The Veil by Chloe Neill (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Also by this author: Dark Debt
Published by Penguin Publishing Group on August 4th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, General
Pages: 352
Format: ARC
A brand new series from New York Times bestselling author Chloe Neill. Seven years ago, the Veil that separates humanity from what lies beyond was torn apart, and New Orleans was engulfed in a supernatural war. Now, those with paranormal powers have been confined in a walled community that humans call the District. Those who live there call it Devil's Isle. Claire Connolly is a good girl with a dangerous secret: she's a Sensitive, a human endowed with magic that seeped through the Veil. Claire knows that revealing her skills would mean being confined to Devil's Isle. Unfortunately, hiding her power has left her untrained and unfocused. Liam Quinn knows from experience that magic makes monsters of the weak, and he has no time for a Sensitive with no control of her own strength. But when he sees Claire using her powers to save a human under attack--in full view of the French Quarter--Liam decides to bring her to Devil's Isle and the teacher she needs, even though getting her out of his way isn't the same as keeping her out of his head. As more and more Sensitives fall prey to their magic, and unleash their hunger on the city, Claire and Liam must work together to save New Orleans, or else the city will burn...
I’m a huge fan of Chloe Neill’s Chicagoland Vampires series so I knew I was going to be grabbing this start of a new paranormal series immediately!
Set in a war torn New Orleans, Neill has made the setting itself a character in this story. Seven years ago, The Veil that separated the city from the paranormal world was opened and a war between the two worlds occurred. When the Veil was finally closed normal life was no more, all paranormals were imprisoned in a separate district and any kind of magic is outlawed.
Claire Connolly is just trying to live a quiet life taking care of the store her father left when he died. But she has a secret. She’s a Sensitive… a person who has magic abilities. She can’t reveal her secret to anyone because it would mean she’d be confined to Devil’s Isle.
Liam Quinn is a bounty hunter who doesn’t have time for a Sensitive who is untrained and can’t control herself, but he can’t deny a connection to Claire. When he sees her using her powers to help someone he offers to help her in return and provide the training she will need to survive in the new world.
As usual, Neill does an amazing job building the world her characters live in. While reading you’ll learn not only about the New Orleans that we know today, but the new city it’s become. That said, it kind of slows the pacing of the story… we spend a lot of time learning about what happened during the war and now after the war to make the city what it is today. I know it can’t be helped and I expect that in the coming books this won’t be as much of an issue because all the groundwork has been laid.
I really enjoy the characters that Neill creates. They’re always incredibly layered and interesting… and both Liam and Claire are that! And the sexual tension between these two!! I can’t tell you how often I thought “OMG JUST KISS ALREADY!” while reading this. I know once they get into relationship territory it’s going to be just plain amazing!
Neill always has done secondary characters so well… she makes them an integral part of her books and she definitely does that again here. I really liked Gunnar and Tadji… though definitely Gunnar more than Tadji, for some reason she just rubbed me the wrong way in a couple scenes. I’m hoping to learn more about them as the series progresses and connect to them a bit more. I’m also really excited to learn more about Liam’s family!
Of course there is an overarching story here that Liam and Claire need to work together to solve… Wraiths are turning up all over the city and attacking innocent people… but the answers aren’t exactly what they were expecting!
Overall a great start to a new paranormal series from an author I love! If you don’t have this on your to read list, make sure you get it there asap! I think it’s going to be an amazing ride!
Thank you to Penguin/NAL for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
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