ARC Review & Giveaway:The Elite of the Weak: Revelation Special Ops, book 1 by Precarious Yates

The Elite of the Weak: Revelation Special Ops, book 1

by Precarious Yates

My rating: ♥ ♥ ♥

The Elite of the Weak. Weak because their hearts are broken for the oppressed. Elite because they keep the code. Hadassah isn’t like the rest of her friends in high school. Neither is she like the kids in her church’s youth group. At least not when she’s in the African jungle trying to rescue an abducted child, or when she’s crawling through an air duct on a surveillance mission in Queens. She was born for such a time as this. She also wasn’t cut out to do this work alone. Book 1 of the Revelation Special Ops series.

I won this book ARC via First Reads on Good Reads.

I was very hesitant about writing a review for this novel at first! Even though I got this book under the pretense that I’m supposed to give my opinion and felt just as obligated, I was dreading it. (There I admitted it.) Don't get me wrong, three stars mean I liked it, so it's not what you thinking...

Let me explain: I grew up in the South, mainly with my Grandmother, and under the belief that you don’t talk negative about Christian folk or anything involving religious stuff. No matter what! So if you in church and the main singer is bellowing a fido-‘ol-yellow rendition of Amazing Grace and no one had the heart to put the poor untalented child in the back because she’s the preacher’s kid or not, well you just grid you teeth, plaster a heavenly smile, and give that American Idol reject a round of applause. Otherwise you’re going to Hell.

With that said, this book has Christian themes, written by a Christian author, and I guarantee you is squeaky clean for the whole family. Therefore I will be tactful. I will be nice. Most importantly, I will be honest.

The Elite of the Weak gets three stars from me. This book is in a genre of its own: YA-Christian-Fantasy-Romance-Thriller.

The story was definitely original:

End of days

Devout Christian Young Adults

Secret Organizations

Power of Prayer.

That's all I'm telling! I don't want to ruin the book, so my lips are sealed.

I initially found the concept of a religious spy operation force intriguing. This books tackles a load of difficult issues that even some adult books won’t address, such as human trafficking, forced child prostitution, international crimes, and corrupt governments. There was danger and suspense.  The thrill ride was amazing. So why didn’t I give the book 5 stars? Here's why:

In the beginning, I found the main character, Hadassah (Haddy, for short), to be mediocre. She loves the Lord, but it took too long to see her personality. She was an introvert and the story's told from third person. (No help in that department) Then things got boring mid-story to the point that she couldn’t hold my attention. No one wants to read an hour by hour account of anyone’s day. That’s a gross exaggeration, but that’s what it felt like. (So that accounts for one star subtracted.) It later picked up and got very exciting to the point that I was a little upset that there’s another book that I’d have to wait forever to see what happens next.

Overall, I honestly "liked" this book, unfortunately I had to take away another star because I strongly believe this book could have been reduced in length tremendously. It did not have to take whole chapters to express Haddy’s spiritual battle with a petty case of jealousy. (I’m just saying!)

A word of advice to the author: “This is a young adult book, so just get to the action. Leave the extra day to day mundane journal recording to the more mature crowd-who has the patience and/or longer attention span.”

On another note, I would recommend this book and encourage devout Christians, the Holiday-only-Sunday-going-saints, etc to read it. I hope I wasn’t too harsh and provided everyone with enough of a review to make an informed decision. The story ended on a cliff hanger and I plan to read book two of this series to see what happens next.

ARE YOU CURIOUS ABOUT THIS BOOK?

Here's your chance to win my copy. 

 Do 3 tasks and you're entered to win

• Follow me on Networked blogs
• "Like" my review of this on Goodreads
• Post a comment on this post about this review

Note:  The giveaway opens at midnight on 1/12. 
Be sure to enter your progress in the Rafflecopter below to count every entry.

This giveaway is open to US residents only. (Sorry guys, but shipping is expensive.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Blogger

I'm Katrina, founder of Kindred Dreamheart. I'm an aspiring junior & women's petite clothing designer and book lover. I read select genres. However if it's a series I'm sure I'd love it also regardless of the genre. I read when I want to be entertained; watch TV when I'm bored; and when I'm not designing something fabulous, I blog. (((Contact Me)))