The Forsaken (The Children of Cain Book 1) Review!

I've recently reKINDLED my love of reading by shopping on Amazon's Kindle Store. As a kid, I always made it my goal to read 100 books per summer. When I actually got into trouble, I had my Harry Potter books taken away (yes...I'm THAT generation!). When Twilight took the world by storm, I was there...soaking up every word. The Series of Unfortunate Events books held me captive until I finished them, and the Percy Jackson books caused my heartrate to quicken in excitement. With so many amazing authors and fantastic stories absorbed in my lifetime, I consider myself hard to please when it comes to books. I read them, always, but often I know within a chapter or so if I'm going to be happy with my decision.

As someone addicted to her Kindle, I've downloaded MANY of the free books put out by new authors looking to make a name for themselves. More often than not, sadly, I'm not super impressed. However, when offered a free review copy of The Forsaken (The Children of Cain Book 1), I was excited. I loved the somber, dark feeling that I got from reading the title. I was intrigued and immediately loaded it up onto my Kindle. I set to reading right away, and I'm SO happy I did. Sometimes you discover a story and you can't believe you haven't read it yet after having it waiting on your for weeks or months. This is one of those stories.

I really, really don't want to spoil it for anyone, but I will give the basics. The story opens with Gwen, running towards - she doesn't know what - and away from - again...she has no idea. A close brush with danger leaves her in the hands of strangers who deliver her to a hospital to deal with her severe frostbite and various other ailments. She's then left to the custody of the local Catholic orphanage, where her path crosses with Adam/Raven (she renames him). She has great difficulty fitting in, and soon realizes that she and Raven are meant for each other (as friends...Gwen is 5 at this point and Raven is a few years older). Extremely advanced for her age, Gwen intimidates and even scares the other children. This is due in part to her unusual eyes. She and Raven soon begin to discover the sides of themselves that they always knew existed and set them apart, but didn't quite know about yet.

Again, I hesitate to give away too much of the story, but there are several conflicts at the orphanage, which lead to the odd pair becoming runaways and living on the streets for years, using their unusual powers to survive.

Once the pair are detained, they are split up, and all seems lost for Gwen. She enters an institution-like school (like medical institution) and pretends to be on her best behavior until she is sent to a foster home that, appearing perfect from the outside, is actual horror and hell. As she struggles to fit into middle school culture, she deals with aggression, abuse, and trying to protect a new "little sister" that she has come to love.

The entire book is a total treat. It's an adventure that you seriously don't want to miss out on. I can see this series being optioned for a movie in the future, and I will fangirl like crazy!

 Between growing to love and understand the characters, to watching them develop, and mature physically, to feeling their emotions and fears, it's not hard to be absorbed completely into the story. The language is beautiful and detailed and the story flows so smoothly! There's not a boring moment, and your heart is yanked along for the ride. At the end of book one, I don't feel satisfied. I want MORE of this series!! I'm SO excited to be able to jump right into book two and see what happens next. Review coming soon!!

Snag your copy of Book 1 of The Children of Cain series here!