Girls Wearing Black Series by Spencer
Baum is a Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy series. Consist of total 4 books in
the series that should be read according to their orders. Most of the stories
sets in Thorndike Academy, an exclusive and prestigious high school for the
children of congressmen, senators, judges, lobbyists, and corporate bigwigs,
located in Potomac, Maryland, near Washington DC. The stories circle around the
life of some Senior students in Thorndike Academy.
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Serial Girls Wearing Black oleh
Spencer Baum merupakan serial Paranormal Fantasy yang ditujukan pada target
pembaca muda. Serial ini terdiri dari total 4 buku di dalamnya yang harus
dibaca secara berurutan dari buku pertama hingga buku akhirnya. Kisah dalam
serial ini sebagian besar mengambil latar belakang di Thorndike Academy, sebuah
sekolah elit dan berkelas yang para muridnya sebagian besar berasal dari
kalangan keluarga anggota kongres, senator, hakim, para politikus, dan
pengusaha kaya. Sekolah ini berlokasi di daerah Potomac, Maryland, dekat dari Washington
DC. Kisah dalam serial ini berpusat pada kehidupan para siswa Senior (kelas 12)
di Thorndike Academy. Kisah dalam keempat buku ini terjadi dalam kurun waktu
kira-kira satu tahun, dengan ada banyaknya kisah kilas balik ke masa lalu
sebagai latar belakang cerita untuk para tokoh yang ada di dalamnya.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1.
Book 1 : The Homecoming Masquerade
Copyright © 2012 by Spencer Baum
eBook,
34 Chapters, 258 pages
Genre : Romance, Paranormal Fantasy, Young
Adult
Other Books in Series : The Festival of the Moon (Girls Wearing Black #2), The Rose Ransom (Girls Wearing Black #3), The Bonding Ritual (Girls Wearing Black #4)
In a
posh suburb of the nation’s capital, at the most exclusive high school in the
world, the vampires who secretly run the government have created a game for
America’s daughters of privilege. Show up to Homecoming in a black dress and
you’ve entered yourself in a contest where the winner becomes a vampire, and
the loser becomes the winner’s first victim.
Only
the wealthiest, most connected students can hope to win, so when new girl Nicky
Bloom wears a black dress to Homecoming, everyone assumes she has a death wish.
They don’t know that Nicky has her own agenda. As the dance continues into the
night, they will find out that Nicky Bloom is far more than she seems.
The Homecoming Masquerade tells a paranormal fantasy story around some
Senior students at Thorndike Academy. It sets at the night of Thorndike’s
Homecoming party, which is the opening of the Annual Fundraising Tournament or
mostly known as Coronation. During the Coronation, all the girls choosing to
wear black dress at the Homecoming dance party will be competing in a year-long
fundraising contest. The girl who makes the most donation at the end of the
year, will be declared as the winner and will be crowned Queen at the Senior
Prom, and will be made into an immortal or a vampire. The girl who rank at the
bottom will become the winner’s first meal.
The Homecoming Masquerade centers around two girls, Nicky Bloom and
Jill Wentworth. Both working as agents for The Networks, and their mission
together at Thorndike’s Homecoming Ball is to gather as many support for Nicky
to win Coronation, which will give the Networks the opportunity to take down
the immortals, especially Samarin Clan for good. There’s only one problem for
both Nicky and Jill to get all the support they need to win this: Nicky is new
in town and in Thorndike Academy and practically knew no one, while the other
girls wearing black has the advantage since they and their families maybe
already preparing to win The Coronation since they were born.
The timeline
in The
Homecoming Masquerade only take a few hours from start to finish,
since the storyline in The Homecoming Masquerade mostly some back
stories of each characters, and lots of flashback. This book serves more like a
groundwork of the next 3 books to come. It is quite interesting, but you have
to be patient to read it since this book has a lot of flashback and backstory
for most of its supporting characters. This book is quite interesting to read
since it basically combining the political situation in Washington DC with the
influence of the Immortal Samarin Clan. This first book holds a great potential
for a good story, if only you are patient enough to follow all the back stories
for a lot of supporting charcters.
