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Publication: April 25th 2013
by Dragonfairy Press
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Synopsis:
The countdown clock reads ten days until the end of the world. The citizens are organized. Everyone's been notified and assigned a duty. The problem is . . . no one knows for sure how it will end.
Energy-hungry Mages are the most likely culprit. They travel toward a single location from every corner of the continent. Fueled by the two suns, each Mage holds the power of an element: air, earth, fire, metal, water, or ether. They harness their powers to draw energy from the most readily available resource: humans.
Ashara has been assigned to the Ethereal task force, made up of human ether manipulators and directed by Loken, a young man with whom she has a complicated past. Loken and Ashara bond over a common goal: to stop the Mages from occupying their home and gaining more energy than they can contain. But soon, they begin to suspect that the future of the world may depend on Ashara's death.
The countdown clock reads ten days until the end of the world. The citizens are organized. Everyone's been notified and assigned a duty. The problem is . . . no one knows for sure how it will end.
Energy-hungry Mages are the most likely culprit. They travel toward a single location from every corner of the continent. Fueled by the two suns, each Mage holds the power of an element: air, earth, fire, metal, water, or ether. They harness their powers to draw energy from the most readily available resource: humans.
Ashara has been assigned to the Ethereal task force, made up of human ether manipulators and directed by Loken, a young man with whom she has a complicated past. Loken and Ashara bond over a common goal: to stop the Mages from occupying their home and gaining more energy than they can contain. But soon, they begin to suspect that the future of the world may depend on Ashara's death.
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AUTHOR BIO
Alicia Wright Brewster is a mild-mannered lady of average height and above average paranormal obsession. By day, she works in an office. At night she is an author, an electronics junkie, and a secret superhero.In her virtually non-existent free time, she loves to read, watch movies, and eat food. She is particularly fond of the food-eating and makes a point to perform this task at least three times per day, usually more.
Author Links:
Website: http://www.aliciawb.
Goodreads: http://www.
Facebook: https://www.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
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My Review
Echo is a stellar read. It's action packed and suspenseful. It's well written and makes a few political statements, in my opinion. I'm once again stepping out of my box a bit with a science fiction read...and it was well worth the step! :)
The end of the world is coming in just ten days. The Council has enough power to rewind time in order to figure out the cause of the end and then try to circumvent it. They will do everything in their power to stop the end.
Ashara is placed on the Ethereal task force. The bizarre thing about it is that she didn't know she had power to manipulate ether. She accepts her position in order to play her role in saving the world, of course. She wasn't planning on having her ex-boyfriend as her new leader, however.
Rey, Ashara's best friend, is a Breather. He has the ability to manipulate air. He also is on a task force assigned with preventing the end of the world. Rey gladly accepts the responsibility and believes in his noble cause.
Loken, Ashara's ex-boyfriend and new leader, believes strongly in the Council and their goals. So strongly, in fact, he gave up Ashara to pursue those goals. He has good intentions though. He's trying to protect the girl he loves. And when push comes to shove, love trumps all.
This was such a fascinating book. It takes place on Earth-Two, which is similar to Earth-One. It has similar social structures and communities. I admired the reason behind the initial migration to Earth-Two. A group of people disgusted with humans' destruction of Earth-One, the pollution, and their reliance on technology. There are similar social structures based on abilities and affluence. The Council is at the top, serving to govern the populace. The elemental practitioners follow - the Breathers, Benders, Movers, Burners, Flooders, Seers, and Ethereals. Outside of these levels, people were of not much importance. There are also the Believers and the non-Believers. The Believers are the original colonists of Earth-Two who worship the two suns as gods. I found this structure to parallel not only our society as a whole, but teen social structure as well.
Echo also has religious undertones - those who believed in the gods of Earth-Two and those who don't. Those with faith who also manifested elemental abilities believed their faith improved their abilities. I also found this to parallel self-confidence - more confidence equals better ability (at least perceived).
The race against time kept the pace of the story moving and there was always something happening. There were also a few mysteries to solve such as the mysterious manifestation of Ashara's abilities. The only issues I have with Echo are the reasoning behind those that are threatening the end of the world, and the reasoning behind the Council's belief of Ashara being a threat. I felt that it wasn't explained in depth enough to be really plausible.
All in all, Echo was well paced and exciting to read. It also provides a positive message to readers about the power of conviction and self-confidence. I really enjoyed it.
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Sounds like a great book! I'll definitely have to check it out. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is a good read! Thanks for stopping by, Jessica!
DeleteBTW, you won my contest so you'll get to read it sooner than later! :)
Brandee, thank you for hosting my tour. Much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, Alicia!
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