Review: 5 Making History Real, Touchable and Seriously Swoony Stars
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 7, 2014
5 Making History Real, Touchable and Seriously Swoony StarsAs I sit here thinking about what I have just read...I applaud April White for her amazing ability to take history... make it accessible, full of intrigue and guile.... and use an edgy yet coming of age gal as our leader through it all. She has taken all the current times flavor; mixed it with deeply thought-provoking questions of the ages and blended her own brand of magic to capture our attention from the first page to the end.Her first book, Marking Time, set a stage of using time travel... a group of people who had specific powers which their descendants continued through generations. She called them the Immortal Descendants. Now I am not the talented Ms. White, so I will direct you to please read the blurbHowever, what I can and will tell you is how fantastic this second book in the series was.It is one thing to start a series and lay out the feel, characters, complete a full arc of a story and then leave the readers wanting for more...with seeds planted as to how another additional part could go. Sometimes the first books are good... but you get the feeling the writer has all these boxes they have to tick...so the current story gets lost... there is too heavy a hand pointing to the proposed secondary character to have their own book... it can be like the author has a neon sign pointing- saying "over here" flashing every time they have this character do anything. But Ms. White wasn't that type of author in the first book and so when this second part of the series happened... I was dancing for joy to see it released.What was so amazing about the style and way of writing was as I read the first couple of pages... every memory, every emotion I felt while reading the first.... came flooding back to me. The affection I held for Saria and her gutsy somewhat unpolished way of approaching things came back to me. My remembrance of the sweet new young love she had for Archer tingled in my mind and all of the complexity of the whole Traits and Powers hit full on as I dug into the book. It is very special when a reader can just fall right back into the correct mind to accept all the fantasy and time travel as if it was an everyday experience. I was able to be in the moment with Saria; I was off and running.This second book looks at the time of Elizabeth Tudor... with all of the politics, family upheaval and imprisonment and marries it against the politics, family upheaval and possible imprisonment of the Immortals. It was so smart.... the intrigue... the discoveries...and the times and how they lived.... all of it sucked you in and you wanted to know more.The main characters also focused on real life challenges; acceptance of love, willingness to truly be honest with others and forgiveness. Also the main continuing question was... are we masters of our own fate... do we have choices in our lives and what is moral...How do we live a good just life- accepting all for who they are as people and not segregate our love... be open to just love unconditionally.All of the main characters in these books are strong... it doesn't matter what century or class or sex... the gals are steel... the men are clear and good-hearted. I loved it all.So if you want to get lost in a book which mixes real life events with a story of creativity and guile... Then please...carve out sometime for something which will capture your mind as well as your heart. The great news is you can read each one and not have that cliffy hangover. Each book ends with a true understanding and conclusion. Ms. White... I am ready to go where you take me next....A gifted copy was provided by author for an honest review.