Rating for
The
Homecoming Masquerade is 7/10.
``````````````````````````````````````````````
The
Homecoming Masquerade menceritakan kisah fantasi paranormal yang
terjadi pada para murid senior di Thorndike Academy. Kisah dalam buku pertama
dalam serial ini mengambil latar belakang di malam pesta Thorndike’s
Homecoming, yang menjadi malam pembuka dari acara Turnamen Tahunan pengumpulan
Dana atau lebih dikenal sebagai acara Coronation. Selama acara Coronation,
semua siswi yang memilih untuk memakai pakaian hitam ke pesta dansa Homecoming
ini, akan berpartisipasi dalam kontes pengumpulan dana selama satu tahun
pelajaran penuh. Peserta yang mendapatkan donasi dana terbanyak di akhir tahun
pelajaran, menjadi pemenangnya dan akan dinobatkan sebagai Ratu Senior Prom,
dan sebagai hadiahnya akan dijadikan sebagai salah satu manusia abadi atau
vampire. Sedangkan peserta yang berada di ranking terbawah dalam kontes ini
akan menjadi makanan pertama dari pemenang kontes tadi.
Kisah dalam The Homecoming Masquerade ini
berpusat pada dua tokoh utama wanita bernama Nicky Bloom dan Jill Wentworth.
Keduanya bekerja sebagai agen dari The Networks yang menyamar, dan misi mereka
di malam pesta Thorndike’s Homecoming Ball adalah mengumpulkan banyak dukungan
bagi Nicky untuk memenangkan Coronation. Kemenangan Nicky dalam acara
Coronation akan memberikan kesempatan bagi The Networks untuk mengalahkan para
manusia abadi, terutama Clan Samarin yang menguasai Amerika. Hanya satu kendala
bagi keberhasilan misi Nicky dan Jill : Nicky merupakan murid baru di Thorndike
Academy, sedangkan para saingannya sudah mempersiapkan diri mereka dari sejak
kecil.
Seluruh kisah dalam The Homecoming Masquerade
terjadi dalam kurun waktu beberapa jam dari awal sampai dengan akhir, dengan
banyaknya alur flashback dan pengenalan cerita dari tiap karakter yang berperan
dalam The
Homecoming Masquerade. Buku pertama dalam serial ini lebih berperan
sebagai pengenalan kisah keseluruhan di dalam ketiga buku selanjutnya. Buku ini
cukup menarik karena mengkombinasikan keadaan politik di Washington DC dengan
pengaruh dari Klan Samarin, namun memang membutuhkan cukup kesabaran dalam
membacanya dengan banyaknya flashback dan backstory dari para karakter
pendukung (yang cukup banyak) di dalam buku ini. Menurutku buku ini cukup
menyimpan potensi sebagai pembuka dari kisah yang cukup baik.
Rating untuk The Homecoming Masquerade adalah
7/10.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Characters
in The
Homecoming Masquerade are as follows :
Nicky
Bloom : one of the main
protagonist, a new transferred student at Thorndike Academy, member of an
underground organization, called The Network, dedicated to overthrowing the
immortals who ruled Washington and the world.
Jill
Wentworth : one of the main
protagonist, a Senior at Thorndike Academy, a hacker for The Network, daughter
of one of a wealthy and powerful family, her father was a power breaker in
Washington DC.
Kim
Renwick : one of the girls
wearing black, a strong candidate to win, daughter of the notorious Washington
lobbyist Galen Renwick, a very wealthy and powerful family that was feared by
the other families.
Mary
Torrance : one of the girls
wearing black, the blonde bombshell ,daughter of a highly powered lawyer from
Atlanta.
Samantha
Kwan : one of the girls
wearing black, daughter of Executives at Ventigen Corp.
Annika
Fleming : one of Jill’s
friend, one of popular girl at Thorndike Academy, daughter of the governor of
Oklahoma.
Mattie
Dupree : one of Annika’s
friend, coming from a family of Washington lawyers.
Jake
Castillo : one of Annika’s
friend, his father was a former Secretary of State.
