M R Merrick

#insixwords: Action. Passion. Determination. Fulfillment. Protection. Chase.

The ending of this series was as EPIC as it could be. Chase, Rayna and crew might be in over their heads, but they are not standing down to the evil that is seeking to destroy their world. They are going to fight until their last breath, and Chase is going to become The Protector, come Hell or high water. This young man has grown leaps and bounds throughout this series. He has become someone who will lay his life and show more soul on the line to protect the innocent and free the world of evil. He has experienced a lot of tragedy, and with that comes a certain level of unease in his decision-making. However, he has a team of dedicated people who continue to remind him that casualties are a part of war, a fact they are all aware of and accept.

Chase's relationship with Rayna is delicate throughout this series. They are under high amounts of stress and continue to learn about one another. The great thing about Rayna is her honesty and passion, in the form of a slap across the face for dishonoring someone with a simple statement, or an intense look that speaks volumes. She is an incredible woman, who has dealt with a lot of crazy, and she has stood by Chase's side through it all. They started out as enemies, and once they realized they were on the same team, their curiosity and appreciation morphed into love and passion. I just love these two something fierce.

I loved the focus on Tiki in this book. He has been a character that you can't help but love, but we really learned about his past and the things he has endured, and I respect the hell of that demon. I hate to admit this, but I also didn't close this book detesting Vincent as much as I have in past books. He's still a whiny turd, but he has his moments and he's definitely a fierce warrior. I was also happy for the few Grams scenes, because that woman can bring the smiles during the most darkest moments. I love her personality, the way she gives it to you straight and doesn't take shit. She dealt with her own pain in this book, but damn if that didn't fuel her fire even more.

There was a lot of action, I mean...a lot. Shit got real and characters died. The big fight at the end is baffling. It reminded me of a Lord of the Rings epic battle scene, or something similar. It was intense, terrifying and gripping. I don't think I blinked or breathed, and I certainly didn't move from my seat until it was all over. Matt writes great action, and while there was a lot going on, I was able to stay focused and follow Chase through a maze of WTF to stand head to head with Riley and his evil entourage.

THE EPILOGUE! I think those last few pages really closed out this series for me, and I'm so thankful Matt decided to write them. It was perfect, so very perfect, for the characters and their future. Matt's writing has grown just as much as Chase's character. I am very impressed with his talent and creativity, his ability to weave such interesting and epic world-building together, and his strength for writing characters that you, the reader, will fight for.

Favorite Quote

"My point is, the biggest battle any of us has ever seen is coming, and it isn't going to be won with hunters, and witches, and werecats. Dare I add, 'oh my?'" Grams feigned a grin and lit a cigarette. show less

I literally JUST finished reading this. So my emotions are still pretty damn raw right now. Oh man..ok..let me try to breathe here so I can write something you can comprehend. Okay..ready..here I go..

I won't go into too much detail storyline-wise, as that could get a bit spoiler-y, very fast. This book was a continuation of SPECTACULAR (Book #1) and AMAZING (Book #2), so I didn't doubt for a second that this book would be less than either of those things-of course, it exceeded BOTH. The show more third installment of this series brought SO much more to the surface, and allowed readers to step into the lives of the characters a little more intimately. Actually, a LOT more intimately in the case of our favourite (not) Vampire, Vincent Taryk.

I have the biggest love/hate relationship with this man, but was ecstatic for the chance to learn more about him in this book. He was featured in almost all of the scenes, and I especially loved that the venture back into Drakar had him tagging along as well! Oh..oh MAN..I WISH I could tell you all the greatness that was this entire section of the book. As I mentioned in my review of Exhiled, Drakar was my heart and soul, I fell in love with EVERYTHING it had to offer: characters, imagery, lifestyle ..LOVED IT!

