Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Elemental by Antony John

A lost colony is reborn in this heart-pounding fantasy adventure set in the near future... 
Sixteen-year-old Thomas has always been an outsider. The first child born without the power of an Element—earth, water, wind or fire—he has little to offer his tiny, remote Outer Banks colony. Or so the Guardians would have him believe. 
In the wake of an unforeseen storm, desperate pirates kidnap the Guardians, intent on claiming the island as their own. Caught between the plague-ridden mainland and the advancing pirates, Thomas and his friends fight for survival in the battered remains of a mysterious abandoned settlement. But the secrets they unearth will turn Thomas’ world upside-down, and bring to light not only a treacherous past but also a future more dangerous than he can possibly imagine.
In this book we follow Thom who has always felt like a failure because he had no "element" that he could either commune with or control. Plus everyone avoids even touching him. He does his best and tries to make himself as valuable as possible to the community. The community struggles but there are questions that never get answered as these kids grow into maturity. During one storm where the kids get stranded and the community gets kidnapped they find not only their own inner strength but the beginnings of answers they sought as well as new questions.

This is a fun book but don't seek it to answer all your questions. It is a trilogy so those answers will be spread out in those 3 books. It's still a good start and we have very smart kids. We also get the frustration of secrets being kept as well as those that hold power are not all benevolent. By the end of the book you can see the beginnings of an uprising, but for the good of the community. If they get that change it remains to be seen but you are rooting for that change in the end.

I give this book 3 1/2 stars. It starts out a bit slow and the characters aren't quite full of the depth I often seek, but it is enough to keep me wanting to know what happens to them and how they change and grow. There is more than one character here that is primed for huge leaps in growth and I really want to see it happen. This book is also full of adventure and a sense of exploration that I think that not only older YA but younger YA and MG readers would enjoy. I really want to know what is next for our characters in the next 2 books.
I received this ARC from the publisher and no compensation for my review was given.

13 comments:

  1. I hope that now you have a lot of questions you'll have some answers in the next one. I'm curious to see what you'll think about the second one.

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  2. The beginning of the book confuse me! I guess cause you get put right in the story that it took me a while to catch one. Once I did! I Loved it. Thanks for sharing ;)

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    1. You are right, it did sort of start. I enjoyed this one as well.

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  3. Hmmmm. I think I'll wait to see what you think of the second book in this series and find out if those with the potential for growth rise to meet it before I give these books a try. I so adore characters who grow by leaps and bounds throughout a series, so I'm glad you at least see the promise of that in this first book!

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    1. I really do see that promise and I don't think I'm going to be disappointed. They did grow through knowledge in this one.

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    2. I'm so glad you enjoyed this one, Melissa! I've been anticipating it for awhile, so I'm curious to see what I think of it. I'm thrilled to hear about character growth, so I'll be looking forward to that for sure. Fantastic review! :D

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  4. I had this on Friday Forecast and was curious about it. I always like books that show tremendous growth so this would be a good series to check out. Thanks for the heads up!

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  5. Never good when it starts a bit slow, it just drags out the rest of the book for me

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  6. I've never been a huge fan of "Epic Fantasy" and that's sort of what I categorized this one as... Bet it even has a map in the front!!! ;)

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  7. I really want to read this as I loved Antony's previous book, Five Flavors of Dumb. I remember him talking about this one a couple years ago when I had him on the blog. A slow start tends to be typical for series books so I'm not sure it deters me too much.
    I had this from NetGalley but it won't let me read it. It must have expired right about the time they finally approved me.

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  8. Hmm not sure about this, though it does appeal to me, I like elemental powers.

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  9. I don't hear so many things about this book, but I like the concept of this book. I think I will give it a shot, despite the lack of character depth.

    Mel@thedailyprophecy.

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