New Adult Review: Dark Child

Dark Child by Adina West

Genre: New Adult or Adult 

My Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

Goodreads Says: Perfect for fans of The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, this intriguing urban fantasy follows the story of Kat Chanter, who discovers that the world she knows is controlled by ancient creatures who feed on blood. And she might just be one of them ...

Lately things have been getting weird for pathology technician Kat Chanter. She's been craving raw meat, and having dreams so realistic they're scary. When she accepts a job offer from the prestigious Hema Castus Research Institute, she hopes she'll have the chance to discover what's wrong with her, but instead, her move to New York thrusts her headlong into a treacherous hidden world, where the wrong move could be fatal . . .

Tarot, witchcraft and astrology all take on a frightening resonance in Dark Child's richly imagined alternative reality where vampiric beings live among us, hidden by magic. Dark romance tangles with paranormal fantasy and page-turning suspense in this enthralling tale of 'dark child' Kat Chanter, half-human and half-vampire, who has woken an ancient prophecy and must face a formidable destiny.

Dark Child was originally released in serial form.

Dark Child was originally published as a series of shorts and has just recently been released as a novel.

Overall, I was intrigued by the premise of the book.  The creatures/characters created in this world were very unique and I felt as if I had never really encountered any of the like even if they can be compared to shifters or vampires. The author did an incredible job in creating a dark and sinister ambiance which was consistent throughout. 

I found issue with how slow the story was.  It was slow for pretty much the entire time and I felt that during that time not much was said or accomplished.  There are bouts of action and they were pretty great but this book was still SLOW. I started to wonder how the readers kept going when it was in serial form and I even found myself wondering where the breaks had occurred to keep the reader coming back for more. 

I also had issues with some of the dialog. Kat spent some time at home and I think this was supposed to show how close she was to her family but really it made the experience awkward for me. It never really flowed for me, not natural or smooth.   

Even then I found myself wanting to read the next installment, if there was one, which there doesn't seem to be,  because I wanted to see where Kat would end up on her journey along with the other characters who were her guardians.  The ending didn't feel like an ending. It was more like a "there's more to come".

ARC provided by publisher via Netgalley.