Talisman of El
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.
(From the publisher)
Sometimes when I read the jacket description of a book it
looks like it should be right up my alley, but then when I get it home and take
it out to read, it really disappoints. Unfortunately this was one of those
times. The middle-grade, almost YA, book promised an interesting plot full
of adventure, fantasy and intriguing
characters. All of the foundations for those elements were there, but the
delivery was lacking.
The story follows a boy named Charlie who is an orphan, finding
his way through one terrible foster home to the next. He has some strange
dreams that lead him to meet Derkein, a man who is rapidly aging. Through
various plot points that were hard to follow, Charlie, Derkein and two other
friends who have little to no impact on the story, find themselves in a
dangerous world called Arcadia. Charlie meets an otherworldly race of angels
and discovers his destiny.
The plot of the book rolls along at a fast pace. This may be
why the story suffered so much. Characters were shallow and often annoying.
It's hard to care about what happens to the characters, so plot points and
dangers which may have been exciting seemed to come from no where. Often I
found myself re-reading sections to see if I missed something. Characters
converse about events you feel like, as a reader, you should know about, but
there just isn't enough back story or fleshing out of either characters or plot
to make sense of it. I enjoy when authors lead you along the bread crumb trail
to figure out parts of the future story. In this book you are told so many
details that little mystery remains. The ending is obviously leading you
towards a second instalment, but it's handled poorly so you're left feeling
very unsatisfied as a reader. Overall, a great idea that could have been
executed so much better.
**1/2
Centrinian Publishing Ltd, 2012(I received this book from the Early Reviewers giveaway on Librarything.com)
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