Review: Torn

Title:  Torn
Series:  Trylle #2
Author:  Amanda Hocking
Publisher:  St. Martin's Griffin
Pages:  324
Format:  Paperback
Source:  Bought

When Wendy Everly first discovers the truth about herself—that she’s a changeling switched at birth—she knows her life will never be the same. Now she’s about to learn that there’s more to the story…

She shares a closer connection to her Vittra rivals than she ever imagined—and they’ll stop at nothing to lure her to their side. With the threat of war looming, her only hope of saving the Trylle is to master her magical powers—and marry an equally powerful royal. But that means walking away from Finn, her handsome bodyguard who’s strictly off limits…and Loki, a Vittra prince with whom she shares a growing attraction.

Torn between her heart and her people, between love and duty, Wendy must decide her fate. If she makes the wrong choice, she could lose everything, and everybody, she’s ever wanted…in both worlds.

As a special gift to readers, this book contains a new, never-before-published bonus story, “One Day, Three Ways,” set in the magical world of the Trylle.

My Review:  While I enjoyed the first book quite a bit, this one far surpassed it.  I enjoyed Torn so much more than Switched; it had everything it's predecessor had and more.  Everything we experienced and learned before was enhanced and expanded upon in this one. 

The world was as beautiful as I remembered it and I was so happy that we got to see and learn more about it.  We weren't just confined to the Trylle land in this one and it was so interesting to be able to delve deeper into the other groups and discover how each one worked.  Even with us spending a lot of time learning more about the world and the history, the pace of the story was pretty fast and kept me interested and hooked the entire time.   

The creatures we saw were also a huge plus.  It was cool seeing Amanda Hocking's twist on a well known and generally disliked fantasy creature.  She not only made them beautiful and likeable, she managed to make them also really awesome.  The abilities that they had were a lot of fun and I looked forward to every time we got to see them at use!

The characters developed so well in this one.  In the first, I had been less than impressed with the characterization of some of them.  Wendy had been whiny and - quite frankly - a brat.  She had annoyed me a lot but she definitely grew up in this one!  She took responsibility for her actions and thought of the consequences before following through with her impulses.  I also enjoyed learning more about some of the other characters.  I liked uncovering the mystery of Tove the most.  He is such an awesome character.  No matter what happened, he stayed true and loyal to Wendy and I really admired that.  Oh!  And Loki!  I seriously love this guy.  He had me from the first moment we met him.  I loved his humor and lightness but I was also drawn to the secrets and the darkness we saw at times.  

The only major character I had a problem with in this book was Finn.  Now, I don't know if it was my new love for Loki that turned me against Finn or what but everything he did got on my nerves.  I felt like he had the maturity level of a five year old in this book.  He did everything he could (being rude, silent treatment, avoiding) to get the hint across to Wendy that they didn't have a future but the second she looked at another guy, he would pounce back on her and reel her back in before going back to ignoring her!  I was so outraged with the way he acted.  It was annoying and immature and I just really hope that Wendy ends up with Loki.  

This book was far better than the first in the series.  The characters were more developed and likeable, our knowledge of the world was expanded, and the story line was fast paced and interesting.  This is definitely a book worth reading if you haven't already.

Four Cards