Review: Awakened: The Legends of Elyndia, by Kriston Johnson

Awakened: The Legends of Elyndia, is the story of Jade, a girl who was just trying to make it through high school without anyone causing trouble or sending her back to a shrink over the otherwise not too horribly-unusual detail that she kinda sorta sees demons starts out with an average day of drama filled school and goes down hill rapidly when her makeshift family is attacked in an abduction attempt and Jade is pulled into another realm by her would be assassin. From there, it doesn't really let up until the end.

Awakened surprised me. Just when I would start to decide that it was altogether becoming predictable, Johnson would throw a curve ball that I didn't see coming, and I admit, I liked that. Well, usually. Most of the time even. All but one. You can make up your own mind, but I sort of wanted to slap someone for acting without thinking just that once.
If you're reading this, you like fantasy, so it's not really a spoiler to say, "when dealing with faeries, choose your words wisely."

Yes, faeries. Faeries, demons, elves, elementals, angels, and all the beings of myth and high fantasy that you've learned to love over the years enmeshed in a struggle to save a world within a world from the vile tyrant Draven who would use Jade's latent powers to unleash all of the demons into the world in order to regain something once lost.

All in all, I liked the characters, and the world seems interesting, though Johnson left me with a lot of questions about Elyndia that I'm hoping she answers in the second installment in her series. I also hope to see more character development on the part of Jade and to learn more about the rakish Elemental who betrayed her.

Enjoy.

Check out more reviews on Goodreads. Awakened: The Legends of Elyndia is also available on Amazon and from Barnes & Noble. 

I received a copy in exchange for my review.

Book Review: Lichgates by SM Boyce

The way I look at it, there is really only one difference between fiction and reality, and no, it doesn't have anything to do with magic. It's that someone steps outside of the script for our lives that we're all far too familiar with. You know the one- wake up, go to work/school, have dinner, watch TV, socialize a little, go back to sleep, repeat. At some point, whether it's the most common and mundane drama or the most profoundly removed from the laws of physics kind of fantasy, the main character is put in a position where s/he makes a different choice.

I find it comforting, to think that the only qualitative difference between the adventures of the best protagonists, and myself, is that they stepped out of the ordinary. I could do that, you could do that. It doesn't seem too implausible.

S.M. Boyce's Kara Magari does just that while out hiking and is transported into another world teeming with danger, intrigue, and the sort of world building that makes the reader want to linger. I could definitely use reading more about the world of Ourea, and with Kara's difficulty adjusting to college life and the loss of her mother, Ourea was just what she needed.

In some ways I am reminded of The Lord of the Rings, in that an unsuspecting hero has great power and responsibility thrust upon him/her, and the fate of everyone is somehow tied to their journey, but in a new and wonderful turn of events, Lichgates focuses on the trials, tribulations, discoveries, and adventures of a girl.

I know that I've probably just not read enough high fantasy, but the female protagonist in a story that isn't, at it's heart, just a love story with a fantastic setting, seems kind of hard to come by. Her character may take some warming to, but if you're in for an otherworldly adventure, well, then of course, I highly recommend following Kara's example and opening the book.