Book Review: ILLUSION by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Illusion by Sherrilyn Kenyon is a 2014 YA novel which forms part of the Dark Hunter Universe of books. It is the fifth book in the Chronicles of Nick series and was released on 1 April 2014.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK.

PLOT

Nick Gautier is tired of his destiny. He doesn't want to be the son of a demon who's fated to end the world. Nor does he want to see another demon or other preternatural creature who wants to kill or enslave him. He just wants to be normal and have normal problems like everyone else. 

But normality isn't all it's cracked up to be. When he gets sucked into an alternate reality where his mother has married his mentor and his Atlantean god best friend has become a human geek, he begins to understand that no life is free of pain, and that every person has a specific place in the universe... Even the son of a hated demon. 

Most of all, he sees that his powers aren't the curse he thought they were, and that the world needs a champion, especially one its enemies can't imagine rising up to defend the ones he should destroy. 

Old enemies and new friends square off for a major battle that will either restore Nick to his real world, or end him forever.

WHY I BOUGHT IT

I loved the Chronicles of Nick from the first crazy book. It seems so unlike most YA out there nowadays probably primarily down to the male protagonist which is a serious rarity in recent YA. I have not read any of the other Shadow Hunter books as they are not really my preferred genre but the lore is rich and interesting.

WHAT I THOUGHT

The last book came with a lead in (preview) of Illusion and from what I read there I had graves concerns about this book. I like Nick with his powers after all it is a complement to that sarcasm which can sometimes be more than a little overwhelming. So this idea of a book set in an alternate reality with no powers and Nick scrambling to understand what happened. I was very worried that all of it would be spent with Nick cooling his heels and dealing with silly analogues.

I won’t say this is my favourite instalment of Chronicles of Nick but it was not as bad as the preview in the last book made it seem. The story is interesting though for me the first third dragged a bit but then things started to pick up nicely.

Important things happen to Nick in this book like his acceptance of his role as the Malachai which shows his ongoing growth, he has always been heroic and self-sacrificing but this acceptance of his role as the potential destroyer/saviour of the world is interesting as it seems to indicate that the only thing that will succeed in pushing him over the edge would be the death of his mother.

I still don’t like Nekoda to me at least she always comes across as a very bad match for Nick though I will state for the record that I’m not sure who he might belong with. We learn a lot more about her and the various connections to the other cast of characters in the Chronicles of Nick universe so if you’re a fan of her you should definitely enjoy all those new details. Caleb gets an almost cameo at the end of the book so if you’re a fan of his prepare to be a little disappointed by that hopefully the next book should do something to redress the balance.

I am definitely looking forward to the next instalment of Chronicles of Nick and I would definitely recommend this rather unique series to anyone who likes their lore and snappy dialogue.