Category: ELEAH Enterprises

Elysian Field by L.M. Fry

On By JolieIn book review, ELEAH Enterprises1 Comment

Elysian Field

Title: Elysian Field

Author: L.M. Fry

Publisher: ELEAH Enterprises

Date of Publication: March 1st, 2017

Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Number of pages: 327

POV: 3rd person

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Book synopsis (via Goodreads):

Elysia Feldon lives an idyllic teenage existence. Her biggest concern is whether her best friend, Rhys, is in love with her childhood nemesis. That is until an invading tyrant takes everything she holds dear. Her father and Rhys go off to war, her village is attacked by raiders, and her home is burned to the ground. Alone and afraid, she struggles to survive until she meets other refugees. Together, they create a hidden sanctuary in the mountains and make a stand against the invaders. Tales of their escapades spreads, and the legend of the Shadow is born.

My review:

Elysian Field is a dystopian YA fantasy that takes place just outside of Washington D.C. The book follows a 16-year-old girl as she goes from a carefree innocent girl to a hardened woman who is determined to avenge her village after raiders decimated it.

I thought Elysia was kinda a brat at the beginning of the book. All she cared about was hanging out with her best friend, Rhys, avoiding her childhood bully, Nicolette, and trying to learn the healing ways from her mother. She found love with Rhys but that was very short-lived. Everything changed when all the men between the ages of 16 to 60 are drafted to fight in a war against raiders from the north. Then Elysia was the person who took care of her mother and 2 younger brothers. When the Mayor of her village came home and tried to warn them about the raiders, he was ignored. Which made me go, really. The guy comes home, tries to warn everyone and he is ignored/written off as mad.

I felt awful for Elysia when the raiders came. The village was razed to the ground, people burned alive in their houses and the dead burned in the middle of the town. I wanted to cry when she found one of her brother’s charred body in her house and then realized that she lost everyone. Her father, her mother, her boyfriend/best friend, her brothers in a single night. She was the only person from her village who escaped the raiders. She was also injured and saved by twins, Malia and Sofia, who had been held captive by Rogar, the leader of the raiders. It was stumbling upon a group of raiders who have had captives that they came up with a plan to rescue the captives by poisoning the raiders.

When Nicolette and Darius showed back up, I was waiting for the fur to start flying and for the other shoe to drop with her. Talk about a girl who was insecure…Nicolette was. She seriously annoyed the ever-living out of me when she was in the book. Now, it was mentioned that Rogar sent someone to spy on Elysia and it didn’t take me long to figure out who it was (want to find out who…read the book).

I was surprised when Elysia was kidnapped and given to Rogar. I shouldn’t say I was surprised that she was kidnapped, it was who did it and how it was done that surprised me. Who she met while she was in his palace (aka the White House) and what she sees sets the tone for the rest of the book.

I liked the romance between Rhys and Elysia. It was sweet and if things hadn’t happened the way that they did, then I do believe that it would have gone places. But the romance with Darius was the one that I think Elysia needed.

Now there is a huge twist in the story that took me by surprise and I kinda went “No way” when the book ended. I am interested to see where this twist is going to go in the next book.

The end of the story was pretty interesting and again, like I said in the sentence above, I am pretty interested in seeing where this is going to go in the next book.

How many stars will I give Elysian Field: 4

Why: I really enjoyed reading this book. I liked that you could see Elysia’s transformation from a teenager to a woman. I also liked that the author created a semi-love triangle. There are some aspects of the story that I am really interested in seeing where they go and who the new enemies will be. I inhaled this book, reading it in 1 day. Can’t wait to read book 2!!

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Older Teen

Why: Violence

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Escape Aether (The Trinity Key Trilogy: Book 2) by L.M. Fry

On By JolieIn book review, ELEAH Enterprises, Non ARC3 Comments

Escape Aether: A Teen Steampunk Novel (The Trinity Key Trilogy of the Aehter Series Book 2) by [Fry, L.M.]

Publisher: Eleah Enterprises

Date of publication: March 30th, 2016

Series: The Trinity Key Trilogy

Into Aether – Book 1 (review here)

Escape Aether – Book 2

Save Aether – Book 3

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Steampunk

Where you can find this book: Amazon

Goodreads synopsis:

Valera longs to escape her sheltered life and overbearing mother. She just never imagines that her opportunity would arrive after being kidnapped.
Now she has a decision to make: face a world filled with danger and discover her own power, or return home where it’s safe and live in a gilded cage.

My review:

What an amazing 2nd book of the Trinity Key Trilogy!!

Escape Aether starts right where Into Aether leaves off, Valera being shoved off the airship platform. Julia kidnapped Valera because she believes that Valera can help her merge the rest of the Trinity Key. After saving Valera, they head straight away to Subterria. That’s where Julia thinks that her father had kept her part of the Trinity Key. Unfortunately, Subterria is in the middle of a civil war, caused when Julia’s father attacked Harmony’s Circus and Harem of the Horrific. While they are there, they meet up with Marcus Corvus, Valera’s step-uncle. Who was even eviler than I remembered in the first book. It is in Subterria that Valera starts harnessing aether and discovers that she can use/control heat.

Then the book shifts to Theo, who is still in Aetherland with her mother, father, Victor, Vivi, Nessie, and Victoria. Theo had discovered that she could cause storms and control lighting. She can also speak to Valera in her mind, but that link has been muted for some reason. The only reason that she knows Valera is alive is that she can still draw on aether. If Valera were dead, then she wouldn’t be able to draw on it. She makes the decision, with Victor and Nessie, that she is going back to Subterria to get Valera back. They get to Subterria shortly after Julia and Valera but get held up after Theo is attacked by Rufus Corvus. She is saved from him (and well, he was pushed to his death) by Victor and Benji, the strong man of Harmony’s circus. His death was awful. I had dreams of being crushed beneath gears for a few nights after I finished the book.

While they are there, they find out that Valera is willingly with Julia and that upsets both Theo and Victor. Valera does apologize to Theo and she wants Theo to tell her family that she loves them.

I’m sorry Theo. This is something I have to do. Tell my family that I love them.

They also find Titus, Victor and Valera’s stepfather, in the dungeon and decide to take him home to Victoria. When they arrive home, they are met by members of the Elder’s guard, which Theo takes out with aether. After she is taken into custody, she is charged, by the Elders of Aether, with heresy and treason. All because she and Valera combined their two keys.

On the Julia and Valera front, things aren’t going as well. After finding out that her father didn’t have the key, Julia decides to head to Boulder, Colorado. She is looking for a town called Goldsville. That is where her father’s vault is. While they were out on their adventure, Marcus finds Goldsville and where he thinks the vault might be, Azure Springs. So they head off to there.

Not going to go much into the book after this point. But I will say there is so much packed into the last half of the book, that it was hard for me to put down. Also, to see Julia and Valera’s transformations during the book was excellent.

I had started off the book not liking Julia. But as the book went on, and I read more and more about her life, I began to feel bad for her. Let’s say that she had it rough.

Valera had been hidden from the world by an overprotective mother and it showed. By the time Marcus came into the story, she was starting to develop a backbone. Her interactions with Marcus made her stronger.

The ending was not what I expected, but it was perfect. Not everything gets resolved and there are even more problems. I can’t wait to read the next book and see how the trilogy ends!!

How many stars will I give Escape Aether? 4

Why? A well-written steampunk/dystopia/fantasy. Very vividly written with great world-building, this is a series that stays with you even after you are done reading it.

Will I reread? Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends? Yes

Age range: Teen

Why: Very clean. No sex (just a few kissing scenes with Theo and Victor). Mild violence and no language.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**