Jenny
Young : one of Annika’s
friend, her father was a Congressman.
Ryan
Jenson : his family one of
the wealthiest family in Washington, Jill’s former boyfriend
Elliott
Toffler : one member of The
Network.
Jada
Razor : the biggest pop
star in the world, and held secret sympathies for The Network.
Art
Tremblay : the eldest son of
property magnate Merv Tremblay.
Pauline
Wabash : one of Kim’s
follower.
Amy
Thayer : one of Kim’s
follower.
Rosalyn
Smith : one of Kim’s
follower.
Andrea
Peterson : one of Kim’s
follower.
Vince
Weir : one of the student
at Thorndike Academy,
Walter
Wentworth : Jill’s father, the
owner of a software company
Carolyn
Wentworth : Jill’s mother, a
brilliant programmer who invented a software called “Clean Street”.
Brian
Kingsbury : one of the
students at Thorndike Academy.
Gia
Rossi : a Network’s agent.
Shannon
Evans : Annika’s best
friend, died in a boat accident just before school starts.
Renata
Sullivan : chair of Thorndike
Academy school’s Board of Regents, an immortal.
Sergio
Alonzo : a powerful
immortal
Daciana
Samarin : a very powerful
immortal, the head of the powerful Samarin Clan.
Melissa
Mayhew : an immortal
incharges at The Farm (a ten acres of land in South Florida where a homeless
kids raised as a slave and food for the immortals).
Dominic
Volcker : Melissa’s immortal
bond.
Francisco
‘Frankie’ : Nicky’s long lost
childhood friend, kidnaped by immortal and raised at the Farm to be a slave.
Galen
Renwick : Kim’s father.
Helena : a Network agent, undercover as Nicky’s
mother.
Phillip : a network agent, undercover as Nicky’s
father.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2.
Book 2 : The Festival of the Moon
Copyright © 2012 by Spencer Baum
eBook,
42 Chapters, 300 Pages
Genre : Romance, Paranormal Fantasy, Young
Adult
Other
Books in Series : The Homecoming Masquerade (Girls Wearing Black #2), The Rose Ransom (Girls Wearing Black #3), The Bonding Ritual (Girls Wearing Black #4)
Still
reeling from the events of the Homecoming Masquerade, Nicky Bloom must prepare
for the second event of the Coronation contest: The Festival of the Moon.
A
week-long celebration of the immortals and the girls vying to become one, the
Festival of the Moon begins with a wild party in the woods and ends with a date
auction, where all the boys of the Thorndike senior class bid for the right to
wine and dine one of the girls wearing black.
With
help from Jill Wentworth and the rest of the Network, Nicky dives headfirst
into the world of lust, gossip, and intrigue that is Thorndike Academy. And as
she and the other girls wearing black struggle for position, Nicky must keep
her true identity a secret, not only from the other students at school, but
from the vampire who is watching her every move.
The story
in The
Festival of The Moon starts a few hours after the ending in The Homecoming
Masquerade, and ends in 2 weeks’ time at the night of the Date
Auction event as the highlight event in this second book. In The Festival of
The Moon, the main mission for both Nicky and Jill is to get a big
donation for Nicky at the night of Date Auction so Nicky could get closer to 1st
place position. As Ryan already give his promise to support Kim, both Nicky and
Jill didn’t have any other choice but to place their bet on Art Tremblay to
gain his support at the Date Auction.
The story
in The
Festival of The Moon is quite thrilling and full of surprises,
although still feels a bit dragging with a lot of backstories for every
characters. And since there are a lot of supporting characters in this book,
the development for each one of them feels only touch the surface. Too many characters
in this series kinda makes me dizzy when reading it because too many things
happened at the same time and it is hard to keep up with all the things going
on at once. In The
Festival of The Moon Jill also found out the dark secret about her
family and the truth why Ryan broke up with her years ago. I’m also not a fan
for the new character, Zack. I’m sorry if anyone disagree with me, but I think
Jill’s love story with Zack is just too fast to be call a true love. But
overall, this is an OK book to read.
Rating for
The Festival
of The Moon is 7/10.
