Elemental by Antony John

Reading Level: Ages 12 and up
Hardcover: 320 Pages
Release Date: November 21, 2012
Publisher: Dial
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Library
Series: Unknown

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Amazon Summary:

A mysterious and powerful fantasy adventure from a Schneider Award winner

In the near future, most of the population of the United States has been destroyed by the plague. The few remaining survivors live in colonies on the barrier islands off the East Coast. In one colony near Cape Hatteras, almost all the members have elemental powers and can control wind, water, earth, and fire. All but sixteen-year-old Thomas. When the Guardians, the powerful adult leaders, are kidnapped by pirates seeking to take over their colony, it is up to Thomas and a small group of teens to save them and preserve the mysteries of the island.

Fast action, strategy, and mystery churn together into a bold and fresh fantasy from an award-winning author.

 

My Review:

I started reading Elemental with super high expectations, because any book that involves people controlling the Elements (Water, Fire, Earth, Wind) always intrigues me. There is a huge shortage of books out there that have this awesome theme! In fact, the only novel I can think of with this theme is Storm by Bridgit Kemmerer. If you asked any one of my friends, they would tell you without hesitation, that I have quite an obsession for it! Even my favorite anime/cartoon, whatever you want to call it, is Avatar: The Last Airbender. Lovee that show! xD Sadly, Elemental kind of fell flat for me.

Elemental, is told in the point of view of a boy named Thomas. Thomas was the only boy ever born without the ability to control a specific element. Because of this, he was ridiculed, pitied, and looked down upon by the majority of his clan. The only person who would ever touch him was his dad, and that left Thomas feeling alone and abandoned. One day, when an unforeseen hurricane hits the island that they inhabit, the Guardians send the kids to safety on Hatteras Island, a land that still held the remains of a former civilization. On the run from pirates who wish to overtake their island, the five children, each who harness a separate element, and Thomas who controls the rarest of them all, unearth unbelievable and unthinkable secrets that the Guardians have spent decades hiding.

This novel wasn't exactly bad.....it was just boring. The protagonist, Thomas, had spent years being made fun of and treated horribly because he had no element, and yet he never let anger take control of him. He fought back when someone he cared about was being unfairly judged, and I admired him for that. However, apart from that, Thomas just seemed bland and uninteresting to me. At first I thought it was because Elemental was one of those rare books told in a guy's perspective, but then I thought that that couldn't be right because the Percy Jackson series is one of my fave series of all time. Ahh Percy *Swoons*. Anyways....back to the subject at hand, Thomas wasn't a character that I despised.....but I never connected with him either.

The romance.....was just no. For all of you people who hate love triangles...you have been warned. In my opinion, I have nothing against love triangles. I might even go as far as saying, I look forward to them. However, there is a distinct difference between a well written love triangle and one that was unnecessary and just jammed into the story. For example, The Iron King by Julie Kagawa. That was a successful love triangle because there was no obvious answer. If I was in the Meghan's (Protagonist) position, I wouldn't be able to choose, because both love interests were amazing in their own way. Every time that Thomas accidentally brushed his hand against Alice or fingered a bracelet around Rose's hand, I literally facepalmed and had to set the book down before picking it up again. The romance between all of them was just so cheesy.....and awkward.

The pacing was okay I guess. There was usually something happening and I was never skipping pages just to get to the good part. However, I wasn't too crazy about the sentence structure. I felt that the words were too choppy and stilted. Because of that, I had a hard time getting engrossed into the story or picturing myself in the protagonist's shoes.

Overall, Elemental was just a mehh book for me. Don't get me wrong, the idea was great and I really do think that there should be more novels out there that focus on people who have control over the Elements. But the characters fell flat and I never connected with them or understood why they took the actions that they did. I have no doubt in my mind that many people will obsess over this novel, but I just wasn't one of them.

Cover- 5/5
Hero- 3/5
Romance- 1/5
Action- 3.5/5
Comedy- 1/5
Overall- 3/5