“Embrace” is a novel that will appeal strongly to Twilight fans. It’s not a copycat by any means – for a start, there’s not a vampire or a werewolf in sight – but both are romantic fantasies aimed at young women, and there are similarities between elements of these novels.
Violet is about to turn 17. She’s isn’t interested in celebrating, largely because her mother died the day she was born. This birthday is shaping up to be more difficult than usual, as quite a few people seem to think that 17 is important. For Violet, it is; she will discover her Grigori heritage and be faced with life-changing choices.
Angels are real. They are there to guide humans, and are not necessarily either good or evil in themselves, although some lean one way or another. But when an angel leaves their own dimension and comes to earth, he or she inevitably becomes a danger to the humans around them. As a result, the Grigori were created – humans whose duty it is to find rogue angels and despatch them back to their own realm. These humans are given supernatural powers when a parent dies within a few days of the child’s birth, leaving a gateway for an angel to impart some of their own essence to the child. These now Grigori children come into their power when they turn 17, but they must consciously choose to accept the power for it to flower completely.
Violet is a potential Grigori, and many of the people around her are not who she thought – Grigori and rogue angels have both been attracted to her latent power. She must decide whether to accept her power, and the resulting responsibilities; and at the same time, sort out who she loves.
A big similarity to the Twilight books is the central romantic triangle. As in Twilight, a teenage girl finds herself torn between two males, neither of whom are fully human. Violet spends a lot of time hesitating between them, wavering in her feelings, defusing the tension between them, and generally wittering on about her feelings for them. Although I found this tedious at times, it is a pretty realistic depiction of a teenage girl in the throes of first love when there are two competing love interests. Younger readers are probably going to find this element of the story strikes some strong chords with them, although older readers may find it irritating.
The romantic triangle carries much of the plot. There are other elements –notably scene setting for the ongoing struggle between the Grigori and the rogue angels, and Violet’s struggle to decide whether or not to accept her Grigori heritage. The scene setting requires a lot of exposition, which makes this feel as though there’s a strong plot, but when you strip away that exposition, not a lot really happens in the novel. It is the first of a series so presumably a lot of this scene setting will bear fruit in another novel. This was an easy enough read but not by any means a page turner.
Violet’s friends are poorly characterised. They are little more than shadows who exist because a teenage girl must have some friends; but there seems to have been little effort to make them real or interesting. Similarly, I didn’t find Violet a particularly engaging character, although she was more well rounded than other characters. Nevertheless, she wasn’t vivid, and I found it hard to care about her.
There are strong religious overtones to “Embrace” – hardly surprising given the subject matter. I’m not religious myself, but I imagine the plot is bland enough that it’s unlikely to offend most people who do have stronger religious feelings. However, the symbolism in “Embrace” is clumsy and likely to jar with some readers, more because of the lack of subtlety than anything else. Violet’s surname, for example, is Eden. Her mother’s name was Evelyn. She tastes apple when her Grigori powers manifest themselves. She meets the rogue angel she falls for in a nightclub called Hades.
Overall, I thought “Embrace” a weak novel, lacking strong characters or plot and without a lot to hold my interest. However, it is a fairly easy read in that the prose is clean and straightforward, and Shirvington has captured the mood of teenage girls when confronted with romantic dilemmas. This will appeal to the same audience who enjoyed Twilight – those willing to lose themselves in the romantic triangle and not worry too much about anything else.