```````````````````````````````````````````
Kisah dalam The Festival of The Moon dimulai
beberapa jam setelah akhir kisah dalam buku pertamanya The Homecoming Masquerade, dan
mengambil total waktu 2 minggu dari awal sampai di malam acara Date Auction
sebagai puncak ketegangan di dalam buku kedua ini. Dalam The Festival of The Moon, misi
utama yang diemban oleh kedua tokoh utama kita, Nicky dan Jill adalah untuk
memenangkan donasi besar bagi Nicky di acara malam lelang tersebut sehingga
Nicky dapat menjadi selangkah lebih dekat ke peringkat pertama. Dan berhubung
Ryan sudah menjanjikan dukungannya kepada Kim, baik Nicky dan Jill tidak
memiliki pilihan lain selain mendekati Art Tremblay untuk mendapatkan
dukungannya di acara Date Auction.
Jalan cerita dalam The Festival of
The Moon cukup menegangkan dan ada banyak kejutan yang tidak
disangka-sangka, walaupun alur ceritanya masih ada terasa sedikit lambat. Dan
dengan banyaknya para karakter pendukung di dalam buku ini, pengembangan bagi
para karakternya terasa kurang tergali scara mendalam. Banyaknya para karakter pendukung ini juga
salah satu factor yang membuat aku agak kesulitan untuk mengikutinya, dengan
banyak hal yang terjadi secara bersamaan. Di dalam The Festival of The Moon ini
Jill akhirnya mengetahui rahasia mengenai keluarganya dan hal yang menyebabkan
Ryan memutuskan hubungan dengannya beberapa tahun yang lalu. Dan satu hal yang
kurang aku sukai adalah munculnya karakter baru, Zack, dan menurutku hubungan
antara Jill dan Zack terjadi sangat cepat sehingga sulit bagi pembaca untuk
dapat benar-benar merasakan bahwa itu merupakan cinta sejati (tapi ya itu hanya
menurut pendapat pribadiku ya). Namun ya secara keseluruhan, buku ini cukup OK
kok.
Rating untuk The Festival of The Moon adalah
7/10.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Characters in The Festival of
The Moon are as follows :
Nicky
Bloom : one of the main
protagonist, a new transferred student at Thorndike Academy, member of an
underground organization, called The Network, dedicated to overthrowing the
immortals who ruled Washington and the world.
Jill
Wentworth : one of the main
protagonist, a Senior at Thorndike Academy, a hacker for The Network, daughter
of one of a wealthy and powerful family, her father was a power breaker in
Washington DC.
Kim
Renwick : one of the girls
wearing black, a strong candidate to win, daughter of the notorious Washington
lobbyist Galen Renwick, a very wealthy and powerful family that was feared by
the other families.
Mary
Torrance : one of the girls
wearing black, daughter of a highly powered lawyer from Atlanta.
Samantha
Kwan : one of the girls
wearing black, daughter of Executives at Ventigen Corp.
Annika
Fleming : one of Jill’s
friend, one of popular girl at Thorndike Academy, daughter of the governor of
Oklahoma.
Mattie
Dupree : one of Annika’s
friend, coming from a family of Washington lawyers.
Jake
Castillo : one of Annika’s
friend, his father was a former Secretary of State.
Jenny
Young : one of Annika’s
friend, her father was a Congressman.
Ryan
Jenson : his family one of
the wealthiest family in Washington, Jill’s former boyfriend.
Art
Tremblay : the eldest son of
property magnate Merv Tremblay.
Alvin
Green : one member of The
Network.
Vince
Weir : one of the student
at Thorndike Academy.
Brian
Kingsbury : one of the
students at Thorndike Academy.
Marshall
Beaumont : one of the
students at Thorndike Academy.
Walter
Wentworth : Jill’s father, the
owner of a software company
Carolyn
Wentworth : Jill’s mother, a
brilliant programmer who invented a software called “Clean Street”.
Gia
Rossi : a Network’s agent,
spying at The Farm.
Shannon
Evans : Annika’s best
friend, died in a boat accident just before school starts.
