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A review by mayhemmel
The Freya Snow Pup Trilogy: Books 1-3 by L.C. Mawson
4.0
I received a copy of this trilogy in exchange for an honest review.
The Pup Trilogy covers the first few exciting years of a time when Freya Snow's entire life changes. An orphan used to going from one foster home to another, Freya Snow tries to keep herself at a distance from others, as well as from her own emotions. When another pair of foster parents come calling, she waits for the day that they'll send her back. It is in her time with foster parents Margaret and Ryan that Freya begins seeing ghosts, learning of her awesome powers, and entering a realm long kept secret from humans: one of Angels, Demons, Fae, and many other mystical creatures. War is once again brewing between them all. Oh, and Freya's still got to finish high school. Freya Snow and her mysterious heritage have a lot of secrets-- ones not easily given up, especially when they're held by the enemy.
I'll try to spare everyone from spoilers! This may get messy.
Freya, even as a supernatural being, is a relatable character from the very start; at fourteen, she is wise and hardened beyond her years, but she still indulges in video games, manga, and social media when she can. This stands in serious contrast to her best-friend-by-accident Damon, who knows very little of the normal world... yeah, he's got secrets, too. Other characters throughout the books, from Fate to Alice to Seph, are also believable and concrete-- they are carefully developed, which can be a rare thing when it comes to otherworldly beings. And they are wonderfully flawed beings, too. You've got to love when characters aren't perfect, even when we're talking about Angels!
L.C. Mawson did a masterful job of being inclusive without being overbearing; there are autistic characters, and characters of different races, sexualities, and ethnicities, none of which seem like caricatures of their real-world selves. I took serious pleasure in seeing so many people represented in the story.
The writing is solid. There are some hiccups here and there, but they do not detract from the story, (and seriously, there are hiccups in every single book out there.) The author is very thoughtful about things in her world; if you question how/why/what about any given thing, I can assure you that it's getting answered in the next few lines, which I loved. It's mysterious when it needs to be, but if something comes up out of the blue, her characters are thoughtful enough to question it along with the reader. This makes the narrative even more believable. My only setback with some of the writing was that, in describing certain things (usually Freya and her feelings on various topics) the point is too hard-driven, to the point of being repetitive. Again, this doesn't pull you out of the story, but at some points I did feel like, "Okay... yes Freya, I get it. We are emo about this topic."
As a whole, I'd give the first three books of the series 3.5 stars. The path from orphaned girl to demon-hunting Angel with awesome powers is one fraught with danger. And it makes for one great story. I'm looking forward to reading upcoming books in the series!
The Pup Trilogy covers the first few exciting years of a time when Freya Snow's entire life changes. An orphan used to going from one foster home to another, Freya Snow tries to keep herself at a distance from others, as well as from her own emotions. When another pair of foster parents come calling, she waits for the day that they'll send her back. It is in her time with foster parents Margaret and Ryan that Freya begins seeing ghosts, learning of her awesome powers, and entering a realm long kept secret from humans: one of Angels, Demons, Fae, and many other mystical creatures. War is once again brewing between them all. Oh, and Freya's still got to finish high school. Freya Snow and her mysterious heritage have a lot of secrets-- ones not easily given up, especially when they're held by the enemy.
I'll try to spare everyone from spoilers! This may get messy.
Freya, even as a supernatural being, is a relatable character from the very start; at fourteen, she is wise and hardened beyond her years, but she still indulges in video games, manga, and social media when she can. This stands in serious contrast to her best-friend-by-accident Damon, who knows very little of the normal world... yeah, he's got secrets, too. Other characters throughout the books, from Fate to Alice to Seph, are also believable and concrete-- they are carefully developed, which can be a rare thing when it comes to otherworldly beings. And they are wonderfully flawed beings, too. You've got to love when characters aren't perfect, even when we're talking about Angels!
L.C. Mawson did a masterful job of being inclusive without being overbearing; there are autistic characters, and characters of different races, sexualities, and ethnicities, none of which seem like caricatures of their real-world selves. I took serious pleasure in seeing so many people represented in the story.
The writing is solid. There are some hiccups here and there, but they do not detract from the story, (and seriously, there are hiccups in every single book out there.) The author is very thoughtful about things in her world; if you question how/why/what about any given thing, I can assure you that it's getting answered in the next few lines, which I loved. It's mysterious when it needs to be, but if something comes up out of the blue, her characters are thoughtful enough to question it along with the reader. This makes the narrative even more believable. My only setback with some of the writing was that, in describing certain things (usually Freya and her feelings on various topics) the point is too hard-driven, to the point of being repetitive. Again, this doesn't pull you out of the story, but at some points I did feel like, "Okay... yes Freya, I get it. We are emo about this topic."
As a whole, I'd give the first three books of the series 3.5 stars. The path from orphaned girl to demon-hunting Angel with awesome powers is one fraught with danger. And it makes for one great story. I'm looking forward to reading upcoming books in the series!