Review: Ameca J and the Rise of the Serpii

Ameca J and the Rise of the Serpii by Paul Xavier Jones

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Book Info: Genre: Fantasy
Reading Level: YA (the first three books are MG, but the characters are two years older here, so I'm booting it up to YA)
Recommended for: fans of YA fantasy, those who enjoyed the first book
Book Available: September, 2013
Trigger Warnings: snakes, snake-people, human sacrifice, children in danger, children killed, kidnapping, violence, fighting

My Thoughts: Two years have passed since the events of the first three books, and the girls have grown up quite a lot. I was extremely amused to find Atrayor's son named Spock; Atrayor also uses the Vulcan salute as a greeting and farewell. Great stuff!

This was an extremely early ARC, but the author wanted my feedback on it, since I'd read the first three books. I quite enjoyed where he took this one. The levels of danger and violence have been steadily growing throughout the series as, I assume, the children to whom he originally told these stories have grown.

While I know many people feel negatively about snakes, I was a bit sad that they ended up demonized in this story. They're fascinating creatures, and I think I might have reacted rather differently to Arachania (I think that's how it's spelled; I'm really bad at remembering these things). In fact, other than the whole human-sacrifice thing, I imagine it's not such a bad place to live, as long as you only want serpents as companion animals.

I'm always amused by the interplay between Tilly and Squire Fluffy. I'm a cat person, myself, but I do like dogs as well. Of course, as mentioned, I also like snakes, so I guess I'm not the best person overall to have to choose these sorts of things. I like how Ameca and Fraya have both grown, and I like how Amanda has worked her way into the system in Mythrania. I'm very interested in knowing what happens next. While I do have an ARC of the next book in the series, until such a time as a cover is created and a release date announced, I will likely not be posting a review of it, or at most it will be posted on my blog. However, do keep an eye open for this next book in the Ameca J Chronicles—which the author tells me he plans to publish in September, 2013—if you like MG or YA fantasy (this crosses the section, I think), or if you've read and enjoyed the earlier books and want to know what's next. Great stuff!

Series Information: The Ameca J Chronicles
Book 1: Ameca J and the Legacy of Menindus: read and reviewed in August, 2012. Review linked here where formatting allowed.
Book 2: Ameca J and the Revenge of Rex-Ultar: read and reviewed in September, 2012. Review linked here where formatting allowed.
Book 3: Ameca J and the Demon God of Mythrania: read and reviewed in January, 2013. Review linked here where formatting allowed.
Book 4: Ameca J and the Rise of the Serpii: to be released in September 2013
Book 5: Ameca J and the Lost City of the Snake People: release TBA, probably late 2013/early 2014

Disclosure: I received an advance copy from the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

My Synopsis: The Ameca J adventures continue. Here come the girls again... and this time they're really mad.

Two years have passed since the events of the first three books, and the entire family has settled into Mythrania, which is undergoing unprecedented peace and prosperity. The Elfen are coming among the people more often, the few surviving dangerous creatures are trapped in the north, and the remaining Dark Ones have settled into helping those around them rather than harming. Gravellux and the girls have created a school to help teach new magic users that are born how to handle their powers.

However, there are other prophecies, dark prophecies, that Gravellux has forgotten, assuming them to be inaccurate. That will turn out to be his gravest mistake...



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