Renata
Sullivan : chair of Thorndike
Academy school’s Board of Regents, an immortal.
Sergio
Alonzo : a powerful
immortal
Daciana
Samarin : a very powerful
immortal, the head of the powerful Samarin Clan in America.
Melissa
Mayhew : an immortal
incharges at The Farm (a ten acres of land in South Florida where a homeless
kids raised as a slave and food for the immortals).
Dominic
Volcker : Melissa’s immortal
bond.
Francisco
‘Frankie’ : Nicky’s long lost
childhood friend, kidnaped by immortal and raised at the Farm to be a slave.
Falkon
Dilinger : the leader of
rival vampire clan in Europe.
Zack
Lomax : Jill’s new
boyfriend.
Galen
Renwick : Kim’s father.
Helena : a Network agent, undercover as Nicky’s
mother.
Phillip : a network agent, undercover as Nicky’s
father.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3.
Book 3 :
The Rose
Ransom
Copyright © 2013 by Spencer Baum
eBook, 54 Chapters + Prologue, 237 Pages
Genre : Romance, Paranormal Fantasy, Young
Adult
Other
Books in Series : The Homecoming Masquerade (Girls Wearing Black #1), The Festival of the Moon (Girls Wearing Black #2), The Bonding Ritual (Girls Wearing Black #4)
Relieved
that the Date Auction was a success for Nicky, Jill Wentworth already has a
plan for the next event in the Coronation contest: The Rose Ransom.
A
strange ritual with a sordid history, The Rose Ransom sends the entire class on
a hunt for a girl who has been kidnapped. Jill is certain she knows which girl
will be taken and how she can locate her once she’s gone.
But
minutes after she sets her plan in motion, Jill gets an alert that something
strange has happened at the Bloom mansion. Hacking into the mansion’s security cameras,
she finds a horrible scene of carnage. Three agents and one vampire were
murdered during the Date Auction.
With
Nicky on the other side of the world and the entire mission in jeopardy, Jill
uncovers a conspiracy that could tear the Samarin clan apart, and learns that
for this year’s class, The Rose Ransom is much more than a game.
The Rose Ransom
is the third book in the series. The story starts just where The Festival of
The Moon left off, the night on the Date Auction. With Nicky and the
other girls wearing black go on their date, Jill thought that the first step in
their mission was a success. But that was until she found out something is wrong
at the Bloom mansion, and their entire mission has been compromised. With three
Network agents gone, and Nicky is in great danger, they have no choice but to
abort the mission and go into hiding for a while.
The story
in The Rose
Ransom takes a few months from the start until the ending. In The Rose Ransom,
both Nicky and Jill took different dangerous journeys down memory lane to find
the truth about their parents and their pasts.
Hmm…
There’s a lot going on in The Rose Ransom. In this book, we finally got some
answers regarding Nicky’s pasts and about her parents. Overall the story quite
good, but I’m a little bit disappointed since Jill’s and her mother’s story a
bit dominating in this 3rd book. I can say that around 2/3 of the book
focusing more to Jill’s story and only a 1/3 goes to Nicky’s story. I want Nicky’s
story to unfold more than Jill’s, since there’s still so many unanswered
questions around her past, but I guess the author maybe save it for the final
installment.
Rating for
The Rose
Ransom is 6.5/10.
``````````````````````````````````````````
The
Rose Ransom merupakan buku ketiga dalam serial ini. Kisahnya dimulai
langsung menyambung akhir cerita dari The Festival of The Moon, di malam acara Date
Auction. Dengan Nicky dan para gadis berpakaian hitam lainnya berangkat dengan
para pasangan kencan mereka, Jill berpikiran bahwa langkah pertama dalam misi
mereka berjalan dengan sangat lancer. Tetapi kejutan menakutkan yang menanti
Jill di rumah keluarga Bloom menunjukkan hal yang sebaliknya, bahwa misi mereka
sudah terbongkar. Dengan meninggalnya tiga agen anggota Network, dan Nicky berada
dalam bahaya besar, tidak ada pilihan lain bagi mereka semua yang terlibat
selain membatalkan misi mereka dan segera bersembunyi sampai kondisi aman.
