REVIEW:
The Girl in the Box - Robert J. Crane
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"Sienna Nealon was a 17 year-old girl who had been held prisoner in her own house by her mother for twelve years. Then one day her mother vanished, and Sienna woke up to find two strange men in her home. On the run, unsure of who to turn to and discovering she possesses mysterious powers, Sienna finds herself pursued by a shadowy agency known as the Directorate and hunted by a vicious, bloodthirsty psychopath named Wolfe, each of which is determined to capture her for their own purposes..."
This is the synopsis for the first book Alone.
I discovered this series when I was perusing my options for free stories on my kindle. I have next to no money, and what I do have- I have to prioritize for things like staying alive, rather than books. What a inconvenience, am I right? So scrolling through the free section has been a habit. I have gone through several series that were lackluster to say the least. Many of the fantasy genre are pretty much entirely romance driven...and I don't mean that the romance is the main plot...I mean that the character has obstacles, but becomes weak without her man. Give me a fucking break. Don't try to convince me that the protagonist is this badass/special/gifted magical being and then have her defining feature is that she is loved by the 'misunderstood bad boy'. Gag.
So I am very hesitant about starting new series, because I am obsessive and even if I don't like the story I will finish ALL of it. Upon picking up the Girl in the Box series I had the same hesitations but quickly found that this would not be the case. In the beginning however, it did suffer from what I call 'instant-and-unswaying-badass-syndrome' basically meaning that the character doesn't quite have to discover their inner badass or even their convictions. Throughout the first book I was kind of put off by that- it really didn't go away until towards the end, but by then she really DID have to rediscover herself, and her motivation WAS realistic. By the time it ended I was quite happy. Especially since they left the romance out of it; it was a good enough story to stand on it's own without that. She wasn't driven by the need for a man, nor was her power dependent on her emotional stability. Good shit.
The second book picked up where the first left off, but offered a unique story-line, with new antagonists- yet still felt fluid enough to fill the story. Another pet peeve that I have is when an author will make a series, that is basically just one book. The first installment is the intro, and the last is the actual climax. It's cheap, it's lame. Just write the book to be longer. I think authors are afraid that people won't want to read that much, or that they feel their story is grand enough to deserve volumes. Get over yourself, if you don't have a new plot line for your sequel, develop one or condense your books. So to find that book 2 continued the story, but was a stand-alone plot with a full story arc, I was quite pleased. Very good Mr. Crane.
By the time the second book left off I was hooked. I didn't even bother to wait or put it down; I dived into the third installment and devoured it. This one does continue the story line of the previous book, but includes new plot lines, characters, struggles, and surprises. By this point I LOVED the main character Sienna, and her personality was well developed. Never was there a time where I looked at her and thought: Really? You're going to do THAT? I mean I guess so, but it seems out of character for you... This book ramped up the excitement, the action, and the consequences. It ended on a cliffhanger that made me yearn for more!!
However as I mentioned before, I'm a starving artist that can only afford library books at the moment. *Sad face* So I wasn't able to continue the series (of which there are TEN INSTALLMENTS!) but when I can afford it I am totally putting this series at the top of my wishlist. I would say the thing it is most like would be the X-Men, however the 'unique powers' is pretty much the only place they collide...much of their powers are based around Greek and Norse Mythology which in my opinion is AWESOME.
The book is engrossing and very few times did it take me out of the story; i.e. very rarely was I aware that I was reading, as opposed to living in the story. Above and below are the links to get the first three books for free on Amazon and they can be instantly downloaded to your reader device. I strongly recommend doing so.
Rating: 4/5
Readability: 4/5
Adult themes: Yes
Adult language: Limited but Justified
Plot complexity to understandability ratio: 4/5 to 4/5
Read time: A full day if dedicated, or three nights across
One-word descriptor: Intense
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