Xpresso Blog Tour & ARC Review: Evading the Dark By E.M. Rinaldi

Title: Evading the Dark
Author: E.M. Rinaldi
Series: The Cross Chronicles #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: April 24th, 2018
Available: Amazon/Goodreads

Synopsis

High school sucks. It doesn’t matter who you ask; jock, cheerleader, computer nerd, or band geek, they will all say the same thing: It’s a nightmare. But Casey is still wondering how she got the short end of the stick. Just a Sophomore at the prestigious Luthos Academy for Magical Beings, Casey already knows more about heartache and fear than any almost-sixteen-year-old should.

Orphaned and left to be raised by the Academy, she spends her days training to become a Guardian, but that dream is looking dimmer with every day that passes.Unlike the wand-waving heroines in all her favorite books, Witches in her world don’t cast spells, they are born wielding the power of nature: water, fire, earth, or air; powers Casey never developed. She’ll be lucky if they even allow her to take her final exams.

She is top of her training class, but that doesn’t keep her from being looked down upon by every other being at her school. All Casey wants is to be given a chance, instead she finds the only life she’s ever known targeted by an unfathomable evil. Thrust into the center of an age-old prophecy, a war is coming with Casey at the reins.

Will relying on her hard earned training be enough for her to make it out alive?

My Review

Evading the Dark takes us to a world where witches, vampires, fae, and shifters remain in secret. Their progeny are sent to hidden schools for the talented beings throughout the world. Casey, an orphaned child of notorious witch Carina, is taken into the Luthos Academy under the guise of her Guardian Eli in order to grow in her powers. The downside – Casey does not have any powers.

The witches at Luthos are held at an extremely high standard. Each one is drawn to one of the four elements (fire, water, air, & earth). Since Casey does not wield any of these powers, her fellow students (except her friends Cedric and Falon) go out of their way to torment her day after day for something she cannot control. I spent a good part of the book angry at her horrible treatment and the instructors turning a blind eye to it. How can you allow students harm an innocent one who cannot even fully defend herself? But, I digress. The turning point of the novel could not come at a better time when it did.

There are not many characters like Casey, period. Despite the torment, she still fights for herself even when others turn a blind eye and carries her addicting personality in tow. Even with a prophecy over her head, she doesn’t give up trying to discover her place and how she may succeed.

Wonderful story, well-thought out characters and enticing plot – one to keep an eye for sure!