“My name is Larkspur, and I am an Elemental.”
My people use the power of the earth to sustain life and defy our enemies. I should be at my father's side as a royal princess. But as a half-breed, bastard child, that isn't going to happen.
I've been accused of attacking the queen, my wicked stepmother, and my life is suddenly on the line. I have only two options left to me: banishment, or training to become one of the King's Elite Guards, an Ender.
Option one will kill me.
Option two is meant to break me, but is the only way to survive.
Did I mention I have no power like the rest of the elementals, and my connection to the earth is worth next to nothing?
Could things get any worse? Of course they can. Welcome to being an Elemental.
My review:
I was provided this ARC copy by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Following with my policy of not revealing any spoilers, I will stick to what worked or did not work for me when it came to this story.
Recurve is my introduction to Shannon Mayer's work and I want to start out by saying I'm really glad I agreed to review it because I found myself lured into Larkspur's world from beginning to end. Connecting with this character and her struggles is fairly easy. She's likable and in spite of being an elemental, she's so human deep down. I'm kind of disappointed I haven't read any of Shannon's stories before this one since I missed out on meeting Lark sooner, but thankfully I can now amend that by continuing to follow Lark in her fight, and her new adventures.
Like the good, interesting reads you will find hidden secrets, and lies that must be uncovered, but you will have to read on to uncover those. Having never read any books with Elementals before, I found this one to be a refreshing escape from the genres I normally delve into. Surprising for me was the fact that the plot was not what I expected, and continued to catch me off guard as I flipped page after page, completely changing my expectations and transforming them into something so much better.
Overall, I found this story well put together, intriguing, and with a kick-ass heroine capable giving even the toughest of villains a run for their money.
Looking forward of more by this author.
About the author:
Reading and writing from a very young age I learned early on that stories built in a fantasy world were where the fun was at. Reading books by Robert Jordan spurred me on and it was the first real epic fantasy that I fell in love with. After that came Piers Anthony, Melanie Rawn and into my older teen years, Anne Rice.
It was in Rice’s novels that the idea of urban fantasy really bloomed for me and it was about that time that my grandmother was letting me read her Harlequin Historical novels. (Okay, actually she was slipping them to me when my mother wasn’t looking, but let’s not get picky.)
The combination of love stories and darker fantasy stuck with me and it’s now not only what I gravitate towards to read on my off time (Kelly Armstrong, Laurell K Hamilton, Kim Harrison), but has become the style I love to write in.
Besides writing, I love to spend time with my family and animals, horseback ride, garden and hike with my husband.
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