Series: Devil’s Isle #1
Publication Date: August 4th 2015
Links: Ebook • Paperback • Goodreads
Source: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
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.
But when the Veil threatens to shatter completely, Claire and Liam must work together to stop it, or else New Orleans will burn…
I’ve been a fan of Chloe Neill for a while, ever since I read and loved her Chicagoland Vampires series. So of course I was excited when I heard she’d be writing a new series called Devil’s Isle. The Veil is the first book in the series, and it was good for a first book. There’s a lot of world building and descriptions, unsurprisingly, but sadly, the book just didn’t wring that many emotions out of me. The premise is interesting and holds a lot of potential for future books, but The Veil just wasn’t the exciting read I’d been hoping for.
The Veil takes place in dystopian New Orleans, where the paranormal world and the human world collided and went to war seven years ago. Now, when The Veil that separated the two worlds was repaired, the paranormals that remained in New Orleans were sent to prison at Devil’s Isle. Magic and all paranormal activity is outlawed, though our heroine, Claire, is a Sensitive human with magic powers and does her best to avoid getting caught using magic.
Claire Connolly tries to keep a quiet life, surviving in this dystopian world and running her family’s shop, but she gets into trouble when she uses her magic out in the open to help out a woman in need. Liam Quinn, a bounty hunter, helps Claire out and also aids her in training her magic. He’s a man with secrets, but he and Claire become somewhat friends, despite the slight chemistry they have between them.
The romance is SUPER light in this book. It’s more a potential for a romance, and I’m hoping there will be more in the following books. The Veil centers around Claire honing her Sensitive powers so that she won’t turn into a wraith, a deadly, inhuman creature. There’s also an overarching, bigger plot that I’m sure we’ll see unravel more as we get the other books in the series.
I enjoyed The Veil for the most part. It’s a fairly good read, with well-developed characters and a highly detailed dystopian world. I liked how the author wrote the city of New Orleans in such a way that it felt like its own character. However, I struggled to connect with the story in some way – the main characters felt boring to me, and none of the action had my heart pumping. Plus, this is the type of book that leaves you with lots of questions and few answers. Still, I will most likely be reading the sequel because I love the idea of the story, and I feel this series has a lot of potential to become better as it progresses.
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