*I received a free copy of The Veil from NAL via Netgalley. This has in no way influenced my voluntary review, which is honest and unbiased *
The Veil by Chloe Neill Series: Devil's Isle #1
Published by NAL on 4 August 2015
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
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Seven years ago, the Veil that separates humanity from what lies beyond was torn apart, and New Orleans was engulfed in a supernatural war. Now, those with paranormal powers have been confined in a walled community that humans call the District. Those who live there call it Devil's Isle.
Claire Connolly is a good girl with a dangerous secret: she’s a Sensitive, a human endowed with magic that seeped through the Veil. Claire knows that revealing her skills would mean being confined to Devil’s Isle. Unfortunately, hiding her power has left her untrained and unfocused.
Liam Quinn knows from experience that magic makes monsters of the weak, and he has no time for a Sensitive with no control of her own strength. But when he sees Claire using her powers to save a human under attack—in full view of the French Quarter—Liam decides to bring her to Devil’s Isle and the teacher she needs, even though getting her out of his way isn’t the same as keeping her out of his head.
But when the Veil threatens to shatter completely, Claire and Liam must work together to stop it, or else New Orleans will burn…
The Veil is filled with magic, friendship, treason, and quite a bit of hurt. In this new world of hers, Neill managed to keep me pretty much at the edge of my seat for the duration.
My The Veil review:
In The Veil, New Orleans is like a different place on earth, because there has been a war between magic and military, and now, the paranormals are imprisoned in a place called Devil’s Isle. Soon after her father’s death, Claire realized she had some magic, too, and she had to hide it at all costs, lest she’d be imprisoned in Devil’s Isle herself. The story started with a commemoration of the war, where Claire went with her best friends Gunnar and Tadji, however, she didn’t really feel like celebrating and left to go back to her shop early. On her way there, she intercepted two wraiths who were chasing a girl. And in order to save the girl, she did the unthinkable, she used her magic to stop the wraiths – even if it could mean she would be caught as a sensitive herself.
As you can imagine, the story of The Veil was pretty tense from the beginning, because Claire didn’t know if she could ever trust anyone with her secret, even when Liam showed up at her store to be with her when they were questioned about the wraith attack, she wasn’t sure if he’d try to get a bounty for her or if he would help her, and that feeling of being alone against everyone and everything is never good. And that’s part of the reason why I kind of clicked with Claire too! Because who can resist a heroine who puts her own life in danger for a stranger? Or one who has to take care of herself so that she can continue the legacy left from her family? Even against magic, paranormals, the Containment and the handsome bounty-hunter, she always had some fight in her.
The Veil also left me with a definite and strong taste for more, and I can’t wait to see where Neill will bring the series in the future. Setting a story in a place that is real, but still managing to keep it both new and interesting, yet a fantasy world that is scary and gritty is no small feat. The characters were well developed, and not only Claire and Liam made sense to me, Tadji, Gunnar, Burke and even some minor side characters were brought to life through Neill’s skills with words.
Some of my favorite The Veil quotes:
I liked tinkering with the store’s antiques, to puzzle through broken parts and sticky locks. It was satisfying to make something work that hadn’t before. And since the demand for fancy French sideboards and secretaries wasn’t exactly high these days, there was plenty of inventory to pick from.
No, staying in the Zone wasn’t easy. But for a lot of us – certainly for me – it was the only option. I’d rather make do in New Orleans than be rich anywhere else.
I looked at Gunnar, who shook his head. “You’re not a helpless damsel. Rescue your own damn self.” I couldn’t argue with that.
This book counts towards COYER scavenger hunt item #59: Read a book by an author you have previously read and given less than 3 stars. (4 points)
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
Twitter: bmreviewsohmy
I have this to review and can’t wait to get to it as I have really only read one other book by this author (first Chicago Vampire novel) and I liked it. 🙂
I loved the first Chicagoland novel, too, Stormi… it was a little later that things didn’t work so well for me.
This one was really good, though, and I hope you’ll enjoy it as well.
I plan on getting this read this month as well. I am glad you enjoyed it. I have three ARCs out the beginning of August which I really need to start on. Too many books, not enough time.
I hope you’ll enjoy The Veil as much as I did, Barb! Isn’t it amazing how those books keep adding up?
Uoh, so glad you enjoyed it! Sounds awesome, which makes me wanna read it all the more 😀 I have the ARC, just haven’t gotten around to it yet, sigh. Can’t wait to read it, hur~hur.
I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did, Livia 🙂 Neill is very good at world-building, and that shows in The Veil.
A new series! This one is on the list to gift to my sister because she’s a big Chicagoland fan, but I like the premise of hiding your magic and then needing to learn it. It’s also cool that she’s a scavenger and tinkerer. Great review, Lexxie! I hope all is well and you’re having an awesome summer!
The magic hiding, and learning to use it in secret make for a little side-plot, Robyn, and of course, the story is well-written!
I’m reading this now, but it’s taking me awhile to get through. I’m liking it, it’s just slow going right now.
I had a point where I found it a little slower too, Christy, but it picked back up 🙂
Gah! I kid you not, I just stumbled upon a review for this one minutes ago. I must be missing out or something because the previous blogger gave it a glowing review too! It’s exciting to know that it is the first in the series too 🙂 It truly sounds entrancing.
It definitely is a solid start to this new series, Claudia, so I am carefully optimistic about the next installment 😉
I’m reading this one right now! I love her Chicagoland Vampires series so I’m hoping I fall in love with this world and the characters as well. Too early for me to tell yet but I’m thrilled to see you enjoyed it.
I hope you’ll love this as well, Debbie! I thought it was a very good start, and look forward to discovering more about Devil’s Isle in future books.
Twitter: BerlsS
Yay!!! I’m so glad you ended up liking this one so much 🙂 I plan to read it this week on my camping trip – I’m reviewing it as part of my blog tour stop later this month. So excited to pick it up now!