This book was incredibly dumb. So many of the characters and scenes had clearly been lifted directly from Twilight, making the whole thing come off as a cheap imitation. Helen was slightly more dynamic than Bella, but barely. For the majority of the book, I found myself despising her for not being more inquisitive about her situation. Like, okay, Lucas says that the world will end if he kisses you, but WHAT IS HE ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT?? ASK QUESTIONS! Lucas was less moody than Edward, but just as ridiculously jealous and protective. When your girlfriend is impervious to weapons, you actually don't have to be by her side 5000% of the time. Of course then you have the boyfriend's giant, quirky, mythical family, the girlfriend's oblivious dad, and an outside force cough Volturi cough trying to kill everyone. How did the publisher not catch the fact that the Scions are just Stephanie Meyer vampires with a slightly altered mythological backstory??

All that being said, I still enjoyed this book. The plot twists were fun, I liked the secondary characters, and I sped through the action-filled last 100 pages. I was even tempted to read the sequels, but then I looked at the synopsis of the second book, glimpsed the phrase "love triangle," sighed hopelessly, and decided against it.