Review: An Epic Prequel To A Great Series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 25, 2013
I've always been wary of prequels to books, mostly because they can either frustrate your desire to read more of the books or excite you to love the characters more. Honestly, if the word prequel is attached, I tend to avoid them completely. I am pleased and excited to say that I am glad that I read this one.The Battle for Acranon Major by Alexandra May is a sort of backstory for what is happening in the book Elemental: The First. In the prequel, you are introduce to a unique world that is different from our own. These people, Elementals, are far more advanced than any human civilization and yet there is something about them that lingers far enough back in history that you know they aren't modern day characters. It doesn't take long before you are attached to the characters, to the world, to their lives.Halíka Dacomé is the center character for the story, bringing a character that I've been familiar with since I read Elemental: The First. Instead of viewing her as a hardened warrior, a vicious being, and an Elemental without feeling, I learned just how deep this character actually was. I never understood what was so amazing about her until I read this. She has so many dimensions, so many roles to play in this hierarchical culture she was born into. Her main quality as a character in the beginning is loyalty -- loyalty to her father, loyalty to her people, and loyalty to the person everyone expects her to be. It becomes clear as the story progresses, loyalty must be the first thing to go. She is a beautiful character because of how well developed and written she is. In such a short story, I became attached to her and fell in love with her story.Now, I really want to focus on the aftermath of the broken loyalty. The first thing I noticed was the fact that those closest to her were often the source of the greatest betrayal. Her friendships were her greatest weak point in her armor and it was definitely exploited throughout the story. She is such a strong character but I think her loyalty stems from trust which often connects with innocence to the betrayals of friends and family. I wanted to shake her for being naive and yet I cannot place any blame on her because her innocence and naivety reminds me a lot of myself.Don't get me wrong when I say that the betrayals frustrated me (although they were important to the plot) and that the relationships she created were a source of anxiety for me. Who do you trust? Who can you trust? That is something that the main character battles with throughout the story. I love the characters that made up her group of friends because just like the main character, they are as well developed and interesting. I was sad to not learn more about her father or the bad guys of the story but of course, the story was short. The romance in the story was good and I loved the forbidden twist to it which I know can only lead to greater heartache. All of the characters that played a part in the story were great and definitely made a great impression on me.Woohoo! I get to talk about my favorite thing: the world the author created. There is nothing quite like when an author executes a fantasy world and manages to make it connect so well with the reader's opinion of a fantasy world. I never once thought, "Oh this world is weird," or "This simply isn't believable." I completely bought into the world and could make connections between Earth and this world the author had brought to life on the page. I love when stories do that.This story is an epic prequel to what I believe will be a great series, especially if it continues to follow the pattern of this story. It can be read prior to Elemental: The First or after but it definitely fills in a lot of blanks that are left at the end of Elemental.