Original Sin - Allison Brennan

I was lucky enough to receive a free copy of Original Sin by Allison Brennan, courtesy of Random House's facebook page. I had to suggest a good name for a fallen angel - I said Gabriel (mostly because it's the only one I could think of). But however I came across it, I got the free book! I wasn't even sure until I started it whether it was a Young Adult or an Adult novel. Having finished it, I'm still not sure.

Brennan is apparantly a New York Times bestselling author, although I've never heard of her before, nor read any other books by her. And this book is fairly clearly an attempt to jump on the vampire bandwagon, but do something a little bit different with it.

Fiona is the head of a powerful coven who are dead set (is that a pun?) on bringing the seven deadly sins to earth. This involves a complicated ritual that requires a virgin sacrifice and another young girl to be the 'arca', the vessel that the sins (in demon form) are trapped in. Fiona's daughter, Moira, turned against her mother's evil ways several years ago and has since been trying to bring about her demise. There's also a Roman Catholic Church (supported by a cardinal apparantly) on the goodside, and some fairly noble and predictably attractive demonologists.

And guess what - there's seven deadly sins, and SEVEN BOOKS! Although the idea behind the plot is slightly more original than just throwing together a few lust enraged vampires, it doesn't move far beyond that script. And it is clearly set up to suck young readers in and hopefully purchase the next 6 instalments.

I'll admit, maybe a little sheepishly, that I got sucked in by the Twilight books. Despite the atrocious writing, there was just something about the plot that was unputdownable. Original Sin didn't grab me in nearly the same way. I tried my hardest to go into it with a completely open mind and not compare it to Twilight, but it's impossible not to. And, the writing in this book is, if possible, slightly more atrocious. There are clear holes left in the plot, and massive gaps in the character's history, that presumably will be answered in subsequent novels - but to be honest I just don't really care if I ever find out what happens to them.

Even though I was lucky enough to get given this book for free, I still spent a few previous hours reading it that could have been better spent doing life enriching activities, like mopping the floor, or picking my boyfriend's nose. If fantasy romance is your thing, give it a whirl and you'll probably enjoy it. Otherwise, best leave this one on the shelf.

Happy reading!

Em