Mortal Obligation by Nichole Chase
Mortal Obligation
Book One of the Dark Betrayal Trilogy
Nichole Chase
Reviewed by Megsly
Ree will face the darkest form of betrayal before the year is out.
Seventeen year old Ree McKenna has three goals: get through high school, convince her crush she is more than his best friend’s little sister, and save money for college. Fate, though, has other plans for her. After the untimely death of her older brother, Ree is haunted by dreadful nightmares and terrifying visions. To make matters worse, Ree has started to suspect that something dangerous is stalking her from the shadows.
A night full of frightening surprises leaves Ree with unsettling news. Gifted by the gods with unusual powers, she must devote herself to a battle that could very well lead to not only her death, but the demise of everyone she knows and loves. After all, Ree is the only mortal standing between the Earth and utter darkness.
Mortal Obligation is one of those books that caught my attention because of it’s enchanting cover. I can’t resist a great cover, because I hope down deep inside that the insides of the book are as great as the fabulous cover art. Usually I’m wrong, sometimes I’m not. It’s a great feeling when I’m not wrong.
Mortal Obligation starts off with a thorough and well developed introduction to our main character, Ree. She’s shy and artsy, pretty, and hopelessly infatuated with her brother’s best friend Paden, who swore to the aforementioned brother prior to his death, that he would take care of Ree (as expected, this can trigger the ever necessary internal “man must take care of woman platonically” war inside of Paden. Boys are so predictable.) Ree has an interlude with a couple of kids from school prior to a concert, which leads to a tense mood in the novel but of course, Paden swoops in to save the day and cheer her up. Turn a couple of more pages and Ree and Paden are off to meet friends at a concert but after realizing that she’s forgotten the tickets in the car, she and Paden turn back which is when the atmosphere of the novel turns dark.
At this point we’re introduced to the darker elements of the story. Ree, who’s been haunted the entire evening with a dark feeling of being watched, finds herself face to face with the entity that’s been watching her. Cue a strange explosion of light and glowing eyes and Paden growing fangs and suddenly leaping in to save the day and we have the basis of our plot.
To get to the point here, that same night—after an insane car chase and some scary moments—Ree finds out that she’s essentially the “chosen one” and that all of her friends have been touched by the magic gifted to her by the Gods, therefore turning them into immortal warriors. Sad thing is, Ree remains mortal (I would feel like I got the short end of the stick on that one, especially when one of the ones who’s now immortal is non-other than the apple of my eye) and is basically gifted with a powerful magic, but is still prone to an easy death.
Plot wise, I think this novel has an incredible plot. It’s intriguing, it’s so very original, and it’s a twist on several mythologies that I wasn’t anticipating. I do feel that the plot was rushed in the beginning, and that even though the author did slowly reveal things little by little, such as details of how Ree’s brother died, some things were just rushed too much.
I did love how the characters faced realistic challenges in regards to their relationships with one another. Paden was slow to trust new people that were introduced into their circle, and the way his relationship with Ree progresses is also very true to real life. There’s misunderstandings and arguments, some steamy moments, and essentially a budding relationship that is based on true teenage feelings of uncertainty and confusion. I do feel that the characters seemingly accepted their new roles with no question asked, which is always a huge mood killer for me. It’s human nature to question and doubt the unexplainable so just because some hot woman says, “Hey, you’re friends are all going to turn into fanged immortal heroes and you’re going to weld great magic to destroy the dark forces’ hero,” doesn’t necessarily mean you just go, “Okay! Sounds cool!” You’ll question things, you’ll wonder about things, and you certainly not accept the unexplainable without a second opinion.
Nicole Chase does a wonderful job of revealing her world to you one small piece at a time. She balances narrative and dialogue well, and her words flow easily from the page. It’s great to see a self-published novel that has clean grammar and punctuation. Even so, however, I don’t think I’ll continue with the series. It was well written, and the book was good, but the reactions of the characters to certain situations, as well as the rushed pace of the plot just pushed me away from wanting to continue it. I think it’s a great book for young adults, and less so for adults who prefer better pacing and characters who react naturally to certain situation, so I definitely suggest passing it on to your teenager.
Below is my rating of Mortal Obligation by Nichole Chase. These are reflective strictly of my opinion of the novels I’ve read and reviewed, and not necessarily reflective of the other staff members of MVF.
Plot – 7.5
Character Development – 6
Grammar and Punctuation – 8
Prose – 7.5
Paranormal Element – 8.5
Total Score: 7.5/10
(Total score is derived from the average of the 5 individual scores)
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