Review: Oppression by Jessica Therrien

Book Description via Goodreads:

ARC, 373 pages

February 28, 2012, ZOVA Books

Elyse knows what it means to keep a secret. She's been keeping secrets her whole life. Two, actually. First, that she ages five times slower than the average person, so that while she looks eighteen years old, she's closer to eighty. Second, that her blood has a mysterious power to heal. For Elyse, these things don't make her special. They make life dangerous. After the death of her parents, she's been careful to keep her secret as closely guarded as possible. Now, only one other person in the world knows about her age and ability. Or so she thinks. Elyse is not the only one keeping secrets. There are others like her all over the world, descendants of the very people the Greeks considered gods. She is one of them, and they have been waiting for her for a long time. Among so many of her kind, she should not be very remarkable--except for the prophecy. Some believe she will put an end to traditions, safeguarded by violence, which have oppressed her people for centuries. Others are determined to keep her from doing just that. But for Elyse, the game is just beginning--and she's not entirely willing to play by their rules.

Source: Jessica, Molly and Zovabooks (Thank you!)

My Thoughts:

Elyse had enough drama in her life to last a lifetime or in her case – hundreds of years. Aside from aging slower than normal humans, Elyse had the ability to heal people. She had accepted long ago that she was different from other people and that she couldn’t live a normal life. She needed to move from one place to another every once in a while and blend in with the crowd. She needed to be safe. But when she moved to San Francisco, she discovered two things: there were stalker-like persons who knew things about her and the guy working at the coffee shop down her apartment was gorgeous and strange.

The Descendants were the Children of the ‘gods.’ They had long lives and special abilities according to their bloodline. This was one of the things I liked the most about Oppression. I knew that the story was Greek-myth-related but it wasn’t the ‘typical’ Greek-myth-related novel. It was different. It had an X-Men-meets-the-Survivors (by Amanda Havard)-vibe going on. The author did an interesting twist on the Greek mythology that will appeal to and intrigue readers. I craved for answers and explanations and I got them. But of course, not all the secrets were spilled in this first installment. I’m particularly curious about the origin of it all: the Greek gods.

William was the guy working at the coffee shop down Elyse’s apartment. He was gorgeous, magnetic, mysterious, protective but slightly stalker-like and crazy in the beginning of the novel. He was the kind of guy that girls dream about every night. He wasn’t the controlling boyfriend type although I’m sure he could control everything if he wanted to. He was always there for Elyse as she discovered who she really was and as she entered the world of the Descendants.

William’s relationship with Elyse was what other bloggers might describe as instalove but wait (don’t close this window yet) there’s more to it. You see, Elyse and William were fated to be together. Although William knew it long before Elyse did. Elyse had been living on her own for years. Although she had her stepmother, Betsy, it was still difficult thinking that she was the only one of her kind – the only one with the slow aging condition. She had never dated before. She never had a boyfriend before. Until she met gorgeous and magnetic William. For me, it made sense that they would be attracted to one another since one has been alone for too long, wanting connection and the other has been waiting for her his whole life.

Love, action and danger mix together in this story of destiny. Elyse was fated to do big, great things that could possibly change her world forever. With a storyline like that, two sides were bound to oppose one another. There were characters you’d fall in love with and characters you’d hate so much you wanted to reach in the book and slap them. The story world that Therrien created reminded me of the story world of The Survivors by Amanda Havard. But aside from the mystery and ages-old secrets, Oppression had a youthful vibe that I found refreshing. There was cruelty and blood in Oppression that also balanced the happy side. Oppression is intriguing and enjoyable. I recommend this to Greek-myth-readers and paranormal romance readers.

Rating: