Review: Caleo by james crawford

Caleo (Leech Book #1) by james crawford
Self-Published
Novel
3.25 Pants Off

Blurb:
Caleo Anima is the social outcast of Butler High. His pale skin and white hair have caused him nothing but trouble since birth. Now at age 17 a mysterious stranger shows up telling him that not only is Caleo part of a magical race called Leeches, but his life is in danger because of a civil war that's been going on for decades...all in an effort to gain control over him.







Review:
First, I am going to say that this book is longer than it needed to be which took away from my enjoyment. It's interesting enough, and the fact that I finished it is a good thing. There was just too much happening back to back and it was hard to follow all the crazy. It needed to be a bit more tight and cleaner.

Caleo Anima is an outcast and is desperately trying to find away to fit in. With his very white as snow skin and the bluest of eyes, he stands out and doesn't fit the norm. He is bullied relentlessly for how he looks and for being gay. The only friends he really has are Jack and Jillian who are more like siblings to him. The one thing I really enjoyed about Caleo is that he's very relatable. Being a teen can be tough and I think the author did a fantastic job of getting that across. He doesn't do self pity, but like any regular person, he has his moments of doubt and being scared, especially finding out all these new things about himself. He is a strong young character.

There is a lot that happens after Caleo finds out he is more than human, and is meant to rules those that are Leeches. Leeches are males who harness incredible power that varies by person, and can become more powerful if they take other Leeches energy. So there’s killing and crazy going on. Caleo doesn't quite know the full extent of his power, but he knows he is powerful. Now it’s a race against time to stay alive and keep his family safe. However, with enemies making themselves known every step of the way, the task is becoming difficult and dangerous.

There is non-stop action in this book, and it annoyed me most of the time. There is never a calm after the storm, just more crazy happening and people dying. I felt like the characters needed a reprieve, and all the moments of face off with the bad guys really just took away from the enjoyment of the story. Also added to length, which was unnecessarily long. There some scenes that really didn’t add anything to story it just showed Caleo in hero status. He had proven himself capable so mostly each action scene felt unnecessary.

There is no romance but you can feel some bromance between Caleo and his best-friend Jack. A friend I find skeevy, because he never stood up for Caleo in school but all of a sudden, he's Mr Protector. I am just not 100% on board with him. I am excited to see where the series will be going, and I hope the next story is a lot cleaner in the writing and plot.

Overall, I liked it but it became hard to read it by the end. I am interested to see where this Leech thing goes. I also want to see whom Caleo falls in love with, and how he will grow to do some ass kicking.

SideNote: I really love the cover, though the hand doesn't really match the boy it's still very pretty.