Immortal City by Scott Speer

Release Date: 3rd April, 2012

Publisher: Razorbill

Pages: 336pgs

The Story

Jackson Godspeed is the hottest young Angel in a city filled with them. He's days away from from becoming a full Guardian, and people around the world are already competing for the chance to be watched over by him. Everyone's obsessed with the Angels and the lucky people they protect - everyone except for Madison Montgomery.

Maddy's the one girl in Angel City who doesn't breathlessly follow the Angels on TV and gossip blogs. When she meets Jackson, she doesn't recognize him. But Jackson is instantly captivated by her, and against all odds the two fall in love.

Maddy is swiftly caught up in Jackson's scene, a world of glamour, paparazzi - and murder. A serial killer is on the loose, leaving dead Angels' wings for the police to find on the Walk of Fame. Even the Guardians are powerless to protect themselves in the face of this threat . . . and this time it's up to Maddy to save Jackson.

The Review

A big thanks to Penguin Australia for sending me a review copy of this book!

Even though I was looking forward to reading this book, but in all honesty I still wasn't expecting anything fantastic from it . . . partly because of angels being the main theme and partly because they're becoming a not-so-new popular trend in the young adult market. However with all expectations aside and eating my own words, for this new upcoming author, Scott Speer, I certainly give him many high praises for this novel because he knows how to entertain his readers and quite frankly - to my surprise - this is the best angel book I've ever read in my life. Seriously. It is.

IMMORTAL CITY is the first book of the series and it tells the tale of where angels are literally worshipped by 'ordinary' people (just like you and me) and like all famous people around the globe from the glitz and glamour to the reality shows, they're considered celebrities. But unlike your average angel tale where angels are unknown and hide their identities in secret, in this new and freshing take on the genre, angels are instead paid for their protection services by wealthy citizens and it's considered an honour to be protected by an angel, a Guardian Angel. While everyone is swooning and squealing over SaveTube or are sighing over the hottest and youngest angel in the city, Jackson Godspeed, Maddy on the other hand couldn't care less and when the hottest angel of all and your 'average' teenage girl meet in the strangest circumstances . . . everything changes for them both and the world.

The greatest element of the book was the characters and I just loved every single thing about them - the frustrations they experience, the emotions they feel, the lives they live . . . all of it. I immediately took the liking to Maddy's character in particular, the main heroine of this story, because she's living the simple life, appreciates what she has in that life of hers rather than dwell on her misfortunes and is for the majority of the book unfazed by the Angels within the city. In other words, she's different from most girls. Without needing too much effort, her character was probably the easiest to relate to and she soon became someone I wanted to learn more and more about. Her innocence, her strength, her maturity of most situations . . . I can definitely see many readers loving her also. But then there's Jackson Godspeed, the hottie on the block and whom happens to be the hottest angel in the city. Much like Maddy's character and judging by that awesome name of his, Jackson Godspeed (isn't it an awesome Captain American-like name?) was such a fantastic character and he was just as easy to love as Maddy was. Sure, this Jackson of ours had a large ego of himself but he's basically a celebrity in this book and while a large ego can distract a reader at times, but in this case he was the shining star of the novel and when both of these character's - Jackson and Maddy - lives collide, sparks begin to fly off them and pretty much from then on . . . everything else is a goldmine for me.

If you haven't already noticed my profound love spreading across this review, I can tell you straight off that I'm deeply in love with this book. This review could go on and on - it could you know. This author right here, Scott Speer, is clearly one of those great authors that comes around so unexpectedly and possesses a wonderful talent to pull off something so cliche but mold it into something of his own right. I just couldn't get enough of this world he pulled me into and it actually gave me high hopes for the future of angel novels coming our way. So thank you for that dear author.

Overall, there was never a dull moment in this book and rest assure there is a million love hearts floating above my head as I write this because for once in an angel story, the mythology and the stories of where these celebrity angels came from - the histories and origins behind them all - were so original, detailed and interesting that it took the angel world to a whole new level of EPICness. IMMORTAL CITY is everything you want in a young adult novel. From the glamorous world of the elite immortals to the thriller mysteries that will send you flying on a fast-paced romantic whirlwind, this debut novel is definitely something you sure wouldn't want to miss out on and it has definitely has earned its shiny 5 gold stars from me! It deserves it!

The Rating

5/5 stars