Review: You HAVE to read this book!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 12, 2013
Oh, man. I was grinning like a loon when I finally finished this book. Where to begin?1) I liked how the characters' gender roles were reversed. Rarely do I read a Para/FantasyRom book that has an incredibly strong female lead and a not-so-strong male companion. Finn is definitely soft (he cries quite a bit, he sighs and he glares. Think "Edward" from Twilight, but with much more depth and a lot less eyeliner). For the first few pages after his introduction, I had a hard time swallowing it. But as the story grew so did my love for Finn. Towards the end of the book, I was damn near cheering out loud for him.2) I liked how awesome Ella was. Ella is KICK ASS. (Sorry, no intelligent prose to describe her here.) Seriously. She grits her teeth, takes a punch, all the while making sure her man eats his breakfast and ties his boots correctly. They don't make women like Ella anymore in my opinion. It was so refreshing to see a woman who remained constantly strong and protective the ENTIRE book. I mean, all the way to the last page. Sure, she's feminine, but she's a very protective bear and Finn is her cub. With most strong female leads, they eventually buckle and the man steps in to save them. Ella wasn't having it. And I was totally digging was she was serving. On top of all of that? Thoma  found Ella's voice perfectly. All of Ella's dialogue was thoughtfully written and witty in all the right places. Ella = Winning.3) Have I mentioned how much I liked the characters? Ok, one more time then. On top of writing fabulous main characters, the side characters were all well done. Ella's boss definitely had more to him that met the eye, and Thoma kept me guessing about him to the very end. Then you have Sarah, Simon and Mike (I loved Mike, by the way). Each had enough presence on the pages to successfully draw me in deeper. You can't beat a book that offers a great story line AND a great cast of characters, which leads me to my next point...4) What a fascinating story of elves, mechanical humans and mythical worlds! Ok, I know you guys are sick of me telling you how much of a geek I am, but for those who don't know, I'm a self-proclaimed Super Geek. I'm talking fantasy books, online games (MMORPG, party of one?), Comicon, the whole works. My husband and I regularly have in depth discussions on characters in the Marvel and DC universe over dinner. So nothing lights my fire like a well thought out fantasy world and Thoma goes above and beyond. From the mythos behind the chaos to the intricately woven back story of our main girl Ella, Boreal and John is obviously written by someone who loves the fantasy genre as much as I do.Now, yes. The story did drag out a bit in the middle and Finn was so unbelievably stubborn he frustrated me during a few scenes. But the ending was well worth it. I can't WAIT to read the next chapter and I urge all my fantasy and paranormal readers to check this series out.