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Harbinger
No matter where Noah goes, tragedy strikes. As a banshee, only Noah can see it coming, but it’s all she can do to run away to lessen the damage her voice causes when she sings for the dead. Orphaned from birth, Noah has been trying to control her powers on her own with the help of her guardian Adele. But Noah’s powers are more out of control than ever, and Adele is out of options.
As the final condition of her parents’ trust, Noah lands at Windermere Prep. All she has to do is keep a low profile until graduation. Easier said than done when one out of four students on campus haunts her in her dreamscape. With no where else to run, Noah is stuck trying to decode her own powers while surviving the hell of day to day school life.
But within days of her arrival, one boy is dead, another awakens from a coma, and Noah is stuck as the only common link between the two. With a target painted on her back, Noah is desperate to clear her name.
Something is afoot at Windermere. Can Noah learn to control her powers in time to escape persecution?
As the final condition of her parents’ trust, Noah lands at Windermere Prep. All she has to do is keep a low profile until graduation. Easier said than done when one out of four students on campus haunts her in her dreamscape. With no where else to run, Noah is stuck trying to decode her own powers while surviving the hell of day to day school life.
But within days of her arrival, one boy is dead, another awakens from a coma, and Noah is stuck as the only common link between the two. With a target painted on her back, Noah is desperate to clear her name.
Something is afoot at Windermere. Can Noah learn to control her powers in time to escape persecution?
239 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 31, 2016
2 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 22, 2018
Rating: 2.8 Stars
This book was a bit average and somewhat confusing. But I will give the author points because the concept was creative. Harbinger is about a girl named Noah who is a banshee. After she moves to a new school she learns that there are managed others with similar abilities to her, but she has to navigate her way through the complicated and mysterious community that has suddenly taken a deadly interest in her. I will start with what I liked about the book first. In YA, you don't really encounter banshees, empaths, and dreamwalkers, but this book had all three and more which made the world interesting. DeWitt did a good job at describing abilities and how each one works so I was not confused about that. Also, I found that the author put a lot of effort to model the world into that of an actual high school which I appreciated because a lot of times the high schools in YA books are as unrealistically as they are on tv. Finally, the way this book was written suggested a lot of secrets and details that would come to light in the next book which made me want to read the sequel.
What I didn't like about this book was how confusing the plot got. First I thought it was this book was a generic supernatural school, then I thought it was a murder mystery, then it had secret societies. The main characters actions were confusing at times and the end left me with a lot of question marks because it just didn't make sense. And that is coming from someone who eats YA for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so if I can't figure out a plot in a YA book, something I should definitely wrong. Also this is really minor, but it annoyed me how the main character was complaining about her freakishly tall height when she was actually "just under 6 feet" rather than 6'4". Just under 6 feet is NOT freakishly tall! I know that personally since I am also "just under 6 feet". But that is just a minor detail. Other than that, this book was fine and I could pick up the second book if I didn't have anything better to do and I still remember this series.
I recieved this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was a bit average and somewhat confusing. But I will give the author points because the concept was creative. Harbinger is about a girl named Noah who is a banshee. After she moves to a new school she learns that there are managed others with similar abilities to her, but she has to navigate her way through the complicated and mysterious community that has suddenly taken a deadly interest in her. I will start with what I liked about the book first. In YA, you don't really encounter banshees, empaths, and dreamwalkers, but this book had all three and more which made the world interesting. DeWitt did a good job at describing abilities and how each one works so I was not confused about that. Also, I found that the author put a lot of effort to model the world into that of an actual high school which I appreciated because a lot of times the high schools in YA books are as unrealistically as they are on tv. Finally, the way this book was written suggested a lot of secrets and details that would come to light in the next book which made me want to read the sequel.
