This one’s for my friend, author known as Ivy Logan, writer of young adult fiction straddling fantasy, romance, and adventure, with a proud four books to her name already.
This is the second book in the series, known as the Breach Chronicles, that straddles the world of humans on planet Earth and the world of sorcerers and immortal beings in interstellar planets like Htrae (earth spelled backward, so perhaps a metaphor for humanity starting from the wrong side!).
This second book tells the story of Amelia, a descendant of the sorcerer's family. Living as a human, unaware of her magic, growing up tortured and persecuted by her ruthless uncle Liam, the cruel dictator of the South American nation Peradora. The story revolves around how as she grows through her troubled childhood, and teenage years, after her parents' murders, finds herself and her purpose in fighting for the cause of the citizens of her country, who have been victimized and subjugated for years by Liam and his political compatriots. Finding and losing people she loves throughout her journey, she finds her partners in crime, toward eventually winning against the bad guy. Or does she?
The book has an easy storytelling style, that fits perfectly for a new teen or young adult reader, who is discovering the notion of immersing in a book and a world created by the imagination of the author. For new readers, it helps in making them access the idea of reading at an earlier age, without feeling bored or intimidated.
Written for the city-living-privileged-teenagers, the storytelling reflects perfectly the self-indulgent and emotionally turmoil-ridden world that they inhabit. Both when Amelia is a victim and also when she is the hero. The emotions she goes through would be relatable to every adolescent we know. Self-doubt, attraction, loyalty, friendship, loneliness, aspiration to be something more, idealism, desire to change the world, doing what’s right, struggling, winning, and quite often losing. Yet constantly driven by the promise of a tomorrow that will be far better than today.
The narrative style of using the first person throughout the book is refreshing. Telling the story from the perspective of different characters is a great way to make the reader feel the different characters and therefore feel the story from different views. However, the author misses this beautiful opportunity to tell different stories. As a result, whether it’s Noah (Amelia’s love interest) or Adrian (Amelia’s first crush) or Liam (the bad guy) telling the story, the emotions and the inner world of the narrator feel no different. And so we experience the whole story in the same tone and manner, which is that of the author, or perhaps of Amelia, leaving the reader a little distant from everything that’s happening.
The book also misses the opportunity to surprise the reader with new stories. For a generation that’s flushed with content on OTT platforms and social media, a lot of the situations feel like we’ve seen them before. Humans with unexplored magic potential, shape-shifters into beasts, a mass rebellion in the mines against the evil ruler, jealousy linked to romance, et al. All of it leaves you craving the possibility of having explored perhaps a new emotion, a new plot, or a new character. We’ve seen Amelia before, the poor-little-rich- victim underdog that saves the world. We’ve known Noah, the strong and silent lover with demons inside that he fights constantly and despite himself falls in love, forever protective of her. We’ve witnessed Adrian, the misunderstood friend-zoned first crush that has gone to hell and back, and will always be the support that Amelia needs.
However, what works in the book is that we’ve never seen all of this together before, and told in a nicely interwoven simple way, with no pretenses. That comes as a breath of fresh air and makes for a light and uncomplicated read for our very complicated times. This is not a book that’s trying to make a point. This is a book that only wants you to go with the flow and enjoy being an adolescent (I know that’s oxymoronic for adolescents, but wait till you get to my age!) And for this simple vision of the book, we cheer on Ivy Logan to write more without feeling the pressure to grow up. For, as we know, being a grown-up is so overrated anyway.
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