The remainder of the book followed suit. We were introduced to 3 more worlds, in which Mr. Merrick worked his descriptive magic to it's full extent. These worlds were bursting with brilliant imagery-my mind was in a haze. I felt things, I smelled things, I YEARNED to be where the characters took their next step (um, not the scary worlds though). This author has SUCH a talent for invoking emotions that otherwise lie dormant when reading other books-especially those with a paranormal backdrop. I find that I'm not usually prone to feeling close to characters that have powers/shift into creatures etc. It's just not natural (obviously), therefore it's sometimes hard to get into a storyline of that nature. But Merrick makes it WORK, and he makes it work HARD. I am more tied to these particular characters than I have been to any others in a long, long time. Okay..I'm fan-girling..I know this..IT CAN'T BE HELPED.

It should also be noted that with each book, Merrick has exposed just enough information to keep you intrigued throughout the entire thing, and leave you biting your nails with impatience for the next installment. Not a second of this book was boring, dull, or unnecessary. Every tidbit of info was needed and justified, every line of dialogue added depth and furthered my interest in what was about to happen next. The relationship between characters grew at a pace that made sense, and did not feel at all contrived. I don't think there was one moment when I said to myself "uh..well THAT was ridiculous."

THE ENDING...oh dear GOD. I can't...there aren't words. I won't say anymore..oh man..oh man oh man oh man oh man..oh MAN.

I need to stop writing, but my fingers won't let me..I could very well be here all night..I should..I should stop. PLEASE go read this book. PLEASE go read this entire SERIES from the BEGINNING.

M.R. Merrick..you are officially one of my heroes. Thank you a MILLION times for turning such a brilliant idea into printed word, and allowing us to consume it with our minds. show less

Let me first say, that I was barely HALFWAY through this book and I was already itching to come on here and write a review. But no, I was a good girl, I practiced resistance, and I saved you all from a HUGE fangirl explosion of 1000 exclamation marks placed after every sentence, and the complete overuse of the words AMAZING, ASTOUNDING, and SPECTACULAR. Really, I could go on for a few hours here.......!!!!!! (There they are, I had to).

I'm sure I've mentioned it a few times already, but if show more not, let me mention it once more: Neil Gaiman is pretty much my literary GOD in the world of fantasy/sci-fi. NO one else has been able to match his writing abilities in my eyes, and I was convinced that no one ever would. Then Mr. Merrick happened, and Exhiled happened, and I am highly convinced that I have just found my 2nd favourite Fantasy writer of all time. I believe that he has the great potential to get to where Gaiman is, and I am officially a HUGE fan.

Okay okay, I've rambled. Time to review: I.LOVED.THIS.BOOK. I can't remember the last time I've given a book 5 stars, I truly can't. This book was reminiscent of SO many great things for me: Buffy, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, a whole SLEW of fairy tales from my youth. But instead of it reading like copycat content, I felt like it mostly encompassed the very best elements, essences, and feelings of all of those sources-I was enthralled, I was interested, I was completely and utterly absorbed in the storyline. Which made my very soul SO happy-I've been reading some pretty horrible paranormal/fantasy lately. There is such a potential to come off as completely corny and over the top in this genre, and I think Merrick handled it like a PRO. There is definitely a need for more MALE YA writers of his talent.

Merrick's writing style flowed effortlessly-the dialogue was well placed, witty, and just long enough. The use of descriptive imagery in scenes is SO important to me. I 'm a visual learner at heart, and when it comes to books, I love nothing more than being able to picture in my head exactly what's unfolding. This book made that extremely easy-I was never confused, nor did I have to re-read passages more than once to figure out what the crap just happened. The worlds created in Exhiled had to be one of my ultimate favourite things, aside from the characters. I LOVED that the author switched it up near the end, and we were introduced to the world of Drakar-oh my goodness, DON'T even get my started on the genius, fantastical imagery and characters that made up this world. I was COMPLETELY enamored.

The characters. OH the characters. I don't think it could get much better than the set of amazing personalities that Merrick created in this book. Chase wasn't your typical, brooding, "I'm so hot, SWOON for me" male lead. Rayna was cocky, yes, but you instantly knew there was more to her than that (she kind of reminded me of the vampire Jody from Christopher Moore's Bloodsucking Fiends-whom I ADORED). It is SO refreshing to read a fantasy/paranormal book that doesn't involve "insta-love"-a theme which seems to occupy EVERY YA book these days. The relationship between Chase and Rayna was comfortable and entertaining-I loved their banter, and thought they developed separately, and as a team, at just the perfect pace.

