Torn by Amanda Hocking - Review

As this second installment of the Trylle Novels is rereleased on February 28^th, I thought I’d reread and review this book to encourage some people to pick it up. This series by Amanda Hocking is creative, wonderful and hard to put down.

In Torn, book two, we again follow Wendy, the changeling and Trylle princess, on her adventures. This time though, Wendy gets herself and her friends in a little bit of a predicament. After fleeing the Trylle compound with her biological brother Rhys, she returns to her old home to see her adoptive family. Once there, she and her family members are captured by a different breed of troll and taken to a different compound, far away from their Minnesota home. Once there, Wendy begins to find out a lot more about herself and the past that Elora has lead her to believe was the truth. Without giving too much away, this book introduces us to a sort of love triangle? Square? Trapezoid? I’m not exactly sure which shape it creates but Wendy has to sort through some serious feelings as she has three different boys vying for her affections. As if that wasn’t enough, she must also make the choice between her duty and her own free will.

I loved Torn even more than I loved the first book, Switched. In this story, we are further immersed in the Trylle society and learn more about their customs and their royalty. We also find out a lot about Elora’s past and Wendy’s true parentage. Hocking leads her readers down an inventive and action packed trail as she throws twists and turns at us from every direction.  

We see Wendy grow up a bit in this book as well. She begins to realize what it means to be the princess and how sometimes, one has obligations that sometimes make free will impossible. She really struggles with this throughout the book after she ran away and saw what the effects of her behavior had on her people. This is one of my favorite things about Wendy, she learns from her mistakes and she matures before our eyes. It’s great to see her grow up and grow into the role of a future leader. It’s also interesting to see her learn how to trust. It’s hard for her after finding out that she was a changeling and that her whole life was basically a lie. She struggles to make sense of her patch work family and to find a place in both worlds that try and claim her.

Again, this was a very well written book that I could hardly put down. The characters are well thought out and the plot and setting are very detailed and descriptive without being too heavy. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Hocking's work and this book doesn’t disappoint.

If you haven’t given these books a try, definitely pick them up because they are very much worth the read. You’ll never be able to turn the pages fast enough!

Ascend, the final installment of the Trylle Novels will be rereleased on April 24^th, 2012!

8 out of 10

Happy Reading :)