Unhidden : The Gatekeeper Chronicles

I did not know this was Dina Given's debut novel until after I listened to this audiobook. This is a fantastic debut - I was surprised to find that out! This was a good start to an urban fantasy series featuring lots of different kinds of creatures, mages and magically gifted humans. At least I think they are humans - I wasn't really clear on Emma's abilities (and neither was she, for good reason). Ms. Givens did a really good job with her world building, particularly regarding the development of all the different creatures. I would say there was more world building than character development, and I think that is because our main character, Emma, was suffering from amnesia and doesn't remember anything other than the last 10 years, the time period after she was in a coma from what she believes was a car accident. So because Emma has a memory issue, we don't get a whole lot of her back story in this book. I think that will be rectified as Emma's memory comes back in future books. I liked Emma as a character; she was a strong female lead and I don't think she got on my nerves at all in this book. That always makes me happy because there seems to be a prevalence of wishy washy female leads in books today and sometimes you just wanna shake the spit outta em. Not Emma - she was a kickass heroine who was loyal and had a big heart.

This book had tons of action, mystery and a touch of romance. I absolutely loved Zane - and you will like him if you like those darkly troubled and conflicted male love interests, the ones you just wanna get your hands on and fix all their problems. I hope Emma finds a way to fix Zane - and I have a feeling she will fight for him. I hope so, I can't wait to read about it. I also liked a number of the secondary characters, particularly Eddie.

The book doesn't not end with a cliffhanger per se, but its an open ending so that you can tell the story is not over. We still have more mysteries to figure out, memories to uncover, and problems to solve. I am looking forward to the rest of the series, so I hope Ms. Given writes fast. As I sit here and think about it, the writing style reminded me of Devon Monk's Magic series - the pacing and detail of the story was similar. I have a feeling that this series will build and build to the big bang finale, which is how I felt about the Devon Monk books.

As for the audiobook specifically, I really like this narrator (Cate Strey). She was engaging, animated, and switched up her voice pitch and inflections for different characters/creatures. The story and narrator kept me entertained as I ran around town today and came home to do yard work and clean the house. I love a good audiobook to take my focus off mindless tasks.

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. 4 stars / 2 flames

Unoriginal story, poorly conceived characters (annoying) and world building might expand in the next book but I'm not interested enough to find out.

I enjoyed the narration.