The secondary characters were brilliant. I adored Willy and Tikki, and I can't WAIT to read more from them in the 2nd and 3rd installments. Their characteristics really helped make this book stand out for me-I could picture them perfectly in my mind, and I find myself missing reading about them already. I also thought the villans were VERY well developed, and weren't over the top in ways that just annoyed me, instead of propelling the story forward.

The conclusion of this book was perfect. It wrapped up the entire storyline beautifully, but with just the right amount of cliffhanger. It was like an episode of your favourite TV show-you already KNOW you're going to tune in the next week. As I am DEFINITELY going to be picking up books 2 and 3 in this series. A COMPLETE winner in my books, and an outstanding debut for M.R.Merrick. Bravo!! show less

OH MY GOD! Why are you reading this review when you could be reading SHIFT? Haven’t read Exiled yet? WHERE have you been?!?! It’s fine… You must remedy this situation IMMEDIATELY, because these books are AMAAAAAZING!!!!

Chase, my favorite demon hunter EVER, is back in the second installment of the Protector series. He’s back and totally freaking blowing my mind with EPICNESS!

Chase suffers a tragic loss at the hand of Riley… his FATHER, at the end of Exiled (you must read it to find show more out what it is!). He’s learning to cope with his sadness and anger- trying to control his newly discovered elements. Being emotional isn’t so ideal when you have fire and water literally at your command and they are fueled by your emotions…

Chase and Rayna are searching for clues as to what Serephina’s Ring (first book… So I won’t go into details…) does and WHY The Circle, every Underworlder and Riley would do almost ANYTHING to get their hands on it.

“This is just a dream, Chase, but I can still kill you.”

Rayna’s half-demon/shifter side is running rampant this time around, and she refuses to seek help outside Marcus and Chase, believing if they can’t help her then she’s doomed. But the Hollowlights (werecat shifters) have other plans and come to persuade Rayna to let them help her. If you’ve read Exiled, you can imagine what she told them to do with THAT idea.

SO many things happen in Shift, families are brought together… battles are fought, alliances are formed, living rooms are set aflame, and the Visceratti don’t take kindly to their slimy, snake-like Princess being slain…

“You do the trials and die. Or you refuse and I kill you.”

Chase is a hero’s hero… I LOVE him. He is brave, selfless, sweet, sarcastic, funny, unsure of himself… and willing to FIGHT for what he believes in. FIGHT for those he loves. FIGHT for the freedom of people who would sooner spit on him than look at him. Shift is a story about honor, and KNOWING you can BE who you need to be, even if you feel like you can’t.

Shift is hilarious, witty and amazingly addictive. And the characters… I LOVE them!!! EVERY character, from secondary ones like Tiki and Vincent to Rai (the freaking bird!) all have especially unique characteristics that make them so much fun to read and impossible to forget!

And I do believe that Vincent and I were separated at birth. Just sayin. Yeah, he’s SORT OF, definitely not the a GOOD guy… but he’s not horrible either. He’s just so stuck up and snobby, but incredibly hilarious and a little bit terrifying. See? I do believe I just described myself perfectly!

“My god you should have that… condition looked at. Just hearing your voice makes me want to rip off my own ears… or your throat.” ~Vincent
(you can clearly see why he’s my fav! I can just imagine the look of pure snooty disdain on his perfect vampiric face!)

Shift is an adventure like you’ve never experienced and has battle scenes so well choreographed you’ll read them twice. Shift takes a hold of you and does not let you go until the LAST WORD! M.R. Merrick left me breathless… and DYING for MORE!

This means he’s two for two… AND tomorrow… M.R. Merrick and I have an EPIC surprise and an AMAZING giveaway for you guys!! So don’t miss it! show less