Tour Stop Review: TALISMAN OF EL BY ALECIA STONE

About the Author

Being a fan of fantasy fiction, Alecia Stone's novel was inspired by her love for paranormal mysteries. She loves to write for it is a means of escaping her reality if only for a moment. Talisman Of El is her first book. She lives in the England, UK with her family.

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Title: Talisman of El

Author: Alecia Stone

Expected Publication: May 20 2012 by Centrinian Publishing Ltd.
ARC taken from Netgalley

Book Description:

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 is the first time I heard an author named Alecia Stone (I know Alicia Keys hehe) so as like with any other new books I am hesitant to read it. It was sort of an assignment given to me by UnseelieNerd. I would've not taken this book if it was not rated good at Goodreads. Also there are a lot of positive comments so  maybe that's why I pushed myself to read it.

How do I start this. It's a book with a lots of positive and also some negative parts. But I think the positives outweigh the negatives.

Let's start with the faults I saw in this books. I have read a lot of adventure type young adult books and the first thing this book lacks is a map. :D If you are gonna situate the story to a new world it is a big plus plus for me as a reader if there is a map so that I can fully imagine myself the places the protagonist travelled. 

It also did not help that at the start of their adventure there wasn't a lot of good description of the place. That was my biggest problem on the first half of the book. I felt that it lacks the proper description of the places and also the situation. It could've used some more elaboration on the surrounding, the feelings of the characters and also the mood of the scene. But I am glad this was not the situation on the latter half of the book.

And then my last problem is that there are some scenes which are fast-paced but needs to be elaborated more and then there are some scenes which have too much elaboration but it is not needed to the story. (did I make any sense?) But it is just my point of view, maybe there is a bigger purpose and that is why the author needed to make it that way.

What I like about this book is that it managed to integrate "Elements" and "Angel into one concept. Elements like Fire, Water, Wind and Earth is present in the story as this is what divides the Angels. When I read about the element part I immediately thought of Avatar!! :D (specially now that Legend of Korra started to air this Saturday) And then much to my surprise the term avatar is also used! haha. I said to the book, now were talking! This is getting interesting.

And then I think the other world created by Alecia is very unique and very interesting. The other earth via here description is a mixture of Earth, Heaven plus some sort of magical aura that is very enticing to the mind. I really like how she mixed this parts together. 

And then the magical Angels with their transformation to animals like Phoenix very cool! Just like an anime or manga.

In terms of the characters, the Protagonist Charlie is a good character with also a good personality. His buildup is good within the story and leaves him with lots of room for improvement for the succeeding books. I like that he is not omnipotent. He also has his faults as a human being and as a main chacter (because some major characters seem to be to good to be true like he or she cannot be defeated)

With that being said I think Alex and Richmond are throwaway character FOR NOW. I think they will have bigger parts in Book 2 but for now I think they don't have a standout and unique quality. Richmond is only there for comic relief and Alex is only their for love interest. As for Derkein the fact that he is the father figure of the group at such a young age makes him interesting.

SPOILERS! sort of

Just maybe a suggestion. I just wish that maybe the consequence of saving Derkein is not revealed until the ending of the book. It could've made the book much more interesting with some more thing left open. 

All in all I give this book 3.5 not because it bad. I just felt that it was still not yet the best it just average for me. BUT!! a big BUT. I will definitely continue reading this series and will look forward to book 2.


I give this 3.5 Whales