The Veil

The Veil by Chloe Neill

(Book #1 of the Devil's Isle series)

Rating: 🍁🍁🍁

Link to Blurb

Overall: A solid start, setting up what has the potential to become a kick ass UF series.

The Good:

1) The concept behind this story is fascinating, set as it is in the aftermath of a decade-long human/supernatural war that devastated NOLA and its environs. What would that world look like? What would the repercussions of such a cataclysmic event be? Ms. Neill has done a credible job of developing a believable answer to these and other questions.

2) My favourite part of the story was definitely the all-too-relevant insights into human nature, and our response to war and fear. The unquestioned othering of the enemy, our tendency to make everything fit a black-and-white interpretation that alleviates us of any guilt or complicity in the negative results of events, the depth of our connections to each other and our homes, the role of memory in our social narratives, the influence of fear on human behaviour - there's a lot of food for thought between the covers of this book, and it's all dealt with in a rather balanced, respectful manner.

3) Hooray for characters who don't fall into easily predictable patterns/types! I loved the way Claire and Liam don't immediately succumb to their mutual attraction, with Liam holding back for his totally understandable fear of one day having to be the person who hunts Wraith Claire down.

The Bad:

1) By the time I finished reading the book, one question was dominating my thoughts: what's going on in the rest of the world? Was NOLA the only place the Paras broke through? If so, why is there so much deprivation in the area? Couldn't the rest of America/the world send supplies? One would think something this massive would have more of an impact on a global scale.

2) Like the first book in many series, THE VEIL suffers from the burden of world-building and character development, which makes for a slow start. I have enough faith in Ms. Neill as an author, though, to trust that things will only get better so I'm looking forward to book two.