Revenge

Still good, but not as great as "Bullied".

 

 

The spoiler line below is meant only for those of you who have not read the first book in this series, because my review below will include spoilers from the first book. First I recommend reading Bullied, and then come back to this review of book #2.

SPOILER LINE *** SPOILER LINE *** SPOILER LINE

Revenge picks up a couple weeks after Seth's parents are killed in a fire in their trailer on Seth's 18th birthday. We know from the end of the first book that Seth is fully aware of the identity of the 8 students who are responsible for the murders, and we also know that he intends to get his revenge on the group.

Seth has moved into his own luxury apartment, bought a new Audi, and is beginning to plot his revenge. It is at this point that creepy Jim comes to Seth with more information about the amulet. It turns out that Seth is not the only person who has one. There are five amulets in total, and the more a person owns, the more powerful he/she is. This means that others may come looking for Seth's amulet one day, and he must be prepared to fight for it. One of the five amulets is still in Jim's possession, but the other three could be anywhere.

As much as Seth would like to kill the students who killed his parents, he changes his mind after listening to Jim's advice. Jim tells him that the temptation to use the amulet for evil will be very strong, and that Seth should consider using it for good rather than evil. As a result, he decides to trap them each in their own personal prisons for the rest of their lives instead of killing them. One by one, he puts his plans in action.

If you think any of the guilty students may being feeling remorseful about their actions, you would be very wrong. The same 8 students continue to be totally consumed with making Seth's life a living hell.

As much as I loved the first book in this series, I have to be honest that I did not like Revenge quite as much. In this book we start to grasp how far Seth's powers can reach - he can actually enter the minds of his victims and change their actions/abilities forever. He uses this technique to force some of the kids to confess to their crime or commit more crimes, and others to be inflicted with life-long punishments outside of prison.

If I had that kind of power over a person's mind, I would prevent them from ever doing or thinking another mean/evil thing again. I would turn them into martyrs, dedicating their lives to the Peace Corp or human rights campaigns without any desire for personal gains for themselves. At least with this solution, they can actually contribute something good to society while being unable to hurt anyone again. But with Seth's solutions, they are basically becoming a permanent drain on tax payers dollars for the rest of their lives. It isn't that I don't think they should be punished for murder, I just think that a better punishment would have been something that stripped them of their freedom while still benefitting the rest of the world.

Again, this is a quick read. I read the first three books in the series all in one afternoon. By the end of this book, we see the introduction of other supernatural beings, so the storyline is headed in a totally new direction from this point forward. You'll have to read book 3, Witch, to get a clearer picture of what is to come.