Introducing: Kit

Who:

Kit Delmare

Realm:

Brizan

Protector?

Yes. Kit is Lorelie's younger brother. Remember her? Lorelie is the young Brizan Protector in Fire who was Controlled by the Helians. Kit's powers were only just beginning to develop when the Protectors were called to the summit. He's still a Protector-in-training, which will prove helpful for another Protector-in-training we all love.

Important because:

He and Lorelie look after the Arcans while they are in the Brizan Realm.

You will love him because:

He's struggling to get to grips with his powers and has a number of mishaps.

Introduction:

Beside Lorelie stood a tall boy, whose own sandy blond hair contained only a few streaks of electric blue.

As we stepped ashore, his eyes rested on me - or rather my hair - and I wrung my hands anxiously. On his face was a wide grin of excitement and awe.

``Welcome to the Brizan Realm." Rowan smiled warmly as he stepped forward to greet us. ``Euphrasia and Lorelie you already know, of course," he said, gesturing to the two girls, who smiled politely. ``But this is my newest recruit, Lorelie's brother, Kit." He indicated to the boy who had smiled when he saw me. He was still grinning now, his lively blue eyes glowing with excitement. Kit was a little shorter than Brae and built in the same, muscular way as most Brizans, with glowing, windswept cheeks. He wore dark trousers, high boots and a black shirt, which made him look more like one of the sailors from the ship than the Protectors he was standing beside, in their flowing blue clothing.

You can find out more about Kit and Tristan when Water is released next Saturday. 

Introducing: Tristan

Who: 

Tristan Terra

Realm:

Sephan

Protector? 

Absolutely - like Erica from Fire, Tristan can create earthquakes, communicate with animals and cause plants and flowers to grow.

Important because: 

Tristan has big plans, for himself and his Realm. He is fed up with the Sephan Realm being a laughing stock and wants to show the other Realms that they should be taken seriously.

Strengths: 

Don't get on the wrong side of his bow and arrow.

But bear in mind: 

Tristan has a definite dark streak.

Introduction: 

The speaker was tall and wiry, with a shock of bright green hair on the top of his head and darker, mint coloured eyes. He held a bow in his left hand, a second arrow in his right.

Despite his slight build, he stood like a warrior, brave and firm, and he met Erica's gaze without a hint of fear. He wore the same homemade clothes as the other Sephans, in the earthy colours of the forest. On him, they looked more like a uniform than a necessity, right down to the fur trimmed boots he wore on his feet.

Intrigued? You can meet Tristan in 13 days, when Water is released. 

Water - 19 October 2013

That's right. Water has an official release date! It will be available for sale from 19 October 2013. 

To celebrate, here is a sneak preview of Roxy's first chapter.

Out in the garden, it could almost have been two months ago. The weather was as unchanging as it ever was in the Helian Realm: sunshine, limited breeze and hot. The vegetation on either side of me was thick, green and covered in vibrant, exotic flowers. The scent of pollen was sweet and intoxicating in the air.

And I was alone.

Which was what I needed, but it wasn't what I wanted.

The memory of a low, accented voice was sharp in my mind. I could imagine him coming up behind me, asking me what I was doing and sitting down, uninvited, to chat. I could see him after his fight with Cinaer, fired up, magnetic... and shirtless. And in front of me, rescuing Melaina from the tree she had got herself stuck in.

He should have been here by now, a niggling voice in my head protested unhelpfully. It had been nearly four weeks and there had been no sign of Brae. He'd had more than enough time to get the others safely home and come back for me. But he hadn't. I was starting to think that maybe he never would.

I sat down on the warm, green grass and ran my fingers through my hair hopelessly. Ordinarily, I would have torched a nearby tree, letting calmness wash over me as I watched the flames flicker round the branches, slowly choking the life from them.

I scratched at my wrists, which were red raw from where I had attempted to pull off the gold manacles which subdues my powers. They were heavy, consisting of interwoven swirls, creating an effect that was almost like solid lace, spanning three inches up forearms from my wrists. Difficult to hide in a Realm where the climate didn't allow for sleeves, but they didn't look like anything other than an odd jewellery choice; gold cuffs were popular in Kalme, so if anyone asked, they could easily be explained as a gift from Cinaer.

They were tight though and chaffed my skin whenever they moved. Cinaer and my mother were only concerned with secrecy, however, not my comfort. Mother didn't want the family being shamed if news of my `indiscretion' got out; Cin knew that I was the best chance he had of sitting on the Helian throne, so he needed to keep me around. They both needed me kept under control.

For the hundredth time that day, I tried to make sparks flare in my hands. I didn't feel right without them. I wasn't me.

"I thought I might find you out here." My ears pricked at the noise, my head turned automatically. But it was the wrong voice. Just as familiar, but far more deadly. Cinaer.

"What do you want?" I growled. I was not in the mood for Cin's taunts.

"Now, now, Roxy. Play nice." To my disgust, he sat down beside me.

As if he had been reading my thoughts as he sauntered over, he continued: "You're not still moping around waiting for your Prince to come and save you, are you?  Because that would be incredibly tragic."

I forced myself to keep looking straight ahead. There was no point rising to the challenge, not while I still had his manacles on. The repeated burnings I had endured over the past few weeks had scorched that fact into my mind.

"He left you, Roxy, like I said he would. He wasn't really interested in you. He pretended to be, so that you would help him and his Air-Head friends to escape. He used you. And you let him. Now how weak does that make you, I wonder? It's a good thing I took your powers away - you didn't deserve them."

