Talisman of El

Author: Alecia Stone
Goodreads Rating: 4.01
My Rating: 4
Pages: 364
Reviewed by: Nicole


I saw a few different people talking about this book on Goodreads so when I came across it on Netgalley, I figured why not give it a try since I love to try new books and this one seemed interesting. I was right and it was a really fun story. 


Goodreads Synopses:


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.


My review after the jump.
I really enjoyed this book. It was super cute especially the ending. Through the whole book I kept getting this Alex Cross vibe which was great because I loved that book. It was a little slow to get through, but that isn't really saying much since it took me about three days to read while dealing with that graduation business.


I thought that the mythology part of the book was really fascinating but also confusing. It didn't make sense to me that they were an advanced magical people but at the same time they had street lights and out types of power. There were a lot of confusing names that I wasn't sure about but that wasn't that big a deal. 


I liked to watch the romance bud between Alex and Charlie. I kinda miss that young teen budding romance that they had together. It wasn't that predictable when trying to figure out what would happen next, but at the same time there were moments that seemed to catch me unawares.


I thought that this book fit in well for the middle grades, because it seemed to have all of the staples of that age group I felt the sort of moral about fitting in and being an individual and standing up to bullies were strong lessons. 


I felt that Derekin was the most out of place character in the book. For him to be characterized in his own words as a spoiled rich kid with a passion for photography, he felt more like a children's psychologist in training. He was constantly on Charlie about how he was feeling and how he shouldn't feel pressure or take any of this to heart and it just didn't seem to fit with his characterization.


For that to be my biggest problem, this book was pretty great. It hit stores on Sunday, May 20th, which means that you can go get your copy now. And I suggest that you pick it up for any young teen in your life that loves fantasy.