Echo (The Soul Seekers #2) by Alyson Noel.
Audience/Genre : Young Adult/Paranormal.
Publication : November 13th 2012 by St. Martin's Griffin.

She inherited a magical destiny—and a mission to stop a powerful family of dark sorcerers. She never expected to fall in love with one of them.

There’s still so much Daire Santos has to learn about being the last Soul Seeker….and about herself. As her magical training becomes more intense, so does her relationship with Dace. But when she learns that his connection to the evil Richter family goes far deeper than she ever imagined, she begins to question if love really can conquer all.

Dace is painfully aware that he wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the Richters’ dark magic—and now his brother Cade is determined to use his love for Daire against him. Dace is willing to sacrifice anything to protect the girl he loves —including his own life. But will Daire allow it? And what if defeating Cade costs not only his life, but his soul too?

Reviewed by Priya.
Echo was quite a journey and I'm still a little unsure of what to make of it. Hearing so much about Alyson Noël's writing and her extremely popular series, The Immortals, I expected a lot from this story. The premise of the story is original, delightful and interesting, very interesting actually. The concept of soul seekers, the different levels of worlds and spirit guides, and pretty much everything spiritual is exciting and intriguing.
The plot has the potential to be a really great series, and if there is one thing about Alyson Noël I have deduced from her writing style is that she can make this plot work. But, while I was satisfied on some fronts, unfortunately it doesn't mask the fact that I was disappointed by a few aspects of it. Like how Noël's writing, sometimes, failed to pull me in.

The thing I have realized about Alyson Noël's writing is that you feel either one of the two things: Amazement or boredom. It depends on what kind of writing style appeals to a person. And I, for one, found myself struggle with that most of the time since there is no middle ground when concerned with Noël's writing. I kind of expected more depth in Noel's writing, which was a bit disappointing. On the other hand, there were scenes so beautifully written, I couldn't help but fall in love with them. Especially, the elemental songs and the scenes surrounding them were brilliantly and intricately woven. Like I said, either engrossing or irritating.

Another thing is that, Noël doesn't delve much deeper into the emotions of her
characters; sad because her writing is actually quite descriptive. Dace and Daire simply lacked dynamics. They show very little development or progress emotionally.
Sometimes, I am unable to understand either of Daire and Dace, since they are just so
good and sacrificing, they almost seem inhuman (not in a paranormal way, but in a
like-a-cardboard sort of way). Though Dace has got his reasons being the good and light half of the soul that was split between him and his twin, Cade, but what reason does Daire have? Of course, I don't want her acting evil or bitchy, but Noël's idea of good and evil is mostly black and white, which is not bad but it doesn't exactly makes for some deep reading.

All that aside, I appreciated the change of POVs, which was quite refreshing. Of
all characters, I liked Xotichl the most. She was kind and badass at the same time. She made her own shortcomings her greatest strengths, and that makes her the strongest character in my opinion. Axel and Phyre equally appealed me and drew in my
attention.

I had expected Echo to be much dark and heavy stuff, but it mostly makes up for - strictly, in my opinion - a light reading after well considering Daire's ability to wield a blade, Cade's monstrous abilities and all the blood and gore in between (like I said, strictly in my opinion). Even though, Echo failed to wow me, overall it was definitely a pleasant read. Especially, for the fans of die-for-you romances
and; other-worlds; and concept of souls and afterlife.

My favorite lines from Echo:

The other side of midnight’s hour strikes a herald thrice rung

Seer, Shadow, Sun—together they come

Sixteen winters hence—the light shall be eclipsed

Leaving darkness to ascend beneath a sky bleeding fire

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