The year is 1095, Normandy, France. Five year old Skylar runs away into the woods to escape nuns who are convinced her inexplicable seizures are the work of satan. She survives after being adopted by wolves, when two mysterious strangers appear and reveal Skylar’s destiny to her. Skylar is the first of the Immortal Girls, destined to save humanity from itself.
Immortal Girl5 (January 22, 2019) follows Skylar, Rachel, Caitlin, Beth, and Bethany, five immortal sisters who, over the course of a thousand years, attempt to learn the purpose of their own existence while hunting down the worst criminals this world has ever seen. They’ve faced the likes of Jack the Ripper and the Nazis, but as a new enemy arises to threaten the sisters’ survival they’ll soon learn that immortality doesn’t mean forever.
“Wait! Now look, please, just let me explain!” he begged her, while shielding himself from the next imminent attack. Even if he’d had the desire to fight back—which he certainly did not—Luke wasn’t sure how easy it would be. After all, she’d survived more than a thousand years from what he’d been told. For being that old, this girl looked beyond amazing, with her blonde hair that fell into curls at the ends, angelic looks, and a flawless, pale complexion that held two stormy blue eyes of unusual intensity. Skylar seemed to accept Luke’s sincerity, at least for the moment, and slowly put her fist down by her side.
Review
The premise of this book really intrigued me. Five girls who are perpetually 18 defending the world from evil while trying to navigate being teens sounded like an interesting story, to say the least.
Unfortunately, I found myself a bit disappointed with the execution. The five girls’ origins were interesting. Each came from hardship of a kind, and I liked that their situations, except for the sisters, were varied. I really liked the appearances of Joan of Arc and Anne Frank. They added some interesting historical context.
The book is short, under 200 pages. The length is not an issue, but I think where the problem comes is that too much is crammed into such a short time. Events felt rushed, and I couldn’t get a real connection with any of the characters, the girls especially. There is a lot of girl-power moments and enraged screaming. The girls fight, as siblings do, but those arguments sometimes felt more like outright hatred than sibling rivalry. There’s also a villain who wants to destroy the immortal girls, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why. The entire story felt underdeveloped. There’s a good thought beneath everything, but it needed to be fleshed out a lot more.
Overall, I enjoyed the idea, but the story just didn’t hold my attention or interest. The girls didn’t really feel like real people. There were some beautifully emotional moments, and some descriptions were well done. There were just too many things that didn’t work for me personally.
GRIFFIN STARK is an American author who proudly lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Even as a young child, Griffin had an active imagination. As an author of young adult fiction, he has harnessed his creativity to tell memorable stories filled with important life lessons.
Griffin served as a combat medic in The United States Air Force and later founded THE SHEEPDOG MOVEMENT to join in the fight against bullying of teens worldwide.
Visit http://immortalgirl5.com/ to learn more about Griffin and his YA fantasy novel, Immortal Girl5.
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All the opinions expressed in this review are my own. Read the full disclosure here.