Book Review: Runes (Runes #1) by Ednah Walters

Runes by Ednah Walters
Review Copy: Purchased
Kindle Edition, 245 pages
Download: Amazon (Free!)
Release Date: June 8th, 2013

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Raine Cooper has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s disappearance, her mother’s erratic behavior and the possibility of her boyfriend relocating. The last thing she needs is Torin St. James—a mysterious new neighbor with a wicked smile and uncanny way of reading her.

Raine is drawn to Torin’s dark sexiness against her better judgment, until he saves her life with weird marks and she realizes he is different. But by healing her, Torin changes something inside Raine. Now she can’t stop thinking about him. Half the time, she’s not sure whether to fall into his arms or run.

Scared, she sets out to find out what Torin is. But the closer she gets to the truth the more she uncovers something sinister about Torin. What Torin is goes back to an ancient mythology and Raine is somehow part of it. Not only are she and her friends in danger, she must choose a side, but the wrong choice will cost Raine her life.

My Review:
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've had this book sitting on my Kindle for such a long time now. I'm not sure why I hadn't taken the time to read it earlier, but I'm glad I finally jumped in. Although I had my issues with the book, I thoroughly enjoyed Runes and the world that Walters crafted with this first installment.

I've seen Runes compared to Twilight from time to time, and while I understand those comparisons regarding the relationship between Torin and Raine -- as it does mirror Bella and Edward at times -- I don't think it's fair to write the story off as "another Twilight." (That's not a knock on Twilight either. I still admittedly like the Twilight series.) My biggest problem with the romantic relationship here, and I don't feel this is a spoiler, is that Raine is highly unlikable when it comes to how she treats Eirik while she longs for Torin. I don't particularly care for cheating in storylines, but that won't necessarily keep me from reading a book. The problem here is that it starts off early on and just continues throughout the entire story, so it becomes frustrating.

On the plus side, while I didn't care for the way certain relationships were handled in this book, I really enjoyed the world Walters established here. There's so much mythology at play and she manages to weave it into something special.

Even with my issues -- namely Raine -- I do intend to finish the series as I actually kind of liked Torin and Raine together. That and I actually like Cora and Eirik and can't wait to see how their roles expand in this series going forward.

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