Review Detail

Hex Hall begins with a prologue that has a fun story about why the main character, Sophie Mercer, was actually sent to Hecate Hall in the first place. Hecate Hall is a reform institution to help shape-shifters, witches, and fae control their abilities and teach them how to blend into the human world better. Once there, she meets her roommate - a vampire, the only vampire student at the school. She also has a run-in with the three dark witches at the school, who don't take rejection from Sophie very lightly. The day-to-day dribble is interrupted by a few incidents (read: intended murders) that coincides with a death from the previous year -- a death that looks suspiciously like a vampire attack, and the students are too eager to blame it on Sophie's roommate. While trying to prove her friends innocence, Sophie tries to blend in as a normal student. However, with her dad being the head of the Council and the person who sent all of the students to the institution, Sophie finds out that being friends with the number-one murder suspect is the least of her problems. The worst of her problems? Sophie has no idea who she really is.

This was a pretty easy read (this is coming from someone who's read entirely too many books and reads too fast for her own good sometimes), and had a very light-hearted feel to it. I did feel a sense of recognition from this book, as far as some of the story reminding me of other stories I've read recently - but it definitely shouldn't be judged by that. The writing was first-person point-of-view, which helped understand Sophie's feelings as she found herself, and discovering how others truly were as well. It seems like all of the characters, minor or major, had a lot of depth to them. The main characters definitely stayed true and never strayed from themselves, or did anything completely unpredictable. As a matter of fact, some of the actions of the characters made some things a little too predictable, so when something happened, it didn't surprise you as much as it maybe should have. The storyline was wonderful. As a book that is part of a series, I think the writer perfected the ending. It left you with some questions about the future of the characters, but didn't end abruptly - it ended with enough loose strands tied up to make it a stand alone in itself. Perfect.