Review: Couldn't Put It Down!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 29, 2014
This was another fast-paced, exciting, can't-put-it-down-until-you've-finished-reading-it-novel by Melissa Pearl. It is the second book in the Elements Trilogy. If you haven't read the book for the first book Unknown, you might wish to at least read the review here, first. This is not a stand-alone novel.Unseen picks up in the icy mountains in a snow storm where Unknown left off. Jethro, Kyla and the two element children Mya and Adamar are headed toward Doran where they are looking for the wind element child.Back in Taramon, Athra continues to watch Princess Kyla's progress through the use of the magic map rather than trusting in the prophecy. He also continues to secretly train his army of soldiers in the dungeon of the castle in preparation for taking a stand against the dark forces of Ashan.As Kyla, Jethro, Adamar and Mya locate the wind element Cori and the fire element Eshron, Kyla and Jethro discover their love for one another and struggle to deal with that and Kyla's betrothal to Athra. Kyla fights within herself over her belief/unbelief in the prophecy and in Oron.I really liked how Ms. Pearl so beautifully brought the basic elements of the Christian faith into her novel. All the parallels are there. Oron willingly gave up his life for the people just as Christ did. Oron said he would return, just as Christ said He would, and so on. But it's not just a book for Christians, because it's also a book about the basic fight of good against evil, of light against dark.The children also had to work together at times to defeat their enemy. I appreciated that message. We are not islands. We need each other and cannot exist in isolation. There were so many great messages woven into this novel.I enjoyed the character development of Kyla and Jethro. Kyla does not really want to be Queen. She does not love Athra, but accepts the arranged marriage as it is her duty and she knows that Athra will be a good king, and he is a good man, but she feels like it is a prison sentence. She'd much rather run away. She blames Oron and is angry at him for all that she has gone through in her life. Then she comes to see that it had all been part of Oron's plan and she had to make a choice - to follow her own plan for her life, or to follow Oron's plan for her life.Melissa Pearl has done it again with another 5 star novel that will reside on my favourites shelf. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who loves fantasy novels.Thank you to Melissa Pearl who provided a copy of her book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.This review was published on my blog at Shelf Full of Books [...]