Review: Good fantasy for middle schoolers
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 16, 2013
Title: Dark Flame RisingAuthor: J. A. PedersenGenre: YA fantasyReview:Dark Flame Rising, written by J A Pedersen, is kind of like a modern fantasy book (urban fantasy?)  Keegan, the main character of the book, is quite the computer whiz so she's naturally surprised to find out her parents practiced the art of the Wisdom--a form of magic that involves working with the energy of the universe.  Keegan's parents died in a fire when she was young, so she has been raised by her grandmother (who happens to practice the art of fortune telling to make a living).  Throughout her entire life, she has moved around countless times--she stopped questioning her grandmother why they did so after not receiving any answers.  Oh, and one more thing about Keegan--she doesn't believe in magic. She's a sciencey kind of person.However, when her grandmother receives a calling to move to Turtle Spring--the town where Keegan's parents died--Keegan quickly comes to realize magic is real--and all around her.  To quickly sum up the plot, there are 4 basic elements: earth, water, wind and fire.  the 4 elements must be balanced for all the energy in the world to be harmonized. However, some practitioners of the Dark Wisdom (also known as the Dark Flame) have steadily been gaining power and the inhabitants of Turtle Spring (people who practice the Wisdom) have to reunite 4 magical objects to restore the balance.By reuniting the 4 objects, the world would be "purged" (ie. the Great Flood and Noah's Ark).  I found the plot to be pretty solid.  I mean, I've read other books with similar plots, but it was still solid and plausible, especially for a fantasy genre book.Okay, so there were two issues I had with Dark Flame Rising that probably inhibited me from enjoying the book as much as I would have liked: Keegan's character and the descriptive writing.I don't know how to better word this, but I really didn't connect with Keegan. Naturally, this poses a bit of a problem considering she is the main character of this book.  I find her moods to be very...random. One second she would be fine and the next she would be crying. I mean, yes there was reasons to why she was crying, but it all happened very sudden.  Second of all, I wish some more background info was provided about her computer hacking skills.  The story opens up with her hacking into some government, top secret files, yet no information is given to how she acquired such skills (aside from the fact she liked working with computers.)  Last but not least, I didn't really feel for Keegan's relationship with Cody (boy she meets in Turtle Springs.) It seemed kind of unreal/spontaneous without reason. For those of you who don't know already, insta-love really doesn't work with me. So the insta-love between Cody and Keegan really wasn't my cup of tea.I also felt that much of the writing was telling instead of showing. Actually, let me reword it: there was a lot of showing and telling. What I mean by that is there would be a paragraph of description and then a wrap up sentence summarizing the descriptions.  I found the wrap-up sentences to be unnecessary because if the author already went through all of the trouble to describe the setting, there really is no need to state what the setting is...kind of like stating the obvious.  Here's an example:"There was no desk, only a large rectangular conference table surrounded by dented grey filing cabinets and piles of multicolored binders and folders...the walls were papered with flyers and post-it notes. these accompanied a calendar...in the corner sat a trash can, overflowing with disposable cups, paper plates...Jacob's office was a workaholic's cave."Yes, I know that the office was the office of someone who worked a lot from the paragraph description above the last sentence.  Also, I felt that there was a lot of details that weren't needed.  Would Keegan really be interested in the color of the sunset? A piece of writing advice I once picked up somewhere was: Only include details that your character would be interested or move forward the story.Funnily enough, I found that my favorite POV to read from in Dark Flame Rising was from Kenna's point of view.  Kenna also happens to be the villain of the novel.  I found that her personality was a lot more believable.  I also liked her narration/voice much better than Keegan's...I don't know what that says about my character, lol.Alright, let's move onto the pros of Dark Flame Rising. One of the highlights of the novel was definitely the historical facts and urban legends incorporated into the story. from the Bermuda Triangle to the testing of the first nuclear bomb, the author provides interesting tibits of information that ties in with the novel.Also, the illustrations in the book were very lovely :-)Review: 3.5 stars***free copy was given in exchange for an honest review***