Jane's reviews

3.5*

Spending the summer having classes on a ship cruising the ocean was a dream come true for Jen, but after seeing a boy pushed overboard one night she realised things are not always what they seem. Not only are mermaids and vampires real, Jen also learns she is a witch and her life is about to get a whole lot more interesting! Written from Jens POV we ride with her as she learns about werewolves, elementals MES (Magical Enforcement and Security) and more importantly how to tap into her own hidden magic before it’s too late and she loses it forever.

The thing I did like about this book was the unique storyline and the inclusion of so many different ‘magical’ species. There were elementals, fire and water. Mermaids, werewolves witches and vampires, even the familiars were more interesting than the way they are usually portrayed. Each of the characters had distinct abilities, some were stronger than others but all were as important as each other .

All the characters were well developed, we found out a lot of our information from the many questions asked by Jen and I’m grateful for her curiosity! The pace of the story was quite erratic, it went from fast paced and exciting to slow and dull, I think some bits could have been missed out or compacted to keep the reader constantly engaged because sometimes I did find my mind wandering in the slow parts. Some of the waffle felt like it was there to bulk the story but it really didn’t need it and in cases like this I wonder if too much emphasis is being placed on word count. Personally I would rather have a shorter book than read 5000 words of nothingness (that by the way is a random number I am not saying there was 5000 meaningless words in this particular book!)

Elizabeth Kirke has an easy to read writing style that flows well with natural sounding dialogue and has created an interesting world with a story unlike the usual urban fantasy/paranormal YA reads of today.

Copy supplied for review.