Jalan cerita dalam The Rose Ransom terjadi dalam
beberapa bulan dari awal cerita sampai dengan akhir buku ketiga. Dalam The Rose Ransom,
baik Nicky dan Jill menjalani perjalanan berbeda yang sama-sama berbahaya
menelusuri masa lalu mereka untuk menemukan kebenaran mengenai latar belakang
masa lalu orangtua mereka.
Hmm… Ada banyak hal yang terjadi di dalam The Rose Ransom.
Dalam buku ini, akhirnya ada beberapa jawaban mengenai masa lalu Nicky dan
orang tuanya. Secara keseluruhan jalan cerita dalam buku ini cukup bagus,
walaupun aku cukup kecewa karena cerita mengenai Jill dan ibunya cukup
mendominasi di buku ketiga ini. Sekitar 2/3 dari buku ini lebih berfokus pada
Jill, dan hanya ada 1/3 bagian saja yang berfokus pada kisah hidup Nicky.
Menurutku kisah Nicky seharusnya juga mendapatkan bagian yang cukup besar
dibandingkan lebih berfokus pada kisah Jill, karena ada banyak hal yang masih
belum terjawab mengenai kehidupan masa lalunya, namun mungkin (hanya mungkin)
pengarangnya memang sengaja menyimpannya untuk buku terakhirnya.
Rating untuk The Rose Ransom adalah 6.5/10.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Characters
in The Rose
Ransom are as follows :
Nicky
Bloom : one of the main
protagonist, a new transferred student at Thorndike Academy, member of an
underground organization dedicated to overthrowing the immortals who ruled
Washington and the world.
Jill
Wentworth : one of the main
protagonist, a Senior at Thorndike Academy, a hacker for The Network, daughter
of one of a wealthy and powerful family, her father was a power breaker in
Washington DC.
Kim
Renwick : one of the girls
wearing black, a strong candidate to win, daughter of the notorious Washington
lobbyist Galen Renwick, a very wealthy and powerful family that was feared by
the other families.
Mary
Torrance : one of the girls
wearing black, the blonde bombshell, daughter of a highly powered lawyer from
Atlanta.
Samantha
Kwan : one of the girls
wearing black, daughter of Executives at Ventigen Corp.
Ryan
Jenson : his family one of
the wealthiest family in Washington, Jill’s former boyfriend.
Annika
Fleming : one of Jill’s
friend, one of popular girl at Thorndike Academy, daughter of the governor of
Oklahoma.
Mattie
Dupree : one of Annika’s
friend, coming from a family of Washington lawyers.
Jake
Castillo : one of Annika’s
friend, his father was a former Secretary of State.
Jenny
Young : one of Annika’s
friend, her father was a Congressman.
Art
Tremblay : the eldest son of
property magnate Merv Tremblay.
Alvin
Green : one member of The
Network.
Vince
Weir : one of the student
at Thorndike Academy.
Brian
Kingsbury : one of the
students at Thorndike Academy.
Marshall
Beaumont : one of the
students at Thorndike Academy.
Karmela
Sweet : one of the student
at Thorndike, heiress to a jewelry manufacturing conglomerate from Germany.
Walter
Wentworth : Jill’s father, the
owner of a software company
Carolyn
Wentworth : Jill’s mother, a
brilliant programmer who invented a software called “Clean Street”.
Gia
Rossi : a Network’s agent,
spying at The Farm.
Shannon
Evans : Annika’s best
friend.
Gordon
Krause : master hypnotist works
for the Network.
Renata
Sullivan : chair of Thorndike
Academy school’s Board of Regents, an immortal.
Sergio
Alonzo : a powerful
immortal
Daciana
Samarin : a very powerful
immortal, the head of the powerful Samarin Clan in America.
Melissa
Mayhew : an immortal
incharges at The Farm (a ten acres of land in South Florida where a homeless
kids raised as a slave and food for the immortals).
Dominic
Volcker : Melissa’s immortal
bond.