I lost it, forgetting my earlier patience, I punched him straight in the jaw. The unexpected blow sent him reeling, but he quickly made me regret it.

What do you think? I love the transformation Roxy undergoes in Water - loosing her powers makes a big difference to everything about her personality, as she no longer has a quick fix to ensure that everything goes her way.

If you are as excited about Water as I am, please share this post on Twitter, Facebook or Google +. Email me a link and you may be one of two people to win an ARC of Water as thanks!

Water's cover is here!

What do you think? I love it, but I'm obviously bias! It sticks very much to the theme of the first book, with the blurred figure and the emphasis on the elemental power, but has a distinctly blue tone to it. The photography was all done by my amazing younger brother; we had a lot of fun taking various water pictures while emptying a paddling pool this week. I have also updated the font from Fire, after reading a few interesting articles like this one. Like with Fire, the fill for the title is an image of water, rather than a photoshopped gradient.  

I have now updated the Water page on the site, so make sure you check that out to read the synopsis. You can also read the synopsis and an exclusive excerpt from the first chapter, over at Once Upon A Series, who are running a feature on the Elements of Power series today. 

Please let me know your thoughts on the cover in the comments and feature it on your own blog if you are a fan of the series (in return, I will be more than happy to send you a copy to review!)

Water Update and Angelfall Review

Water is nearly finished! The cover will be revealed very shortly and an official release date will follow. 

In the meantime, here is my review of Angelfall by Susan Ee

5 Stars

“I never thought about it before, but I'm proud to be human.

We're ever so flawed. We're frail, confused, violent, and we struggle with so many issues. 

But all in all, I'm proud to be a Daughter of Man.” 

The book is amazing; I could not put it down and got through it in a day.

I loved the plot as it was very different to the other angel stories I've read. Angelfall is a fusion between an angel story and a Zombie apocalypse. It was dark and edgy, but also offered an interesting take on what it means to be human. I think my awareness of this might have been heightened by the fact that I am currently working my way through Battlestar Galactica, so this sort of storyline - humans surviving against the odds against a religiously motivated super-race - is forefront in my mind! 

I thought that the relationship between Peryn and her sister was very sweet and a powerful driving force in the novel. I really believed that Peryn would do anything to get her back and I liked how it was also highlighted through the twins in the resistance camp.

The romance felt very natural and progressed at a good pace. I loved Raffe, he was a strong male lead, with a decent amount of arrogance and wit (not quite on Jace proportions, but still very promising).

Peryn was also a great protagonist; she was strong and feisty but not perfect (I loved how she struggled to come up with witty responses to Raffe).

I had no idea that this was the first in a series, so was slightly concerned when my Kindle claimed to be 90% of the way through and there was not a neat conclusion on the horizon! I am now eagerly anticipating the release of book two in November.

The cover is also really striking; pretty, but also dark and mysterious. According to Ee's website, it was actually picked following a cover competition, which is pretty cool. 

This one is a must-read for fans of Fallen and Hush-Hush.

Life of Pi Review

5 Stars

"Doesn't the telling of something always become a story...

Isn't the telling of something - using words, English or Japanese - already something of 

an invention? Isn't just looking upon this world already something of an invention?"

The best things about this novel were the writing and the twist at the end. I'm not going to say anything more about the latter - in fact, I'm going to try to say very little on the plot as I think that the less you know about this novel before you start, the more you will enjoy watching the narrative unfold.

The writing was what really sold it to me from the beginning. I loved Pi's insightful observations on life, which make him seem wise beyond his years and also often made me laugh. I particularly enjoyed his initial views on different religions and the way he summarised each in a few neat points.

Life of Pi explores big themes of overcoming extreme adversity and keeping your faith despite the challenges which come your way. It also explores the idea of living in isolation and, of course, has lots of information about animals. These technical details about the life of animals, with lots of 'case studies' thrown in, was another feature of the book that I really enjoyed. Pi was an extremely realistic character; you could see a clear parallel between his upbringing in the first section of the novel and his actions in the second.

As much as I loved this book while I was reading it, once I put it down to do something else, I would often forget about it for a few days and wouldn't feel compelled to pick it straight back up. It just didn't seem as gripping as a lot of the other books I have read and the pace was very slow. Although this did allow for the beautiful language and detail which made me like the book so much; as much as a quicker pace probably would have made me read the book more quickly, I think the message and point of the novel would have been lost.

I haven't seen the film yet - I usually follow a pattern of 'Oh, that book's going to be made into a film. Let's read the book first, but wait until the film is no longer out before doing so, ensuring that I am stuck once I finish it'…

When I finished Life of Pi, I felt as though I had just read something really special. Something that I needed to sit ant think about for a little while, before starting to do anything else. I would really, really recommend it. It would also have been a brilliant novel to read while I was completing my 'Origins of the Modern Novel' module at Uni, due to the way it explores the nature of storytelling - if you are studying anything like this, at school or Uni, you should definitely read this book! 

.Kindred Dreamheart.: DAY 7: Character Fashion Face Off

The Fashion Face Off between Imogen and Avery has been posted  for Novel Fashion Week. Please check it out and comment with your opinion. Plus you can enter to win an e-copy of Fire. I would love to know what you think of the outfits:

Check the feature out at .Kindred Dreamheart.