Title: The Claires (An Ascenders Novel)
Author: C.L. Gaber
Genre: YA, Paranormal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
C.L. Gaber’s The Claires is probably not where I was supposed to start the Ascenders series. But I did start it here, and I’m not mad about it.
The Claires are four sisters who were first born in 1911. The quadruplets each have an extraordinary power: Claire V is clairvoyant; she is clear seeing of the future. Claire S is clairsentient; she has an exact feeling of others’ emotions, Clair A is clairaudient; she is clear hearing and can tap into the spirit realm, and Clair C is Claircognizant, which is clear all-knowing. Every lifetime they die on their seventeenth birthday only to be reborn two months later for the cycle to begin again.
In the year 2013, the girls are sixteen and pre-planning their upcoming seventeenth birthday. This time they are hoping to break the curse finally. They’ve lived this entire life differently and are hoping that it will make a difference.
The Claires is a fantastic read. Coming from SoCal, it’s always funny when you read something that sounds like where you live. When people get your region’s personality done correctly, and C.L. Gaber has the soul of Santa Monica in this book. It made me believe in these characters more because I lived in LA and new girls like these–well, not supernatural but in persona.
I know that the girls are often unlikable. They behave in an ugly manner many times but considering that these are women who have been more or less alive for over one hundred years, being a little bitter and twisted isn’t something that I found un-understandable. There were far more squicky things happening that made me complain. It’s never okay to lust for a sibling.
I will be going to check out the other Ascenders books. I recommend you start there because I think that I may have better understood some of the author’s constructs and concepts better had I experienced them as they were originally introduced.
About C.L. Gaber:
I’m C.L. Gaber, an author and film journalist for the New York Times Syndicate and Chicago Sun Times. I also co-authored Jex Malone series. Originally from Chicago, I make my home in Nevada with my husband, bonus daughter and two unruly dogs.
My husband knows that Ascenders began with me in bathroom half the night writing on tiny notepads because I didn’t want to wake him. When daylight did roll around, I told him, ”Baby, I had the most incredible dream”.
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