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Four Sigils have been fated to save humanity from the evil known as the Void that is killing everything in its path. These young people have no idea they’ve been chosen until the signs of the Sigil appear on their flesh. Vasserine Deloria wears her symbol around her neck. The princess has the ability to speak to animals and to sing to dragons. Pim the Knife, Reev the Wizard, and Estra the Archer round out their merry group. Opposing them is the dark lord, Draedan Sifferus, who has placed a price on their heads. When the four are summoned to the forest, they hear the voice of the first wizard who sends them on a quest. One adventure after another follows until the gang faces Sifferus himself. Have they learned enough to defend themselves and conquer evil?

Billed as episodes like a TV show or movie for the YA market, the chapters read like any novel. The difference is that in many of the scenes, you view the foursome in action as though you are watching them from the outside. You are not inside a central character’s head. For this reason, I did not form an emotional investment in this story. I missed having one character with whom I could identify throughout the book. I also felt frustrated by the ending, which requires you to read the sequel to get the answers to your questions. It’s like a cliffhanger season finale on TV.

If you understand the concept, this plays out pretty well for the YA market. For pure action and adventure and superb world building, Age of the Sigil will capture your imagination. It’s appropriate for its age level and hopefully can grip young readers enough to encourage them to read more.… (mehr)

Phoenix Earth: Season One is not your ordinary Science Fiction story. It is published by 7-11 press and is more of a TV series put into book form then a regular novel. The concept behind 7-11 press is to read their books in the time it takes to watch a movie. Phoenix Earth: Season One is divided up into 13 episodes with each episode being one chapter. Even when you look on 7-11′s website, it gives you a movie rating and an estimated reading time of 296 minutes. Seeing that Phoenix Earth was a novel that had a very original concept behind it, I was really excited to read it.

Phoenix Earth is set in the year 2582 but the story begins in 2012. The earth started to go through a series of catastrophic events and NASA formed a group of scientists whose mission was to preserve earth. The group was called the seeders, their mission failed but their technology was used to terraform Mars. Eventually Earth died and an airborne plague started to wipe out life on Mars. The colonists had no choice but to use a giant space ark to find a new home. They found a new planet named Malakar. The Malakarans were familiar with earthlings and let them make a home there.

Over time the Earthling’s seeder technology was used to save Malakar from the same fate that Earth suffered. The two species lived in peace for hundreds of years and through interbreeding started a new race called Maluans. Pure blooded Malakarans decided that they no longer wanted earthlings or Maluans on Malakar so they decided to force them off the planet. Phoenix Earth is the story of the Maluans and Earthling’s struggle to survive.

Phoenix Earth is an epic space opera that reminded me of the movie serials that were popular in the 1930′s and 40′s. There is a lot of action in this story, along with great characters and several exciting cliffhangers. The plot hits on a variety of subjects such as prejudice, politics and genocide. The story moves along like a freight train and doesn’t give you a chance to catch your breath.

I did enjoy this book but while the concept might have worked as a TV series, it didn’t work as well as a novel. In the beginning so many characters were getting introduced, I felt like I needed a program to keep them all straight. Also it seemed like there was too much going on in the story. This book was called season one but there was enough material here that you could have easily divided it into three seasons and given a lot more detail. For instance I would have liked to learn more about life on Malakar. I also wanted more time spent on the colonists getting their civilization set up on earth and I wanted to know more about the planet eaters and the Ascendants.

Despite my complaints about Phoenix Earth, I think this book is still worth your time. Reading the story does make you feel like your watching a movie. There are a lot of great ideas here, I just wanted a little more explanation behind everything and more time to get to know the characters . There is currently a season 2 available and I would really like to see where they take the story.… (mehr)