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Kyra: The First Book of Enchantus
Kyra is a teenage girl who has problems fitting in with school and friends and just her whole life in general; even her family seems odd. But when she closes her eyes at night, she is transported to another world, a place of wonder and joy, where she finds her real friends, and everything she's ever wanted. And then the day arrives when she is finally transported to this world, and it is just as incredible as she ever imagined. The people already know who she is, and when she meets the beautiful queen, she can't get over how much she looks like her own mother; even the queen’s husband looks just like her father, which is just weird. But her memories of her old life and old world are starting to disappear, and she has no idea why. Nevertheless, Enchantus is just as wondrous as it was in her dreams. But everything isn’t perfect. There is an evil in the world of Aisis Lip that threatens not just the kingdom of Enchantus, but every living thing in the realm. Its name is Jolus the Malignant and it wants to bring an end to everything, to enslave everyone, and become ruler of all. Kyra is the Chosen One, and she knows it’s up to her to face this Jolus the Malignant and try to save Aisis Lip.. Enchantus is everything she imagined it would be, and she doesn’t want to leave, but is she willing to risk her life to save everyone and everything? Is she willing to face this creature and try to kill it? Is she willing to fight for the once place she feels she truly belongs? She is just a teenage girl after all, even if she is the Chosen One. Can she really do it?
238 pages, Paperback
First published August 28, 2012
8 people want to read
About the author
Alex C. Telander
15 books172 followersAlex C. Telander was born and grew up on the south coast of Spain. He moved to California for college, attending California State University, Long Beach where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. He took a number of writing classes with many talented professors, working closely under Lisa Glatt (author of A Girl Becomes a Comma Like That and The Apple’s Bruise: Stories) and Brian Alan Lane (author of Cat and Mouse: Mind Games With a Serial Killer, as well as being a well-connected and respected writer in Hollywood). He also worked for four years at the student-run newspaper, the Long Beach Union, starting as a staff writer, then News Editor, Literature Editor (which he created, getting contacts and requesting review copies from publishers), Associate Editor, and in his last year as Editor-in-Chief. He has been reviewing books for over a decade and in 2008 started BookBanter, an author interview and book review website. BookBanter is now a popular spot for many readers, featuring new interviews twice a month, and new book reviews weekly.
Alex has been writing for over fifteen years. In that time he has written a number of short stories; “The Shadow in Black” was published on the Late Late Show website. He has completed a young adult fantasy novel, in addition to Nothing is an Accident. He is currently working on the first of four books about post-apocalyptic worlds, as well as a historical fiction epic set in the early Middle Ages called Wyrd, which is the Old English word for fate.
In January 2012, he self-published his first ebook, Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers, and he plans to publish a second short story collection in March 2012. He has also completed a young adult fantasy novel, which he plans to publish in July 2012.
In his spare time, Alex likes to read a lot, hang out with friends, and when he can, travel just about anywhere.
Alex has been writing for over fifteen years. In that time he has written a number of short stories; “The Shadow in Black” was published on the Late Late Show website. He has completed a young adult fantasy novel, in addition to Nothing is an Accident. He is currently working on the first of four books about post-apocalyptic worlds, as well as a historical fiction epic set in the early Middle Ages called Wyrd, which is the Old English word for fate.
In January 2012, he self-published his first ebook, Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers, and he plans to publish a second short story collection in March 2012. He has also completed a young adult fantasy novel, which he plans to publish in July 2012.
In his spare time, Alex likes to read a lot, hang out with friends, and when he can, travel just about anywhere.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 17, 2012
When I began reading this, the first thing that came to mind was the fact that this story is a bit cliched. Yes, the main character is the chosen one who needs to save the whole magical world from falling into the hands of evil...blah blah blah! After reading, I took a break from it and then started it again the day after. When I got to the part where "The Guide" showed up, I sat up and read furiously. Although the idea and concept was similar to many books that I have read, the romance between the main character and the main character guy interested me. The sad part was that there wasn't much romance in this book, although there were many sweet scenes. There were a few grammar mistakes and sentences that made no sense or repeated but it was still an enjoyable book, so I decided to give it a 3.7. It just wasn't "special" enough to reach to a 4.
January 21, 2013
Review: KYRA: The First Book Of Enchantus
I have received and read this book in return for an honest review of the book.
The book starts off with a “Foreword” a dragged out recount of how the book came to come in the hands of many readers today. The “Foreword” should be cut down or saved for the end of the book as an “Authors Note”. I feel the “Foreword would be more fitting as a “Authors Note”, for many recount there trials, tribulations with in that point, for then after getting to get a understanding for the authors work, we can understand how piece of work if we may or may not like has come to be and what they may have felt what journey was took. A dedication, a mention of names in the beginning of those who helped along the way, almost like a footnote would work of you want to dedicate a body of work, or mention someone or a few people .
