Sunday, February 7, 2010

Blog Tour Stop & Book Review--The Aelf Club: Unity by Stuart Brooke Richardson

About the book:

Sara DeVere is special – but until her thirteenth birthday she had no earthly idea why. As she enters the eighth grade, Sara begins a mind-bending journey into the unknown – a journey that will eventually lead her to her destiny with a group of extraordinary friends, and with two unique teachers who come to share a deep secret with Sara. As the storyline progresses, our heroine is faced with some of the greatest tests one could possibly endure – not the least of which includes falling victim to the evil of a rapidly growing global threat. But in the company of good friends her will is strengthened, along with her growing knowledge of ancient Secrets – and the wisdom to use such knowledge in the fight for justice. “Unity” – the first volume in “The Aelf Club” series – contains many facets, combined in such a way as to create a tantalizing ‘rabbit hole’ for the hungry reader; it is at once a coming of age story, a historical saga, an immense spiritual journey, a manual of higher learning, and an epic adventure full of international intrigue and nail-biting suspense! For those diehard fans of Harry Potter and other such mystical adventures, “Unity” is sure to please – offering an alluring combination of elements that will entice the imagination and stimulate the mind. This is a tale of immense proportions…

My review:

This book held such promise in the beginning.  The concept is very unique and interesting, but it was hard to get past the things that were wrong with the book for me to really enjoy it. 

Number 1--I could not help but focus on the overuse of the word gazed, "gazed into each others eyes" or "she gazed around the room" or just plain "gazed" was used on almost every single page of this book.  The book is 310 pages so that's almost 310 times that this word was used!

Number 2--Too much detailed description of the processes of going into the "Moongate" and about the "Unity-Point."  It almost made me feel like I was reading a science book.  Yes, there was adventure in this book, but it was too heavily weighed down with these technical descriptions to enjoy it.

Number 3--The explanation for all the extraordinary persons in history such as Leonardo Da Vinci or Plato is that they were all Aelfs.  So in this book, no ordinary human beings are extraordinary.  If you're gifted, then you're an Aelf.  If not, you're just a lowly human.  While I realize that this is just a fantasy, I still had a hard time swallowing the concept.

I really hate when I do not like a book and I hate it even more to write a negative review.  But after starting this book over two weeks ago (310 pages people!) and just now finishing it, I have to chalk it up to the fact that I was just not that into this book.  If I were to recommend this to anyone, I would say it might appeal to a very young adult or older child because it does have adventurous potential.  This is the first book in a series and I hope that future books will be better.

This book was read in participation of a blog tour for Other Shelf Tours.



FTC Disclaimer:  I received this book to read and review for a blog tour and will not be retaining the copy.  I did not receive any monetary or other compensation.

1 comment:

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  1. I wouldn't be able to get over those problems either, I'm afraid. The overuse of one word, alone, is enough to make me tune out. C'mon people, if nothing else, pull out a thesaurus!

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