On Ciel’s sixteenth birthday, she expects her father whom she hasn’t seen in a year to finally come home. What she doesn’t expect is the strange boy that appears on her front yard claiming her father is a demon king and that he is her personal guard sent to protect her from vicious demons after her half human blood. Ciel is taken from her safe and happy human life and thrown into the new, more adventurous life of her demon lineage filled with new friends and new love interests. Will she be able to control her powers and her life or will everything blow up in her face?
My Review: ~May Contain Some Spoilers~
If the synopsis wasn't enough to get you to reading this novel, then hopefully my review will. I was given this novel by the author for an honest review. With that being said, I am extremely honored to have received this novel. Not only is the author, Sarika Fils-Aime, an upcoming author. She was a girl who had a dream at 14 to write and publish a book and 4 years later she was able to watch her dream come true. Sarika was able to published her first book at the age of 18. 'Treachery' is the first book in the 'Truth-Seekers' Trilogy. Now let me tell you why you should definitely read this novel.
Ciel is like every other 16year old girl. That is if every 16 year old girl is half demon, half human. Ciel lives at home with her housekeeper Lys and doesn't get to see her father as much as she would like to. Even though their time is limited, their bond is very close. She hasn't seen him in a while but he promised her he will be there for her birthday. Ciel always knew that she was different but she just didn't realize by how much. Because she is half human, half demon she has powers but she is more compassionate to humans because of her half human side. She thought that people just did what she wanted because they didn’t want her to embarrass them. Now she knew that is for a completely different reason. Two of her major powers is that Ciel is the truth seeker and she can create lightening in her hands. As the truth seeker, when someone is lying her or to anyone around her, Ciel can tell that they are lying. This causes her to physically get sick and it can get as bad as her throwing up and/or gaging. She thought this was just a gut feeling but that changed on her 16th birthday. You actually see her use this power throughout the novel and its fascinating every time. You see her grow and her powers strengthen which is an amazing way to develop a character like her. Ciel is basically the 16year old you would never want to mess with. Considering she was brought into a new world she never knew exist and told that she is not fully human, Ciel was taking this all really well.
Ciel is the main protagonist in the novel, ‘Treachery’. She is personally one of my favorite character throughout the novel. Ciel is very relatable and as i was thinking back to be 16 years old, she went through what most 16 year olds go through. You know other then being half demon. She is your typical high school girl who is popular but not “Cheerleader” popular. She has her own little group and she has your all typical teenage drama. The only thing that makes her different is that she has demon blood flowing through her veins. Oh, and of course her powers, can’t forget about those. Ciel’s emotions pull you in and reminds you how it was when you were 16. A little boy crazed, which is normal at that age, and all about finding you place in the world and trying to maintain it. Also friendship places a big role in this novel.
I have away been into stories about demons and paranormal activity. This novel is not like those typical young adult demon books. This is definitely a good start to a series and I can’t wait to see where it goes. I went into this novel not really knowing what was going to happen. The synopsis pulled me in and it did not let me down. The author definitely did her homework when it came to the origin and the history of demons. You can tell she used different references in her novel to make the demon world more realistic. We do get a little background on Ciel’s past. Keep in mind this novel is about her learning to deal her powers and dealing with the fact that she is a demon living in a human world.
The Royal Guard are to protect the royal family and the kingdom from any danger. Styx is one of the strongest members of the Royal Guard and because of this he win charged to protect Ciel until her 16th birthday. He has protected her for the past 6 years. Once she became 16, Styx was supposed to replace Lys and train her on using her powers and defending herself. But what they did’t know is that Styx had secrets of his own. He couldn’t remember anything about his past and was only able to remember bits and pieces. For some reason there were huge mental block and he was determine to remember. Ciel’s father didn’t know this about Styx and he also never seen Styx face since the Royal Guards uniform has a hood. There was only a couple of demons who knew about his memory lost, and that was Lys (Ciel Demon housekeeper) and Valentin, and the king and queen of the other royal family. Valentin is Styx best friend and is also part of the Royal Guard. He is considered to be just as good as Styx.
