Review: Catalyst

Catalyst by Heather C. Myers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Earlier this year I read the first book in the Dark Paradise trilogy, Awaken, and thoroughly enjoyed the book. It wasn’t perfect, but it left me super excited to see what else was to come. I promised myself I would read the next two books soon, but I found myself distracted by other books that I already owned. Then Heather C. Myers started to put some of her books on offer. Books two and three in the Dark Paradise trilogy were free for a short period of time and I knew had to hit the purchase button. How could I not? Thus, the books were sent to my Kindle. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I started reading them. What I did not expect was for the excitement to take such a strong hold – without realising what I was doing, I put aside my many other reads and started Catalyst. After a few hours, I was done.

When I read Awaken I labelled it my favourite read by the author, and this book has only added to how much I’m enjoying the trilogy. I stand by my statement that this is looking to be my favourite series by the author. Her Stranger series is a close second, and until I’ve read them both in full I cannot say for sure, yet this one seems to hit more of the right notes for me.

The Dark Paradise series is many things, a collection that may sound like too much. I found in the first book that all the combinations worked well together – heroes, villains, Greek mythology, angels, demons, vigilantes, and so on – yet I wanted things to be explained more. The second book does work to add more by way of explanation. Not as much as I had wished in regards to some of the aspects, but it did help to make things clearer. Moreover, we’re given new information that leaves us with more questions. Certain aspects of the story will leave you desperate for the next book, desperate for answers to the many unanswered questions. It’s a great set up, and my hopes are high for how it will end.

As with the first book, I found myself caring more about certain stories than others. We continue to follow our three main characters, watching as their world continues to expand. I admit that I wanted a bit more action. Some of the stories seemed to have less action than others, with some seeming to focus on giving information rather than adding pace to the story. Whilst it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, I was left wanting a little bit more. I had a lot of fun, yet it wasn’t the edge of your seat read I had been hoping for. I was desperate for action, for war to break out in this one. It looks as though such is to happen in the next book, yet certain parts of this story made this book feel a little bit too much like a filler read. It didn’t have quite the same pace as the first book, and it focused more on giving information than truly progressing events. That is not to say that things do not happen – quite a lot does occur – but it felt as though it was dragged out and wasn’t as substantial as the first book.

I will say, however, that there were a few places where a bit of editing was needed. There seemed to be some inconstancies with information exchanged, points where people would contradict prior knowledge. These were never overly large things, never things that ruined the overall story, but I did find myself doing a couple of double takes when people said certain things that did not seem to fit.

Overall, though, it was a lot of fun. I’m super excited to see how this all ends – and despite my better judgement I’m going to open up the third book and find out now.

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