Waiting On Wednesday: “Unbreakable Icons”

 
Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.
 
 
 

Even though I haven’t ventured beyond “Beautiful Creatures”—and I do mean beyond the first book—I’ve read enough to be excited by the prospect of Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl publishing books separately.

Unbreakable
By: Kami Garcia

When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn’t know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy’s room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon — a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.

Now Kennedy has to take her mother’s place in the Legion if she wants to uncover the truth and stay alive. Along with new Legion members Priest and Alara, the teens race to find the only weapon that might be able to destroy the demon — battling the deadly spirits he controls every step of the way.

Publication Date: 1 October 2013

This one appeals to me more than “Icons”. The premise of a secret group of people whose members are being killed off one by one, making it necessary for their offspring to take their place is nothing new, for sure; I most recently encountered it in Michelle Zink’s “A Temptation of Angels”. But if Garcia can put a different and exciting spin to this, then I’m on board.

Icons
By: Margaret Stohl

Your heart beats only with their permission.

Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol’s family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn’t know it was fighting. Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside — safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can’t avoid. She’s different. She survived. Why?

When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador’s privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn’t a coincidence. It’s a conspiracy. Within the Icon’s reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions — which they’ve always thought to be their greatest weaknesses — may actually be their greatest strengths

Publication Date: 7 May 2013

Just please don’t let this turn into another YA X-men.

And I just noticed that both books have characters named Lukas/Lucas. (Oh noes. Can’t break the mindmeld? Must hail Mr. Spock!)

One of the reasons why I am very curious about both these books is I want to see more of Garcia and Stohl’s individual styles. They admitted that while working on the “Beautiful Creatures” series, they couldn’t tell who wrote what anymore once they’re finished, suggesting that their writing styles are similar enough or at least that they can adapt to each other’s style to produce stories that don’t sound schizophrenic. But I really want to get to know both authors better based on their own merits.

I hope these are worth the wait.