. You really get a sense of how she's mistreated. How her visions cause her to faint at the most unlikely times and cause great problems on her. Basically her life sucks in Tennessee. Everyone thinks she is possessed by a demon and her Grandmother believes the only one who can save her is Dr. Tidmore who has been helping her overcome her visions by being her psychologist. By the way he is the preacher at the church in Snope City.

I didn't really see how religion played into this story at first but it became more apparent as the novel went on. This book isn't really a hard one to figure out as it's pretty obvious. At points I was annoyed with Haven for not realizing something so simple. I had figured out the truth, way, before she did.

The second part of the book is Haven running away to New York to find the newly reincarnated Ethan who is now known as Iain Morrow. Haven believes that if she finds Iain and solves the reason of Constance death in the 1920's then the visions will stop. But things get tricky, people lie, Haven gets stalk multiple times and it's a big adventure/mystery to solve.

I found it interesting that time seem to be repeating itself in this book. What happened in the 1920's seemed to be repeating itself in the twenty-first century.

All the characters were well crafted and easily came to life in my imagination. I love Beau, Iain, Haven and even Adam. Haven could be really naive at times but I felt for someone in her situation that was believable. Beau had the best one-liners. Adam and especially Dr. Tidmore were good at being who they were (for those of you who have read the book will understand this).

I enjoyed the visions Haven got and was eager to know more about Constance as the pages flipped. I really hope they make a film out of this, I would love to see the 1920's come to life on the screen. Have you notice that 1920's seem to be a popular time line in YA book's lately??

Haven's and Iain's first meeting was a bit rush I felt. Another point I like to mention was that Iain and Haven kept bouncing back to hating each other to liking each other, it got a little irritating after awhile.

The best plot twist comes, near the end, and is about a character in the book. I never saw that coming and found it funny. It was a tidbit about his lives.

This book was truly fantastic. Kirsten Miller has a knack for story telling and making the readers want more. She has definitely created a addictive world that I will be looking forward to learning more about.

Yours Truly,