Review: Talisman of El

Talisman of El by Alecia Stone

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Book Info: Genre: Fantasy/Magical Reality Reading Level: Young Adult Early Reviewer’s copy, book available 5/20/12

Disclosure: I received a free eBook ARC from NetGalley (after winning it in the Early Reviewer’s Giveaway from LibraryThing) in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: WHAT IF YOUR WHOLE LIFE WAS A LIE?

One Planet. Two Worlds. Population: Human ... 7 billion. Others ... unknown.

When 14-year-old Charlie Blake wakes up sweating and gasping for air in the middle of the night, he knows it is happening again. This time he witnesses a brutal murder. He's afraid to tell anyone. No one would believe him ... because it was a dream. Just like the one he had four years ago - the day before his dad died.

Charlie doesn't know why this is happening. He would give anything to have an ordinary life. The problem: he doesn't belong in the world he knows as home.

He belongs with the others.

My Thoughts: This book incorporates a number of world mythologies into a single narrative, including werewolves, the Mothman, a civilization in the middle of the Earth, angels, demons, the Garden of Eden and others. It could have been a real mess, but it wasn’t – Stone managed to work all of these ideas into a comprehensive whole. The characters were developed well and interesting. The only thing I didn’t much care for is that occasionally, the narrative would break off and pick up some time later, which tended toward the confusing. It would then slowly fill in the details of the missing time. I can see how that might save space if the writer were wanting to keep word count down, but it was difficult to follow at times. Not that it should turn you away from the book – it was a fun, fast-paced book, if somewhat tending toward some darker themes. Not quite dystopian dark, but this is definitely not a light-hearted story. I’ll be interested in seeing where this goes, and will be watching for future books in this series. Recommended for fans of YA fantasy.



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