The Elementals: Sansul: A Witch Saga

by Natasha Jardim

Peaceful centuries pass after the War Against The Angels.

On the night of the lavish Samhain Festival, the people of Wilmota have not a care in the world. That is until the lights of Sansul Fortress come to life, and with them, its inhabitants.

The Darkness is coming…

Thrown into the chaos of a bloody massacre, Adrianna, a young student, tries to escape only to be captured and imprisoned in the fortress. Abandoned by their neighbouring clans, Adrianna and her people must languish as prisoners to them. The Vahir.

Stripped of her strength by the Darkness, Adrianna’s only comfort comes in her will to live. With her best friend gone, her parents missing and her clan on its way to organised annihilation, Adrianna forces herself to survive the dangers and deception that surround her every move only to find that everything she once believed was fact is fiction, and folklore is indeed, true.

Which version of history should she choose to believe? Adrianna must figure out who her true enemies are, whom she can trust, and which side of two battling factions to help in order to avoid another inter-Plane war.

Genres: Fantasy, Witches, Paranormal

506 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 10, 2013

About the author

Currently away writing more books...

Reviews

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, okay. I don’t even know where to begin.

You know that feeling you get when you come across a book for the first time and you immediately do everything you can to get your hands on a copy? While you eagerly await the arrival of this book, your expectations and anticipation continue to intensify till that day finally comes when it arrives in the mail and you get to run your hands all over the cover, taking every single detail in. Then you open up the book and start reading, and the farther you get into it…the closer you get to that unfortunate realization that the story is just one big disappointment? Well, that sure didn't happen here.

My attachment, my fondness, my passion, my endearment—whatever you want to call my love for this book—grew the more I devoured the story. My expectations were met and then some.

I would like to start off by saying that I’m that type of reader who has a very short attention span, so books that completely keep me interested throughout the whole story come few and far between. I tend to stay close to books that are 300 pages at most. This book is almost 500 pages and yet I had no problem reading this in one sitting. Natasha Quaresma did a fantastic job at keeping me captivated all the way to the very last page.

The Elementals - Sansul is very much an action-driven story that easily immerses you in a world of witches, demons, vampires, faeries and much, much more. The romance in this story isn't quite as prevalent as the fantasy aspect, but rest assured, the sexual tension between Adrianna and Daniel is off the charts. The build up of their love/hate relationship will leave you wanting more.

Natasha had been working on this story for seven years, and it shows! The plot is thoroughly constructed. The characters are well-developed. The writing flows seamlessly.

I am so incredibly grateful to have won this book. I can’t even thank Natasha enough for sharing her story. It truly, truly is a beautiful book inside and out. I can’t wait for the sequel!

[Cat · Rating 2 out of 5]

As full disclosure I feel compelled to say that while I am somewhat voracious in my apetite and taste for books of all genres, I had to admit to myself halfway through The Elementals - Sansul that perhaps I simply wasn't the target audience for this particular style of story telling.

It reads like it is aimed squarely at the YA crowd and with its immediacy and punchy pacing it shares that certain filmic quality a lot of the more unbiquitous YA novels have, but with a distinctly Fantastical bent. Natasha Quaresma eschews the need for explanation or magical reality when it comes to her magic writing and asks the reader to simply envision a world where witches and warlocks (who seemingly represent all common folk) have a base repetoire of abilities that become tied to a natural element they discover an affinity for as they age. Our heroine, Adrianna, 18 years old and a promising student, has yet to choose her Element before she is abducted, along with most of her village in a vicious Vampire attack.

Alas, for me, the problems began, even this early on. With barely a few pages to read before hell broke loose, I simply didn't have any time to build or feel any sort of connection with Adrianna or her friends and so the attack fell emotionally flat. The motives of the Vampires, while conceivably explained in further volumes, were totally oblique, and the actions of the resistance (while at least more transparent) made little sense in response.

The overarching narrative describes a time of relative peace (after a war involving the Vampires, their Demonic benefactors and a mysterious other race refered to only as Angels) being shattered by the attack on Adrianna's village, but frequent discussions about other Vampire clans allude to the fact that they are not all in agreement about this course of action, or in fact anything at all. Frankly, the Vampires felt about as confused as me.

Adrianna herself is your typical YA self-posessed girl with a deep mystery (naturally) that has yet to fully implement itself. She's something of a trouble magnet and is both caught and rescued a preposterous ammount of times (more often than not by Vampires - the romantic subplot bares its fangs here) and while Quaresma may be playing her cards close to her chest, you can't help but feel it would have been nice to see Adrianna unleash at least a little of her supposed potential in this first book.

I have to wonder if there is a tighter draft of this book (there are frequent formatting and grammatical mistakes throughout) in Quaresma's mind, but she has unleased her Element now and it remains to be seen if she can focus it more for the second part of the series. For now, while her pacing is spot on and her knack for building an interesting, visually rich narrative environment is uplifting, it feels at the expense of relatable characterisation and coherant sequential plot beats.

[Scar]

Sounds exceptionally fascinating

[Mairéad (is roaming the Undying Lands)]

{Feb 18th 2014} UPDATE

Oh man, this book sounds like something I'd truly love to read! Always been fascinated with the concept of Samhain! [gets busy entering the giveway] o:

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! Give me a vampire story with fated mates any day of the week!

[Heather Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that keeps you up at night because you can't tear yourself away. I love the characters and get very lost in their story to the point that I can't wait til book #2 comes out. Thanking my lucky stars it's a series.

[Jennifer Goins · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a good book I took me awhile to read it and understand it but I like it a lot. thank you for the book.

[Kagama-the Literaturevixen]

The excerpt ended on quite a cliffhanger. I want to read the rest now because it really was exciting

[Summer Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this book! I am going to need more from this author ASAP.

[Elliot Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible journey! I was honestly engrossed from the first page and left breathless at the last.