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joannacapati

Book-ish Fantasies

Reading always keeps me learning, wondering. From YA/NA to Urban Fantasy, Sci-fi, Thrillers and Dystopia, help me bring these different worlds into life as we read together! :)

This has been a nice, magical experience.

Eden (Eden Series) - Janelle Stalder

Thanks to the author for providing the book for free for an honest review.

 

With fantasy genre, you may love or hate it depending on how the author create this another world with creatures and supernatural powers. Many fantasies create these stories with mythology (mostly Greek), witchcraft, monsters, fairies and even time travel. However, there are also some books which mix adventure and real life together, creating two plots as it develops the protagonist's life on earth and his hidden journey in another world.

That's where we meet Aiden, our 15-year-old hero who happened to just move to a small village with his parents and baby sister to attend and continue high school. He's not ugly yet he's also not the attractive type and since he's new, high school remains as challenging from being bullied, getting late, and skipping classes. Good thing though, he has Ethan who can defend him and keep him company from time to time. Not long when Aiden thought it's better to just sleep-in at home and enjoy his privacy in his attic room when one day, he woke up from a dream and someone summoned him to save the land of Eden.

I liked the development of Aiden's character and how the people of Eden blend together with him. The training is intense, the story revolves around training most of the time yet the pacing gets in the right speed as it approaches the upcoming war. I easily felt the surroundings around the Capital.

Aside from Aiden's POV, I liked that we also get a glimpse of other POV involving the other armies from the nearby lands. This showed the image of the supposedly villains and how they're planning to attack the King's men. Unfortunately, there's no exact villainous character. As I get to know the other side and their view on the Mountain People, it felt like there's no villain, which was the downside. There's also not much climax in the story as there was no peak of suspense and conflict at all while the war also happened near the ending. Good thing the POV and narrative was enjoying, not to mention the added romance from before and after between the other leading characters. It showed a slight cliffhanger so I hope to see more of these in the next installments.

Definitely, this is still a great start for a debut fantasy novel and I commend Stalder for that. A fast, enjoyable read indeed. I recommend this to fantasy fanatics!

Source: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/623191145