Book Babblings

Eleventh Elementum by Val Richards and J.L Bond 

The Nitty Gritty: Skylee is a girl that is given her destiny by her long dead father on the day of her mother's wedding. I would call that a great inheritance, but the young heroine struggles with the responsibility of having a destiny and the power. Not everyone can have a Uncle Ben like Peter Parker to help guide them.

So with her S-Men (shameless Big Bang Theory fan. If you are too you will get the reference) she is stepping into a world that she didn't know existed and that is a steep learning curve. Two forces go to battle for control of the world and magic and Skylee has to get in where she fits in.



Opening Line: Time had run out.

What's the 411: So this the first book that I was given for strictly for my review. And I have to say that I feel supremely special. I'm even wearing my little Minnie Mouse ears I got from Disney World just for the occasion.

Hmm wish I could say that this was going to be a good review. Well no let me rephrase that. I wish I could say that I really enjoyed this book. Mildly entertained would be a better assessment.

Usually when it takes me more than 50 pages to get into a book I put it down and that's the end of the story, but since I was given the book and asked to give a review I put on my big girl panties and finished the book. Its never a chore to read a book so all in all it was an enjoyable experience. I must say that the book teasing the authors did was borderline frustrating. Sure you don't want to give everything away on page one. What's the point of going to page 500 in that case, but at the same time even a good burlesque dancer knows when its time to remove the big feather and show us the goods.

Teasing can be fun, it can be titillating. It can pull an audience to the edge of its seats and have it panting for more, but when that 'more' just keep slipping from their fingers that audience can turn violent. While I would never get violent with a book I can certainly get peeved.

I just wish the authors would have found that perfect balance between titillation and revelation a little sooner.

The Good: I love a good elemental story. Even if it takes you a moment to realize that is what the story is about. I am a rabid Avatar: The Last Airbender fan. So much so that I've dressed up as Toph on more than one occasion. Those pictures will never see the light of day so don't bother asking.

I thought this was going to be a dystopia sort of book and though I loved Hunger Games and I tolerated Divergent I'm sort of over the dystopia genre right now. Maybe next year I will get back into but right now its not my favorite fantasy genre. So kudos to Elementum for not going down the route.

The book is a fairly easy read. Almost like the shallow end of a pool when you don't want to get your hair wet. Well maybe that's just black women, but sometimes all you want to do is paddle around in three feet of water just to cool off and not get your hair wet. Eleventh Elementum is that book. Something to cool you off on a hot summer day. Or even the perfect summer by the pool book. Nothing hot and heavy or utterly superficial.

The Bad: Well that first thing that really irked me was the main character name Skylee. First she should likes one of those annoying little girls on Toddlers and Tiaras. The reason for her name is to commemorate her father and The Event. Which is well and good, my sister was named after my dad. She ended up with Jacqueline. One of the finrest First Ladies in the history of the United States carried that moniker.

I really feel that a lot of these new YA books are doing a real disservice to the teenage population. Now I know its been awhile since I was a teen, but I still remember what it was like to go through that age and I don't really remember being that...hmmm chaotic. The only emotional default that Skylee has is mistrust. She doesn't trust anyone so she keeps secrets from everyone. Even when holding onto those secrets is destroying her life.

Every YA books highlights the worst of the teenage mindset and tries to make that out to be the redeeming quality of the character. Sure everyone has flaws and faults and thats what makes a character great. No one hates a Mary Sue more than me but there needs to be a balance struck somewhere. Hermione Granger fro all her know-it-allness still had her faults, but her faults were used to humanize her. Her intelligence and her faithfulness were the driving forces for her. In this book it seemed like Skylee's trust issues were the thing that we were supposed to identify with. Yes I have reservations about new people that I meet, but I trust people till they give me a reason to mistrust them. Not the other way around. Skylee operated under the impression that the world owed her something before she would extend her trust. That gets annoying surprisingly quickly.

The little group of heros...though not sure that is the correct word, but there it is, took a little long to gel. Still not sure if they even really did. If Skylee is supposed to be the ultimate savior, still not sure on that front, then she is going to need a good support system and I'm just not sure if she has that. Or even if she if she is going to trust them enough to allow them to be that for her.

The writing is a bit clunky. The same phrases are repeated in several places on the same page. almost like the authors created the perfect phrase that sounded so pleasing the ear that it made sense to just keep using it over and over again. Believe me I understand that elation that happens when you get the perfect sentence. Its a high that as an author we keep chasing. Sometimes that chase leads us down a dark alley and some pirate with a eyepatch beats us up and all we can remember is our name. Still as wordsmiths I think we can do better than just repetition because it sounds good.


My Final Say: Not sure if I can get into the series as this is the first book, but maybe just maybe I would read it to see if Skylee can work herself out and be the girl the authors are hailing her to be.