On to the book itself, the story starts off itself with a map of Enchantus, the map is created to give the reader a visual, an idea of how Enchatus is separated and where the land and border lies. The second smaller map is a slightly cruder to the first; the image is slightly at an angle. The lines overlap and are not cleanly placed over the image. When having a design in a book that relates to a previous you want to create connections, the second portion of the map should be the same as the first and a connection should be lead from the first image to next so it’s the second portion of the map is a lead over from the first.
The story Kyra: The First Book of Enchantus a young girl Kyra has dreams of a land, a “imaginary” world that has their own language called Enchantus, with their own language called Aiso. Enchantus is a kingdom located in the world of Aisis Lip. We can see the location of Asis Lip and the kingdom location on the map in the beginning of the story. The word of Asis Lip, the world is vibrant and Kyra’s dreams started off as once a week and she did not want to leave this beautiful place. The more she went in, the more people she got to know, they all had the same/ similar tan toned complexion, with fruit trees with fruits size of oranges but as green as watermelons and the meat within a soft blue color. In the beginning of the story we know not of much of the Kingdom of Enchantus and the world of Aisis Lip, we know not much of Kyra and her strange dreams that she has of this world only that she remembers clearly the day they started is when she turned 15 so we are also unsure the true age of Kyra, if she is speaking past tense or she telling the story as it is happening. The story line is not fully developed, neither are the characters.
At a point the her dreams become more than a dream and she is asked to go to Asis Lip, because for “years” since she was 15, she did not belong in the real world and she needed to save the kingdom and Queen Anita of Enchantus from Jolus the a’ Malignant. I feel there is a lot going on in this story, some would call it “cliché” that a young girl dreams about going to another world and turns out to be true, but name something that has not already been done, can you do that. No I don’t think so, for me it’s what you can do with it, and this tale this story underdeveloped, the characters do not have substance. We do not know when in the time of this young girl’s life this is supposed to be happening and who has always told her she is different and belongs in another world? We know little to nothing about her family in 225 pages, and nothing about the people she meets or barely anything about the land she discovers and visits once a week for a year until she finally her dreams become real and she is asked to save this realm Asis slip. I feel this book would have more potential with further development of the characters and the story.
I have received and read this book in return for an honest review of the book.
The book starts off with a “Foreword” a dragged out recount of how the book came to come in the hands of many readers today. The “Foreword” should be cut down or saved for the end of the book as an “Authors Note”. I feel the “Foreword would be more fitting as a “Authors Note”, for many recount there trials, tribulations with in that point, for then after getting to get a understanding for the authors work, we can understand how piece of work if we may or may not like has come to be and what they may have felt what journey was took. A dedication, a mention of names in the beginning of those who helped along the way, almost like a footnote would work of you want to dedicate a body of work, or mention someone or a few people .
On to the book itself, the story starts off itself with a map of Enchantus, the map is created to give the reader a visual, an idea of how Enchatus is separated and where the land and border lies. The second smaller map is a slightly cruder to the first; the image is slightly at an angle. The lines overlap and are not cleanly placed over the image. When having a design in a book that relates to a previous you want to create connections, the second portion of the map should be the same as the first and a connection should be lead from the first image to next so it’s the second portion of the map is a lead over from the first.
The story Kyra: The First Book of Enchantus a young girl Kyra has dreams of a land, a “imaginary” world that has their own language called Enchantus, with their own language called Aiso. Enchantus is a kingdom located in the world of Aisis Lip. We can see the location of Asis Lip and the kingdom location on the map in the beginning of the story. The word of Asis Lip, the world is vibrant and Kyra’s dreams started off as once a week and she did not want to leave this beautiful place. The more she went in, the more people she got to know, they all had the same/ similar tan toned complexion, with fruit trees with fruits size of oranges but as green as watermelons and the meat within a soft blue color. In the beginning of the story we know not of much of the Kingdom of Enchantus and the world of Aisis Lip, we know not much of Kyra and her strange dreams that she has of this world only that she remembers clearly the day they started is when she turned 15 so we are also unsure the true age of Kyra, if she is speaking past tense or she telling the story as it is happening. The story line is not fully developed, neither are the characters.
