Unbreakable (Legion #1)
Kami Garcia
Simon & Schuster UK
2013, 305p
Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster AU
Kennedy’s father walked out when she was just five years old and ever since then, it’s been just her and her mother. After a night out at the movies with her friend, Kennedy comes home and finds her mother dead in her bed – heart failure, according to the medical report. Kennedy is left alone to pack up the house before she is to be sent to a boarding school in upstate New York. Reluctant to leave her home, she spends one more night there alone….
Her world unravels when a spirit attempts to kill her. She is rescued by Lukas and Jared Lockheart, identical twins who tell her that her mother was part of the Legion, a secret society responsible for protecting the world from a demon that was accidentally raised by the group some 200 years ago. Each Legion member chooses a blood relative to take their place. They tell her that her mother’s death was no accident and on the same night that Kennedy’s mother was killed, the four other members of the Legion were all killed too and their chosen representatives became the new Legion.
But Kennedy was never told anything about the Legion. She hasn’t been trained, she doesn’t have the skills to fight paranormal ghosts and spirits, she didn’t know anything about it before Lukas and Jared burst into her room to save her from death. However they take her with them, enfolding her into their group believing that now the group knows all the other members, perhaps they will be stronger together than they ever were apart. But is Kennedy who they believe she is? The Legion need her help to save the world before the demon is able to enter it and destroy it. But Kennedy doesn’t know what she’s doing and there’s every chance she could be making a huge mistake.
I was immediately intrigued when I heard about this new series, written by Kami Garcia who is best known for her collaborating with Margaret Stohl on the Beautiful Creatures series. The first book was recently made into a movie and although I haven’t read that series yet, I do own a couple of them. I was curious as to what her writing would be like alone and I so I was excited to receive a review copy of this one.
It’s a series that is certainly full of action almost from the very beginning. Kennedy is a teen that has to face not only the death of her mother, who is really the only person that she has left in the world, but then the information that it wasn’t really natural causes and that her mother was part of some secret society that had been around for generations, charged with protecting the world from the wrath of a demon accidentally raised centuries ago. She knew nothing about this, she wasn’t told about it, groomed for it like all the rest of the new members of the Legion were: identical twins Lukas and Jared, mechanical wizard Priest and ward and magic specialist Alara. Kennedy is like a newborn, clueless and almost helpless. They don’t know what her specialty is (all Legion members have one, passed down to them from the blood member who chose them to succeed). She feels awkward, left out and like she doesn’t belong – she’s never really belonged anywhere and even though she’s freaked out about everything she’s been told, you get the feeling that Kennedy desperately wants to belong somewhere. The other four are very confident in themselves and what they’re doing and although they take her along for the ride, at times it feels like they have to adjust things in order to accommodate her lack of training. This makes her feel bad, especially when she makes a critical mistake that leads to the group having to flee their safe place. Deep down Kennedy worries that perhaps she’s not the one they think she is, that she’s not the missing fifth member and soon or later they’re going to realise that and probably, well, kick her out. And it seems that the further you get into the book, the more you realise that her fears for that might not be totally unfounded. There’s definitely a few questions about whether or not Kennedy is the legitimate fifth member and if she is, why hasn’t she had something happen to her that the others have had happen to them? And if she isn’t, then who is the legitimate fifth member and where are they? I’m not really sure I have the answers for those, but I do have a few half-baked theories!
Not only does this one have action and ghosts and demons and teens that are not afraid to kick ass, it’s also got the beginnings of an equally sizzling and sweet romance. I definitely wanted more of that – there’s mere hints here and there and a little bit of action near the end but it’s complicated! Kind of an interesting love triangle but not really a triangle, more like the possibility of one but I really liked the way in which it was written. Definitely going to be a long wait until the next book in this series.
8/10
Book #258 of 2013
Counting this one towards my Literary Exploration Challenge for 2013, ticking off the Young Adult category. That makes 15 books read for this challenge.
All The Books I Can Read 
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