What I didn't like about this book was how confusing the plot got. First I thought it was this book was a generic supernatural school, then I thought it was a murder mystery, then it had secret societies. The main characters actions were confusing at times and the end left me with a lot of question marks because it just didn't make sense. And that is coming from someone who eats YA for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so if I can't figure out a plot in a YA book, something I should definitely wrong. Also this is really minor, but it annoyed me how the main character was complaining about her freakishly tall height when she was actually "just under 6 feet" rather than 6'4". Just under 6 feet is NOT freakishly tall! I know that personally since I am also "just under 6 feet". But that is just a minor detail. Other than that, this book was fine and I could pick up the second book if I didn't have anything better to do and I still remember this series.
I recieved this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
March 27, 2020
I wanted to like this book. It had a lot of promise and honestly, some of it was good but mostly it was so haphazard that it came across poorly. The formatting meant that it was hard to read at times - sentences didn't make sense, jumped around etc. But what most disappointed me was the entire "hang on where did that come from" - It goes from first day of school to oh she's literally the center of the Elevated kids and everyone wants to tell her everything about it? There was a whole information dump that came across as "already known" in an attempt at world building and it utterly failed. I'm hoping this is "first book syndrome" and that the series continues to a better second book now we have the basis of what elevated kids are etc. but I"m not hopeful. The whole last 1/4 of the book is just fanciful and thrown together.
July 2, 2018
Recieved from Netgalley. Interesting blurb. Noah seems like your typical troubled teenager bouncing from school to school, except she’s a banshee and can see death. It’s very normal until halfway with the cliques and settling in, then things escalate at a quicker speed where the chaos begins. I liked both Sean and Colm. The cat made me curious and so many questions left up in the air. Looking forward to the next one.
September 19, 2018
Really gripping, exciting, thrilling adventurous story. The book was interesting and well-written. . I recommend it
September 2, 2019
Great story, don't think I've ever read anything about a teenage banshee. It did keep my interest the whole way through.
I received this from Netgalley for an honest review.
I received this from Netgalley for an honest review.
July 9, 2018
This book was not for me. The synopsis sounded interesting, and I'm a big fan of urban fantasy/paranormal books, but I couldn't get into Harbinger.
I'm still confused about how someone's who's a banshee, and has grown up knowing about her heritage, could be so clueless about other aspects of the paranormal world. I also felt like The Harbinger had a lot of promise- the different branches of paranormal ability was interesting, but I thought its explanation was rushed, and I wish there had been more explored.
The characters were OK; they were a bit flat. We get surface-level background and ambitions from them, but I thought there could have been a lot more done.
I'm not sure if I would give a sequel a try.
I'm still confused about how someone's who's a banshee, and has grown up knowing about her heritage, could be so clueless about other aspects of the paranormal world. I also felt like The Harbinger had a lot of promise- the different branches of paranormal ability was interesting, but I thought its explanation was rushed, and I wish there had been more explored.
The characters were OK; they were a bit flat. We get surface-level background and ambitions from them, but I thought there could have been a lot more done.
I'm not sure if I would give a sequel a try.
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July 9, 2018This book was not for me. The synopsis sounded interesting, and I'm a big fan of urban fantasy/paranormal books, but I couldn't get into Harbinger.
I'm still confused about how someone's who's a banshee, and has grown up knowing about her heritage, could be so clueless about other aspects of the paranormal world. I also felt like The Harbinger had a lot of promise- the different branches of paranormal ability was interesting, but I thought its explanation was rushed, and I wish there had been more explored.
The characters were OK; they were a bit flat. We get surface-level background and ambitions from them, but I thought there could have been a lot more done.
I'm not sure if I would give a sequel a try.
I'm still confused about how someone's who's a banshee, and has grown up knowing about her heritage, could be so clueless about other aspects of the paranormal world. I also felt like The Harbinger had a lot of promise- the different branches of paranormal ability was interesting, but I thought its explanation was rushed, and I wish there had been more explored.
The characters were OK; they were a bit flat. We get surface-level background and ambitions from them, but I thought there could have been a lot more done.
I'm not sure if I would give a sequel a try.
July 11, 2018
I received a copy of this book for free and voluntarily chose to review. It was a little confusing and disjointed at times, but it's a really addictive book. I already desperately want a sequel. This story is full of mystery and action. I'd recommend this to anyone young adult and up.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews