Elemental: The First (Primord #1) by Alexandra May

Rating: 3 out of 5
Title: Elemental: The First
Author: Alexandra Ma
Series: Book 1
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 509 KB
Print Length: 275 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1463708343
Publisher: Pauma Publishing (9 July 2011)
Language: English
ASIN: B005C1R1HM
ISBN-10: 1463708343
ISBN-13: 978-1463708344

Book Summary
Rose Frost is special. Her family has spent the last 16 years trying to hide her from the world. But now only her estrange grandmother can help her and she moves in to her grandmothers house near the tiny English town of Warminster. But then strange, terrifying and vivid dreams haunt her sleep and her migraines are getting more and more frequent. As if they were not troubles enough she has feelings for two local boys and is trying not to get on the wrong side of the local kids. But when her friend's father disappears it is up to her and her friends to find out what is going on and solve the mysterious disappearances and maybe solve the mystery that is Rose Frost.

Initial Thoughts
This is a hard book for me to review as I did like aspects of it but disliked other aspects. I have written and re-written this review over and over not happy with either version of my review. Having read the book in its entirety I think a significant point needs to be clarified upfront before someone reads this book; its part one. The ending is a to be continued. I strongly suspect if I had known this I would have enjoyed reading the book a lot better, but at the time I didn't so my review is a little on the negative side.

What I Liked
I found the premise interesting and refreshing for the young adult sci-fi fantasy romance genre (is that a genre? it is now). Rose has a really cool ability and there is a secret society doing battle for a long time. There is also super powers, aliens and romance (though the summary implies it is more of a fantasy book) which all come together for a fascinating story.

The world the author built is great. There is a great story surrounding  Halika Dacome and I wished we had learned about it sooner and explored it further (I am guessing that is where book two comes into it. I hope).

What I Disliked
I found the book to be quite slow to start with. Nothing really happened till about chapter four. Even half way through the book Rose and her Grandma had not had “that talk” about Rose’s abilities and the secret security surrounding her. They were supposed to have this talk virtually the second day Rose arrived but it never seemed to happen.

My biggest gripe with the book was the feeling that the relationships and even characters were “forced”  to fit the story. Rose in particular had really strange reactions to new friends and people, she acted like they had been best friends for years and got super offended and mad when they didn't trust her when she had only just met the person.

The two biggest offending scenes were (potential spoiler but I kept the information vague):

1. Where Rose had just met two new people, then precedes to have a major tanty and threaten to walk out because they didn’t trust her with their deepest darkest secret.
2. When Rose meets the acknowledged toxic girl from school who already hates Rose’s guts, for the first time. Toxic chick tells Rose she “almost got it on with the guy she likes” who is Morgan the guy who is so clearly into Rose. But the worst part was Rose believes her! Even cries about Morgans betrayal? OMG seriously? You would believe a girl who you have only just met, and had been warned to stay away from because she is one nasty over the guy who you have spent some time with and even spent the night with (not in that way)?

Those two scenes really had me struggling to believe the reactions of Rose and her friends. Especially the last scene, I wanted to just reaching into the book and slap the girl silly. There were a few other smaller incidences but they didn’t bother me as much as those two incidences.

In Conclusion
You might think I would say this is a terrible book but it isn't. It had faults for sure but it wasn’t terrible and I did enjoy the mythology the author created. Also I am pretty sure if I had known upfront this was a part one book I would have felt a little differently about the book.

I think for its target audience, young teenage girls, this would be a hit.

This copy of Elemental: The First was provided by Netgalley and in no way influenced my review.

Extras
I have added some images of Warminster to my Pinterest Board - Images Relating to Fiction.

Graceling (Graceling Realm #1) by Kristin Cashore

Rating: 4 out of 5
Reading Level: Teen
File Size: 611 KB
Print Length: 481 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 015206396X
Publisher: Gollancz (November 20, 2008)
Sold by: Hachette Book Group
Language: English
ASIN: B002VCR03A

Graceling is set in a mythological word where some individuals have special powers. These people are called Gracelings and are marked by the colours of their eyes. Gracelings are feared and used as weapons and tools by the Kings that rule the lands of this world.

Katsa is graced with killing which manifested when she was 8 years old and as a result was used as her kings thug to strike fear and terror into the hearts of his enemies, and subjects.

What I liked
Katsa is likeable and fun to read. Despite her terrible Grace she is a gentle soul who cares deeply about her friends. One thing I liked is that she is both confident and insecure, interesting and flawed. On one hand she is this amazing fighter yet on the other fails to notice that a guy likes her. As you could imagine with her Grace she has not had the best life so she does not always have the most optimistic view on people sometimes, however she can still show a criminal kindness which I think say's a lot about her as a character.

A strength of her character is her reliance on herself. She is an independent woman who is smart, confident and physically strong, admittedly her grace helps but also it is her character. This is also a flaw discussed later but I found it refreshing to see a teen fantasy book which didn't have a simpering idiot as the main character.

The first half of this story sucked me in and I wanted to know more. I kept reading and reading till the middle. Then it got a tad slow and teen romancey, which is fine, but to me didn't add much to the over all story. Then the story picked up again and I forgot about the slow boring bit in the middle. The majority of the story was fast paced action. Cashore can write some pretty good action scenes.

The world created is a varied and interesting one. The reader got to learn parts of it through Katsa and in this way I think she was perfect as the point of view to introduce the reader to the world. Katsa had not travelled beyond her own lands so the ways of other people and cultures were revealed through her and as a result came across feeling natural, not like you were having a tonne of information dumped on you.

What I didn't like
The "modern" feel of her character did not really sit well with the story as a whole. I am not sure why, but it just felt off to me. I am afraid it is not something I can put my finger on other then some of the views Katsa held and things she said just didn't vibe with my mental picture of her through out the book. While I am glad she wasn't a simpering idiot at the same time Katsa's views just didn't vibe with her world. At least for me it didn't.

Also then ending seemed a little bit of a let down. I suspect that the author will revisit these characters and elaborate more on events after this book in her upcoming 3rd book (or perhaps later in the series). But after all the action and drama leading up to the end the actual book ending felt rather flat.

Overall
The book was great and would happily recommend it just about anyone.

However  please note there is a big theme which is reiterated over and over about no marriage, no kids, use of contraception. There is a reason for it (revealed in the book) but nether-the-less it is there. This might be a big problem for some, and I have seen some very negative reviews or comments in regards to this on Goodreads and Amazon.  There is also some intimacy scenes which for me were rather tame but given the other themes this might be a bit much for some. This is just a friendly warning for those who object to these themes or find them offensive.

Quotes

“I'm not going to wear a red dress," she said. "It would look stunning, My Lady," she called. She spoke to the bubbles gathered on the surface of the water. "If there's anyone I wish to stun at dinner, I'll hit him in the face.”  

“What she really loved was to hang over the edge and watch the bow of the ship slice through the waves. She loved it especially when the waves were high and the ship rose and fell, or when it was snowing and the flakes stung her face.”

Clarity by Kim Harrington

Rating 4 out of 5
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 239 KB
Print Length: 256 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0545230500
Publisher: Point; 1 edition (March 1, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B004P5NVIO

Hi guys, for this review I am going to try a letter style review again. I hope you enjoy it!

Dear Irishyz

You are lucky I know how much you did try to book bully me into getting this book, otherwise you would be in BIG trouble. I can not believe I waited so long to read this book! I was setting it aside as a holiday read. But I wanted a bit of a change from the last few books I have read, (you know I get the jitters if I don’t get a good dose of paranormal stories) so thought I would give it a go. I blitzed this book in 24 hours, which I have not done since March when I was stuck on a plane for 5 hours.

I liked the basics of the story which focuses around Clarity (Clare) Fern who is Psychic. As you know she lives in a small American town with her mother and brother who also have gifts. I liked that her whole family had abilities, but different forms; her mother is a telepath and her brother is a medium. After a tourist is murdered Clare is brought in by the Mayor to help the new police detective solve the mystery. As the death toll rises, the pressure is on for Clare to solve the crime, and prove her brothers innocence. Phew did I miss something? I think that sums up the plot which while simple was still engaging.

Clare is a wonderful character. I instantly took to her as she is likable with a wicked sense of humour. She has snappy retorts, is quick thinking and intelligent. She is not perfect, and not “mature beyond her years”. Plus the girl likes pizza, and orders pancakes for lunch! She is a girl after my own heart. The supporting characters were all enjoyable as well, especially Clare’s family who I just wanted to adopt.

The love triangle with Clare, Justin and Gabriel felt believable and not to "teen agsty". I will be interested to see how Clare’s relationship with each guy develops over future books. Clare could easily be with either of them. Which team am I? Team Justin or Team Gabriel? As yet, I cant call which team I am on but so far I like Justin (despite his boo boo which lead to his ex status, which I personally think was a frame up!) however to be honest, I preferred Nate to Justin and Gabriel!

I really enjoyed the mystery side of it, as it was well written. It felt more like cosy style but as I like that style of writing I am not fussed. Clare, Justin and Gabriel never magically knew more then they could realistically find out, and there were limited to what her gift could show her. I guess the only quibble would be that in the real world I doubt the police would hire a 16 year old psychic, I’m sure there would be all sorts of problems with that ethically, legally and stuff BUT that would have made the story incredibly boring really, and to be honest I didn’t care enough to get upset about. I can normally guess pretty early on who the murderer is but this time I couldn’t make my mind up. The murderer was a surprise and the author, Harrington, did a good job of throwing the reader of the scent.

I really, really liked this book and I am so glad you talked me into buying it. I can not wait till the next book in the series comes out. This looks like a really promising series that is fun and light, and well written. Thanks again for letting me know about this book, I will definitely be spreading the word, and letting others know about it.

Cheers
Caspette

PS How was the Doctor Who finale?