Review: A wonderful YA fantasy!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 2, 2014
“Flight of Life, #1” by E.L. Todd is a well written and fast paced YA novel.Calloway a high school senior lives with his Aunt, Uncle and cousin Breccan after his father was mugged and killed.  Living with his relatives puts a burden on their finances and they go without a lot of extras.  Calloway feels dissatisfied with his life but, in spite of this he is a sensitive and caring young man.  He feels strongly that there is good in everyone.  Based on a letter he finds in a trunk that belonged to his father, he goes to an old abandoned library to search for a book called the “Kirin”.  He is discovered by the Hara-Kir and barely escapes the library.  He shows the book to his cousin who talks him into asking Easton, a classmate of theirs, for help.  Calloway, Breccan and Easton form a group of three to fight against the Hara-Kir and save humanity.  They meet in secrecy at the old library to translate the “Kirin” in hopes of discovering knowledge that will help them win this battle. Easton is able to decode some of the “Kirin” but isn’t able to decode the whole book.  She convinces Calloway and Breccan to ask her older sister Weston for help.  Weston only introduced Easton to the language of the “kirin”, the Hara-Kir and the Anti-Life as she wanted to protect her sister from harm.  Weston introduces them to the White Wing, a secret society of warriors trained in combat against the Hara-Kir and the Anti-Life.  Weston is the leader of this group.  When she discovers that Calloway has Anti-Life objects in his possession she distances herself from him and the group in distrust.I only have one comment to make to the author.  I feel the characters of Breccan and Easton were not developed enough to enable readers to become engaged in them.  Perhaps chapters told in their perspective would provide more depth to these characters. I finished this book not sure why Breccan become angry towards Calloway or sarcastic to Easton.  Easton just came across as different but I had no real understanding about her as a person.I look forward to Book #2; I can't wait to find out what happens next in this battle against the Anti-Life.  I also hope to find more character development of Breccan, Easton and Weston.I want to extend my personal thanks to the author, E.L. Todd, for providing me with an opportunity to be one of the first readers to read and review her new series.  It is always a pleasure to discover new authors and watch their growth as a writer.