Bernadette
Paiz : one of the
immortal, Melissa’s friend.
Mark
Spinoza : Bernadette’s
immortal bond.
Francisco
‘Frankie’ : Nicky’s long lost
childhood friend, kidnaped by immortal and raised at the Farm to be a slave,
currently working at Renata’s mansion.
Falkon
Dilinger : the leader of
rival vampire clan in Europe.
Zack
Lomax : Jill’s new
boyfriend.
Tarin : a Network agent.
Lena
Trang : one of the
Immortal in Samarin Clan.
Galen
Renwick : Kim’s father.
Helena : a Network agent, undercover as Nicky’s
mother.
Phillip : a network agent, undercover as Nicky’s
father.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4.
Book 4 :
The
Bonding Ritual
Copyright © 2014 by Spencer Baum
eBook,
51 Chapters, 474 Pages
Genre : Romance, Paranormal Fantasy, Young
Adult
Other Books in Series : The Homecoming Masquerade (Girls Wearing Black #1), The Festival of the Moon (Girls Wearing Black #2), The Rose Ransom (Girls Wearing Black #3)
It’s a
new semester at Thorndike, and a time for new beginnings.
For
Daciana Samarin, it is a time to take control of the school after a lengthy
absence. Eager to inject some excitement into a contest that has one girl
far ahead of the others, Daciana rolls out a relic from her past, and
invites the girls wearing black to explore its mysteries.
For
Jill Wentworth, it is a time to evaluate priorities, and determine if the
potential rewards of her assignment at Thorndike are worth the risks. Ever the
rationalist, Jill believes Washington has become too hot for the mission to
continue. But with a changing of the guard atop the clan, there are new
opportunities for the Network to explore, including one that just might keep
Jill in town, despite the danger.
For
Nicky Bloom, it is a time of discovery. Having learned the truth about her
family, and the memories that drew her across the ocean, she is prepared
to face the truth about herself, and what she wants most in life. When she was
in Italy, she had a chance to kill Sergio Alonzo and she didn’t take it. Now it
is time for her find out why.
The
fourth and final book of Girls Wearing Black follows the seniors of Thorndike
Academy in their final semester, when they will conclude the contest that will
see one of them become a vampire, and another the vampire’s first victim.
The Bonding Ritual is the 4th and last installment
in the Girls Wearing Black series. The story still continues to tell about the
mission that both Nicky and Jill are doing for the Network to take down the
Samarin Clan for good.
With The Rose Ransom
event finished and one of the girls wearing black got a huge lead on the
Coronation, and with their entire undercover mission is in jeopardy, the teams
(Nicky, Jill, Helena, Phillip, and Ryan) are getting ready to leave town and
abort their mission, when something (or someone to be precise) intervene with
their plans and convincing Nicky, Helena, Phillip and Ryan to stay and finish
the mission. Only Jill didn’t agree with the others, she still thinks they all
should leave before anyone else get hurt. Besides there’s no point to continue
with the mission when Nicky didn’t have the chance to win Coronation. But when
Daciana Samarin adds something interesting to the Coronation, Jill just cannot
say no to that challenge.
Well this
last book in the series interesting enough to keep me reading until the last
page, although the ending is not as good as my expectation would be. I kinda
disappointed that Nicky’s role is getting smaller and smaller. Don’t get me
wrong, I like Jill, but I just think that her storyline already dominated in
the 3rd book, and the last book supposed to be about Nicky. But too
bad there’s no important development made to Nicky’s storyline and character. Instead
the plot is kinda repeating itself.
Rating for
The Bonding
Ritual is 6.5/10.
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The
Bonding Ritual merupakan buku ke 4 dan terakhir dalam serial The Girls
Wearing Black. Jalan cerita dalam buku ini masih melanjutkan kisah mengenai
misi dari Nicky dan Jill dan organisasi bernama The Network yang bertujuan untuk
menjatuhkan klan Samarin (klan para manusia abadi yang berkuasa di Amerika dan
dipimpin oleh Daciana Samarin) untuk
selamanya.
