Review originally appears on the book review blog: justonemorepaige.wordpress.com.

Well this was a phenomenal debut. And again, I have gotten myself into the position to have to wait for a second and third book to be published. Ugh. In the end thought, totally worth it. Wow. From the beginning the story jumped right in. And though, as a reader, you really had to work for it (dude, so much new vocabulary!), it was worth it from page one. What a completely original story...the concept of aether and the different types of connecting to/affecting it is something I've never read anything like. And the play of power among the Scion, the Rephaim, the mysterious Emim and the humas (amaurotics) was so well created and developed...and the creation of this society have started so long in the past (and incorporated such great historical events like the Molly Riots) and moving so far into the future was very creative. And the characters. I felt they all held their roles so well, from Jax to Nick to Liss and Julian. And Warden was just a wonderful hero/anti-hero mix. The connection between him and Paige was wonderfully done - the breaches of trust mixed with times of "compassion" - and how it developed into something more was paced well and completely reasonable and believable. I enjoyed that Paige did distrust him for so long...though it's harder on the love story, it's so much more believable than a quick trip to trust. I can't wait to see how their golden cord plays into the "we'll never see each other again" situation. The one thing that sucked is was I call the "Mr. Darcy" effect...where the main man's thoughts are so hidden that you don;t get to see his change as comes around to the main lady. I wish I could have seen more into Warden's thoughts and how he got to feel about Paige the way he clearly grew to. Honestly, a gorgeous and full read. Plus, I love when a strong female character shares my name! :-)