Boys will be boys and Styx and Valentin are no different. It doesn’t matter that they are demon, they like to cause drama, drive fast cars and drag race, and you know how boys are with their toys. They even did a few practical jokes while they attended high school with Ciel. As Styx got to know Ciel, he started developing feelings for her. Unfortunately, their love is forbidden and Ciel is promised to someone else, though she doesn’t know this yet. He tried to keep his feelings for her under control but it was too difficult. Lucky for him, Ciel felt the same way but sadly, that would never change the fact that she is promised to Prince Decland.
If you have read any of my past reviews you would know that I hate the whole forbidden love and love triangle troupe that most young adult writers use. I can honestly say that I didn’t feel that way about this novel. I didn’t hate it at all, which was truly surprising for me. Not to mention that the author put an amazing twist that will completely blow your mind. Laterally threw my phone when I got to that part of the novel, luck for me it didn’t break. Unfortunately, for you readers, reading my review I am not going to give away the twist. You’re just going to have to read the novel to find out what it was!
Styx and Valentin are also my favorite characters in this novel. It’s hard not to like them, which makes you like them even more. They make it entertaining and they will have you laughing. They were definitely the comical relief of the novel. Styx will have you in your emotions and make you feel like you are dating him. You will feel his pain, his love, his anger and all other emotion that he is portraying. As the novel goes on you get a clear understanding of his character and his development to the series. He is honestly very charming and super mysterious. He has all the makings of an amazing character.
Ciel’s father is the King of one of the 5 kingdoms in Treachery. King Malleo (Yes Ciel is a princess) is the strongest most powerful ruler but he is also extremely humble. He cares deeply about his citizens and has even open up his palace for some of them to stay there with their families. This makes King Malleo an amazing leader but not everyone sees it that way. Some of his citizen see him as weak. Those same demon who sees him as weak are the same demon that is trying to take over his throne. They are not stopping there though, they are also after Ciel and Styx and won’t stop till they are dead….
King Malleo Nevvar is extremely intimidating. Just reading about the things he is capable of doing will make you scared but even though he can do all these scary things, he has a heart of gold. He is easily in my top 4 favorite character’s, which is why I am mentioning him in my review. He is portrayed as this big and powerful demon, but has trouble turning down a little waitress who is clearly interested in him. It’s cute and lets you see the human side of him. Even though he is intimidating, it doesn’t take away from the love he shows his daughter and the feisty way Ciel talks to him will make you question if he is actually powerful. But if you ever doubt his power just wait, you will see what happen! He is also, madly in love with Ciel’s mother who is in a eternal sleep until they can cure her. He will never give up hope on her and will give his life if it meant saving her.
I promise you while reading this novel, that you will not be able to put it down. The story line is not only catchy but it pulls you into their world. Makes you feel like you are one of the characters and that you are experiencing it first hand. Relating to the characters are super easy and they make you feel like they are real. I laughed, I teared up and cried, I had my ‘awww’ moments and I even was mad and sometimes upset. Overall this novel is worth the 5 stars that I rated it. I recommend this novel to everyone and everyone. There are some minor spelling errors and grammatical errors but keep in mind that she was 14 when she wrote this novel. Also there is not enough of them to make the story bad. Hope you all enjoyed and if you do decide to read this novel, let’s talk about it!!
ELI AND CLAIR ARE GETTING BACK TOGETHER AND DECLAND IS COMING BACK AND JSHSJHXWJHSHS THE ONLY THING THAT WOULD MAKE THIS BETTER WOULD BE IF SAV CAME BACK OKAY WHEN ELI WALKED IN THE ROOM I LITERALLY STOPPED BREATHING AND FELL OFF THE COUCH. I AM SO HAPPY.
