Review ~ The Astral Ordinance - Meltem Y K

Hi everyone! 

Sorry no reviews have been posted in the last few week, everything has just been crazy. I have had my final drama performance as part of my A-level exam so most have my time has been taken up with rehearsals rather than reading. However now that is over, and I can breath again, I will be back to my usual schedule of reviewing. I have a huge pile to get through and I'm looking forward to them immensely!

Recieved a copy from the author in return for an honest review

Description
Jayna is about to graduate from high school and embark on an exciting journey in higher education – or so she thinks. In the wee hours of one fateful night she finds herself in the middle of a battle with demons. She assumes it’s a nightmare; a young warrior, Ethan Wells, convinces her otherwise. Jayna discovers that she is an evolved human who can travel between dimensions and is also capable of extinguishing demons. She is a prime candidate for the Astral army. An innocent first-love blossoms between Jayna and Ethan. They become partners in the Astral army against demons and other forms of evil. Ethan is in charge of her training; they spend the next few years as carefree college students by day, demon fighters by night. However, there is a small glitch in their happiness: They are forbidden by the Astral Masters to see each other on Earth. As much as they love one another, they cannot be together in their physical forms. However, the Astral Plane is about to experience a first.

My Opinion
This book had a unique concept that intrigued me throughout the novel. I especially enjoyed the start where Jayna found out about the Astral Plane, met Ethan and the demons were introduced to the story. It made me think this book was going to take a different path to the one it did. The characters were developed well and were consistent throughout the entire book. Their speech, attitudes and reactions to certain situations were believable and enabled me to relate, sympathise and connect with them easily. As well as this the romance was developed really well. Although it is a romance about soul mates, the author does a good job of keeping Jayna and Ethan away from the stereotypes and cliches, which is added to by the fact they cannot meet each other in the physical world, so in the end creates a well rounded romance.

However even though I enjoyed this read there were a few downsides. The first being that it was pretty slow. The book started off well with Jayna being transported to the Astral plane before being faced with demons which made me assume the book was going to be based around this or would at least have a bit of action in it. Yet once that was over, the trips to the Toxic Plane became less and less with the action becoming to brief. It seemed that as the book went on less focus was put on the Astral warrior side of things and more on the romance. Don't get me wrong I love romances but I think the author could have done a lot more with the Toxic Plane and demons. I really wanted more contact with the demons.

The second big issue I had with this book is that it jumped around a lot. At one point it jumps a whole four years, skipping all of Jayna's training and re-introducing her with new found abilities that left me confused as to how she got them (as well as something major happening to her best friend). I'm not sure why the author left these details out as personally I would have liked to read about the training process and how the relationship developed over the four years. It just left a lot to be desired for. Finally the last issue I had was the ending. The author spent the whole book leading up to one big event after cutting out the demons and in the end you never get to read about it. I'm not sure if there will be a sequel but rather than leaving me on a cliffhanger it just left me feeling disappointed and dissatisfied as it felt like the book was a story that didn't go anywhere and a big anticlimax.

Overall beside the issues mentioned above and a few minor grammar, punctuation and spelling issue The Astral Ordinance was an original novel that was an interesting, enjoyable read. I think a few tweaks are needed to the description as it is slightly misleading as to what to expect from the book but in general this book was a good romance and I would recommend it to romance lovers.