NOTE: I am a bit behind on writing some of the reviews. I needed to take a break and rest so I'll be doing some catching up. I also have a couple of things I want to blog about so, hopefully, things will be busier up here soon. Thanks for hanging on with me!...Charlayne
Aniela is Princess of Edaion, an island where people who have magic come to live. Her father and mother rule, her brother is being groomed to take over and her sister is the prima donna of the family. There is family drama going on, and all Aniela wants to do is graduate high school, keep her orphanage school going, and find a job that will let her have time to do what she wants. But her mother has other ideas and pushes her, demands she do other things, and throws tantrums when things do not go her way.
Aniela befriends Odette, a new student who is blind and who is trying to find out what her magic is. She draws mysterious pictures and has seizures. Her brother, Leocardo, worries about her and joins forces with Aniela to find out what is going on with his sister. The deeper they go, the stranger the story gets.
This is one of two stories about Aniela and Leocardo, the other being seen through Leocardo's eyes. I did not read that one and I'm curious as to how the story changed.
This book started out slow and I found it tedious as the family dynamics were settled and all the beginnings of the story were laid out. Since this is YA, I'm not sure that it will hold a young reader's attention to the point where the story begins to get really moving with all the challenges to Odette and Aniela. There were questions about how Odette and Leo came to be in Edaion and what Leo's own magic is.
I think that some of my questions might be answered in the other book. I wonder if this story might have been better presented in a double-book issue instead of separate books. Especially as it is a YA, it may be confusing to readers to have to look up and buy two books to get the entire story.
I do think the author has a good grasp of writing and flow, it was easy to read and everything seemed to be in place. On the publisher's point, I had a problem with the typeface being san-serif (arial) and it seemed that random words were bold and larger type for no apparent reason. This was distracting and can only be placed on the head of the editors and publishers.
I liked it, I just wish I got the whole story.
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