Lost (The Caelian Cycle Book 1) - Donnielle Tyner

I enjoy reading Dystopian books every one in a while (I loved The Hunger Games and I have Divergent somewhere in the depths of my TBR pile) so Lost was a wonderful find for me.

Set one hundred years after a meteorite crash during WW1 some of the population have now developed Talents (special skills) due to a mist changing their DNA and are known as Caelians, whilst others have remained unaffected and are known as Norms. There is conflict between the two and their society is divided.

Sadie is a 17 year old orphan living at St Vincent's and when we meet her she's struggling with the death of her boyfriend and finding her own Talent. A chance meeting with a Calelian boy named Kian is the beginning of a chain of events that puts Sadie and her friends in grave danger but who can she trust?

This is a superb debut novel from Donnielle Tyner and I'm glad that there will be more to come. The prologue provides a brief glimpse into how Sadie came to be an orphan and once I read that, I was hooked. I had so many questions and the only way to resolve them was to read on. The characters are nicely developed, which made it easy for you to root for them when the chips were down and Sadie's character is even more appealing as she isn't your typical teenage protagonist who needs a good shake to get her to make the right decision and turns into a lump of jelly at the sight of the tall, handsome stranger. Although this is aimed at the YA market I think it makes genuinely good reading for older readers as well so don't let that tag put you off. 

Overall this was an enjoyable read, the story flowed well, the characters were colourful and it was a truly engaging read. I would have like a little bit more background on Sadie's grandfather but I'm hoping that I'll find out more in the next book. There are lots of little twists and turns which kept my interest and although things came together at the end you can definitely see why there needs to be another instalment and I wish Donnielle every success with it.

With kind thanks to author Donnielle Tyner for the review copy.