[Book Review] Cracked By Eliza Crewe & Baltimore Coffee Company Friendship Blend Coffee

Title: Cracked
Series: Book 1 Of The Soul Eaters Series
Author: Eliza Crewe
Publisher: ANGRY ROBOT Ltd/Strange Chemistry
Publication date: November 5th 2013
Page Count: 307 pages
Age Rating: YA (violence and gore)
How I got my hot little hands on it: Received a free ARC to review
Publisher’s page: Cracked

Meet Meda. She eats people.

Well, technically, she eats their soul. But she totally promises to only go for people who deserve it. She’s special. It’s not her fault she enjoys it. She can’t help being a bad guy. Besides, what else can she do? Her mother was killed and it’s not like there are any other “soul-eaters” around to show her how to be different. That is, until the three men in suits show up.

They can do what she can do. They’re like her. Meda might finally have a chance to figure out what she is. The problem? They kind of want to kill her. Before they get the chance Meda is rescued by crusaders, members of an elite group dedicated to wiping out Meda’s kind. This is her chance! Play along with the “good guys” and she’ll finally figure out what, exactly, her ‘kind’ is.

Be careful what you wish for. Playing capture the flag with her mortal enemies, babysitting a teenage boy with a hero complex, and trying to keep one step ahead of a too-clever girl are bad enough. But the Hunger is gaining on her.

The more she learns, the worse it gets. And when Meda uncovers a shocking secret about her mother, her past, and her destiny… she may finally give into it.

My Review

Meda Melange eats people. Kind of. With her deceased mother as her conscience, she feasts on bad guys, tearing them apart with her bare hands and feeding her Hunger with their souls. She thinks she’s one of a kind, like her mother always told her, until she happens on three men with her same powers. Of course they’d as soon kill her as look at her, so it’s lucky for Meda a group of teenage Templars arrive to save her. Realizing these teens and their organization can help her discover more about what she is, Meda uses some fast thinking to infiltrate their ranks. What follows is an action-packed, somewhat gory, journey in self-discovery.

Cracked has it’s own unique and original take on demons and Templars. I really liked the idea of modern Knights Templar cavalry being a biker gang with leather and motorcycles and trailer parks (they’ve taken a vow of poverty). Meda’s Crusader companions – Jo, a smart and snarky girl with an incapacitated leg, Chi, a boy with a hero complex, and Uri, a boy with a hero-worship complex – were well-rounded and interesting and it’s easy to see why Meda gets so attached to them despite herself.

This was a fantastic, fast-paced book that hooked me from page one and never let go. There are no slow parts in this book and I read it all in one sitting, not wanting to put it down for a second. The story is told in the first person perspective of Meda and the voice was just awesome. She’s a selfish, self-centered, kind-of evil person with a seriously twisted moral compass, but you can’t help but love her.

I really enjoyed reading this and recommend it to lovers of paranormal and urban fantasy books who like a main character with a bit of a dark side. I will absolutely be picking up the next book in the Soul Eater series.

While Cracked follows Meda as she learns the truth of who she is and where she comes from, it is ultimately a story of friendship. For this I recommend Baltimore Coffee Company Friendship Blend Coffee – a really delicious combination of a bunch of different flavors – vanilla, cinnamon, hazelnut, and even a bit of almond.