Official Review: Presence by L.J. Branch

[ALynnPowers]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Presence" by L.J. Branch.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Presence: The Marked is the first book in a new series by L.J. Branch. After her girlfriend’s murder, Abbie is hesitant to start dating again. Then she meets Kat, and nothing is ever the same again. Abbie is suddenly thrown into Kat’s world, which is filled with magic, supernatural wars, mages, and more. Kat belongs to a band of thieves, who are still in the process of completing their training. Using a special mark, they are able to recruit Abbie and her supreme hacking abilities for assistance in one of their missions. It should have been simple, but complications arise when the band is unable to remove Abbie’s mark. Abbie might be way more involved in this underground world than they all thought.

From the very first pages of the book, there is nonstop action. Several times throughout the story, I ended up stopping myself just to say, “Whoa, what just happened?” It is definitely what I would call a fast-paced book, and I could easily see some readers finding it a little too fast to enjoy. I, on the other hand, loved how there was just one new adventure after another. I do feel like I might need to read it one more time to take in all of the little details of the mythology and lore of the supernatural world if I were to move on to the next book in the series whenever it is available.

The writing style was quite unique, in that certain scenes were not necessarily told in chronological order. Some scenes also jumped from one location to another based on what was relevant in the story at the moment. Again, I could see some readers having a hard time following this, but I loved it. The visual descriptions of the scenes and the actions made it easy to visualize, and I could picture it like a movie in my head.

Given the massive amount of information that is packed into these pages, as well as the number of characters that are almost impossible to keep up with, I honestly didn’t think that I was going to end the book on a high note. I just thought that I would find way more negative things to say about the book than positives. However, the ending of the book came along and totally blew me away. It’s not often that I find an ending that I actually like, but this one really stepped up and filled that role.

Overall, I give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. The complexity of the plot and the large number of characters might deter some readers, but for me, the excellent ending definitely made up for all of this. It was only the large number of errors spread throughout the book that detracted from my enjoyment of the story. With thorough and professional editing and proofreading, I could easily see this book made into an action-packed television show. I would recommend it to older teenagers or new adults who enjoy fantasy and supernatural tales.

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Presence
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[sirbobthewise]

The ending of a book can really fix your mind on a book, right? If the ending is done well, it’s so much easier to forgive some of the difficulties experienced leading up to it. Sounds like the author did a really great job of world- and lore-building, and I love that. The cover is also super snazzy. It’s unfortunate that there were so many errors. Hopefully the author will have a professional look through it. Great review!

[Wuoketch]

Looks like once you start reading this book you wouldn't put it down. I love action packed novels but when there are numerous errors which may somehow destruct the reader's attention. It becomes a little boring. Somehow the author might need another round of editing. Again, this book sounds interesting and I will have to try it. Thanks for the great work.

[_Lindsey_]

It seems like this book has some more work to be done on it, but the plot definitely sounds exciting. It’s not often you find good LGBT fantasy books so it’s nice to see some of them popping up.

[Claris L]

It's a shame to hear that there are multiple errors.I hope the author puts this book through more editing. Fantasy & LGBT in lit together isn't something I find often, though, so I'll definitely check out this book! Thanks for the review!

[Chimdi_3]

The books seems to be a whirlwind of action and more action.I believe after a thorough editing and correction of the errors noted, then the book will be a hot shot.Thanks for the great review.

[ALynnPowers]

I don't usually comment on my own reviews (anymore), but I feel like I have to say one thing:
note how I never actually directly said that this is an LGBT book? I did that on purpose. Although the main love interests were both female, I felt like that wasn't really relevant to the story as a whole. It's completely normal and didn't require any more attention than any other relationship would have required.
I hope I am not digging a hole for myself by saying this -- but some of the greatest books I've ever read have contained LGBT characters and I feel like reviewers/critics focus too much on their sexual orientation and not on the important parts of the story.

And I love the way the author represented the LGBT characters in the story, as well. Guess what? They were regular people (okay, well, some of them weren't, but no spoilers!) ...

[adamgreenrock]

Having a fast-paced book isn't really my cup of tea, but it's nice to see that it was executed well. Thanks for your review!

[book_fanatic_]

Fast-paced books with a lot of action are my sort of thing. Would give this one a try for sure. Thanks for the detailed review.

[NetMassimo]

This seems an intriguing novel that with another round of proofreading could be excellent. I'll look into this series, though in these cases I prefer to wait for at least a sequel to be published to see where it's going. Thank you for your great review!

[Samgum50]

Lovely book cover! I love the magical element of the book and the fact that it's action packed. Great review.

[Damis Seres Rodriguez]

I don't know how to feel about an excessive amount of underdeveloped characters. But the book caught my attention for sure. Great review!

[Banette]

I don't usually comment on my own reviews (anymore), but I feel like I have to say one thing:
note how I never actually directly said that this is an LGBT book? I did that on purpose. Although the main love interests were both female, I felt like that wasn't really relevant to the story as a whole. It's completely normal and didn't require any more attention than any other relationship would have required.
I hope I am not digging a hole for myself by saying this -- but some of the greatest books I've ever read have contained LGBT characters and I feel like reviewers/critics focus too much on their sexual orientation and not on the important parts of the story.

And I love the way the author represented the LGBT characters in the story, as well. Guess what? They were regular people (okay, well, some of them weren't, but no spoilers!) ...

I definitely agree that it's not something that should be the focus of the review, but I think it's worth mentioning because that kind of representation matters to people. Hearing that a book has LGBT characters could be the deciding factor for some people so I think it's worth addressing as long as those characters have a major role in the story, no one likes reading a book for representation to realize that the character they were excited about only shows up once.

[Priyanka2304]

Thanks for your insightful review. This book seems quite interesting to me.

[baha Ibrahim]

I believe after a thorough editing and correction of the errors noted, it's action packed. Great review