Review: Severed by Sarah Alderson

Severed by Sarah Alderson
Publisher: Amazon
Publication date: 28th November 2012
My rating: 4 stars

Fate brought them together.
Now it’s threatening to tear them apart.

As the last in a long line of demon slayers, Evie’s destiny is to end the war that has raged for centuries between humans and demons.

Lucas, the half-Shadow Warrior half-human who was sent to kill her, has betrayed his own Brotherhood and his family to fight alongside her.

With an army of unhumans on their tail, Evie and Lucas are forced into an uneasy alliance with a group of rogue Hunters who offer protection and the promise of answers.

As the past is untangled and the dark history of the Hunters revealed, Evie discovers that severing the realms is going to require a lot more than just fighting. It’s going to require a sacrifice – one that only she can make.

…More than realms will be severed.

Alderson has again produced fast and fiery sequel in Severed. If you were suckered in by Fated, you honestly haven’t seen anything yet. Alderson in my eyes has quickly become the master of surprises; the sucker punches that came in Severed had me sitting in shock, left my mind reeling and had me wanting to jump up and down shouting how could you do this to me?

In Severed we are reunited with the unexpected pair of Lucas and Evie, after everything’s that’s gone down, they’re on the run with who knows how many unhumans after them. But that’s not the worst of it; they still need to find out about the prophecy and how they can bring an end to the chaos. But in the process they end up discovering something they never expected.

I can’t believe it was nearly a year ago when Alderson introduced us to Lucas and Evie, after devouring Hunting Lila a few weeks before I didn’t think any other character could compare. But being back with Lucas and Evie has made me realise just how much of an impression they had made the first time around. I was beyond excited to dive into their world of unhumans again, to see Evie and Lucas fighting their way through everything thrown at them, would their relationship be strong enough this time? I liked the different sides we got to see of Lucas and Evie in Severed. Evie has definitely grown up loads after first discovering she was a hunter. With their lives constantly on the line, she was strong and always ready to go into battle. With so many lives lost previously Evie didn’t want to put anyone else in the same position and so quickly became aware of the risks she had to take, she didn’t dither about in the slightest. In comparison Lucas I was a bit unsure about at first, he had lost the brotherhood and had every single unhuman after him and Evie after what he had done. It took a while for the Lucas I‘d become to love from Fated to come through, but once he was back, boy I couldn’t endure to part from him. Severed also enabled us to delve into a more fragile side of both characters, we were able to learn their hopes and what worried them the most; not having the other are around. It did often result in some heartbreaking scenes which left me with a lump in my throat. But Alderson also takes their relationship a whole another notch, be prepared to swoon girls!

I was also slightly worried that the gap left by characters from Fated; Neena and Risper would be extremely had to fulfil. But my worrying was totally uncalled for as Alderson provides us with new characters which I enjoyed even more and I’m sure will leave a great impression on everyone as they did with me. Cyrus is definitely a character to look at for, he really had made me confused at first, but his cheeky demeanour and totally uncalled for comments around Evie and Lucas had me cracking up. He’s a big character who creeped his way in and had me longing for him and his witty remarks when he never was around.

Despite Severed taking a more serious tone than Fated, Alderson weaved humour into the book well, that I found myself with a huge smile on my face when it was an inappropriate moment. Severed in my eyes is one hell of a follow up to Fated. Fans of Alderson’s work won’t be disappointed, but just be warned after finishing the last page you will be dying to get your hands on Shadowed!