Dengan selesainya even dalam The Rose Ransom
dan salah satu peserta mendapatkan jumlah donasi yang jauh mengalahkan tiga peserta
lainnya dalam Coronation, dan dengan kondisi seluruh operasi penyamaran mereka
dalam bahaya terungkap, para anggota tim (Nicky, Jill, Helena, Phillip, dan
Ryan) segera bersiap-siap meninggalkan kota dan membatalkan misi mereka, ketika
sesuatu (atau lebih tepatnya seseorang) turut campur dalam rencana mereka dan
meyakinkan Nicky, Helena, Phillip dan Ryan untuk tinggal dan menyelesaikan misi
mereka. Hanya Jill yang masih tidak setuju dengan keputusan itu dan masih
berpikir bahwa sebaiknya mereka seharusnya berhenti sebelum ada orang lain yang
terluka. Selain itu menurut Jill, sudah tidak ada alasan lain untuk melanjutkan
misi mereka dengan keadaan terakhir bahwa Nicky tidak mempunyai kesempatan
sedikitpun untuk memenangkan Coronation. Tetapi saat Daciana Samarin mengumumkan
suatu hal yang menarik untuk even yang terakhir di dalam Coronation, Jill tidak
dapat berkata tidak terhadap tantangan tersebut.
Well, buku terakhir ini cukup menarik
sampai pada halaman terakhir dengan banyaknya kejutan-kejutan yang terjadi,
walaupun akhir cerita dalam buku ini tidak sesuai dengan ekspektasi. Aku masih
tetap kecewa dengan semakin kecilnya peran Nicky di dalam buku terakhirnya ini.
Jangan salah sangka, aku cukup menyukai Jill, tetapi menurutku Jill sudah cukup
mendominasi dalam buku sebelumnya, dan buku terakhir ini seharusnya lebih
berfokus pada Nicky. Tetapi sangat disayangkan tidak ada pengembangan penting
yang terjadi pada pengembangan kisah Nicky dan pertumbuhan karakternya. Sebaliknya,
plot cerita dalam buku ini malah sedikit terasa mengulang hal-hal yang terjadi
sebelumnya.
Rating for The Bonding Ritual is 6.5/10.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Characters in The Bonding
Ritual are as follows :
Nicky
Bloom : one of the main
protagonist, a new transferred student at Thorndike Academy, member of an
underground organization dedicated to overthrowing the immortals who ruled
Washington and the world.
Jill
Wentworth : one of the main
protagonist, a Senior at Thorndike Academy, a hacker for The Network, daughter
of one of a wealthy and powerful family, her father was a power breaker in
Washington DC.
Kim
Renwick : one of the girls
wearing black, a strong candidate to win, daughter of the notorious Washington
lobbyist Galen Renwick, a very wealthy and powerful family that was feared by
the other families.
Mary
Torrance : one of the girls
wearing black, the blonde bombshell ,daughter of a highly powered lawyer from
Atlanta.
Samantha
Kwan : one of the girls
wearing black, daughter of Executives at Ventigen Corp.
Ryan
Jenson : his family one of
the wealthiest family in Washington, Jill’s former boyfriend.
Renata
Sullivan : chair of Thorndike
Academy school’s Board of Regents, an immortal, member of the Samarin clan.
Sergio
Alonzo : a powerful
immortal
Daciana
Samarin : a very powerful
immortal, the head of the powerful Samarin Clan in America.
Laura
Heidegger : an immortal, the
newest member of the Samarin Clan.
Galen
Renwick : Kim’s father.
Edith : the curator of Thorndike’s many museum.
Frankie : Nicky’s childhood friend.
Eve
Kendrick : an Network agent
Suzette
Jenson : Ryan’s mother.
Roger
Jenson : Ryan’s father.
Alvin
Green : one member of The
Network.
Mattie
Dupree : one of Jill’s and
Nicky’s classmate.
Karmela
Sweet : one of Jill’s and
Nicky’s classmate.
Zack
Lomax : Jill’s
ex-boyfriend.
Helena : a Network agent, undercover as Nicky’s
mother.
Phillip : a network agent, undercover as Nicky’s
father.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~