At a point the her dreams become more than a dream and she is asked to go to Asis Lip, because for “years” since she was 15, she did not belong in the real world and she needed to save the kingdom and Queen Anita of Enchantus from Jolus the a’ Malignant. I feel there is a lot going on in this story, some would call it “cliché” that a young girl dreams about going to another world and turns out to be true, but name something that has not already been done, can you do that. No I don’t think so, for me it’s what you can do with it, and this tale this story underdeveloped, the characters do not have substance. We do not know when in the time of this young girl’s life this is supposed to be happening and who has always told her she is different and belongs in another world? We know little to nothing about her family in 225 pages, and nothing about the people she meets or barely anything about the land she discovers and visits once a week for a year until she finally her dreams become real and she is asked to save this realm Asis slip. I feel this book would have more potential with further development of the characters and the story.
January 13, 2013
Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book for my honest review.
This book is riddled with things that made it not only difficult to read, but incredibly frustrating. First there are typos, weird paragraph breaks, repetitive lines, unrealistic speech from both Kyra and Jason, unnatural speech from just about everyone else, unnecessary sentences that don't add anything to the story, 'Jolus the Malignant' used multiple times in one sentence, a teenager (16 year old) riding around on her dog (I find this unrealistic and kinda creepy), and to top it all off, I simply didn't find the storytelling engaging. Luckily, mostly of these things are easily fixed.
Then there were the inaccuracies - one being Kyra says it has been 364 days since she started dreaming of Enchantus, however it has been MORE than one year so therefore it should be 366 days. The most annoying inaccuracy I found was the fact that the author says the ocean was blue because it was reflecting the sky. NO! The sky is blue because it reflects the ocean! (Okay I was wrong too. Please see comment below for the REAL reason the sky and the ocean are blue.)
Other little things throughout the book also annoyed me - such as: 'Good evening my revolting creature..." - this is not nearly as insulting as it can be or is meant to be.
So while the author is incredibly descriptive, this sometimes hampers the story telling as the details might not be necessary or informative, or generally detracts from the point. I do applaud the idea behind this story - not necessarily that original- but pretty good anyway. Unfortunately all the things I listed above were just too distracting and the story didn't draw me in. Combined, it made this book really hard for me to read :(.
This book is riddled with things that made it not only difficult to read, but incredibly frustrating. First there are typos, weird paragraph breaks, repetitive lines, unrealistic speech from both Kyra and Jason, unnatural speech from just about everyone else, unnecessary sentences that don't add anything to the story, 'Jolus the Malignant' used multiple times in one sentence, a teenager (16 year old) riding around on her dog (I find this unrealistic and kinda creepy), and to top it all off, I simply didn't find the storytelling engaging. Luckily, mostly of these things are easily fixed.
Then there were the inaccuracies - one being Kyra says it has been 364 days since she started dreaming of Enchantus, however it has been MORE than one year so therefore it should be 366 days. The most annoying inaccuracy I found was the fact that the author says the ocean was blue because it was reflecting the sky. NO! The sky is blue because it reflects the ocean! (Okay I was wrong too. Please see comment below for the REAL reason the sky and the ocean are blue.)
Other little things throughout the book also annoyed me - such as: 'Good evening my revolting creature..." - this is not nearly as insulting as it can be or is meant to be.
So while the author is incredibly descriptive, this sometimes hampers the story telling as the details might not be necessary or informative, or generally detracts from the point. I do applaud the idea behind this story - not necessarily that original- but pretty good anyway. Unfortunately all the things I listed above were just too distracting and the story didn't draw me in. Combined, it made this book really hard for me to read :(.
January 10, 2013
I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review so to be honest I liked this book overall but I can not say that I loved it, and now I will explain my 3 star rating.
Okay so first of all I loved the main character Kyra she was an outsider in her world and although she loves her family she never felt like she fit in and then she finds the world of Aisis Lip with its small towns of people and the great palace of Enchantus and in turn she finds herself on a Journey destined to happen for thousands of years, which she accepts right away and I liked that there wasn't alot of her sulking and complaining like in other books I have read. There were a few other good characters and the existence of her family in both worlds in some form was an interesting addition but I found that the introduction of Doci the guide was what picked up the story for me and the two of them on a journey they never expected and finding themselves together they were very cute together. I also really really enjoyed the world that the author built it was a magical place full of wonder that I wish I could visit.
Now all that being said I will say that I had a hard time getting through the first half, it was what I would call a bit wordy and some of it I could have done without. I also found the shift from points of view to be choppy it was kind of weird how they would be in separate sections and then all of a sudden they were all at once it was not hard to follow but it made it a bit awkward . So I guess overall this was a good book and again I want to thank Alex C. Telander the author for allowing me to read and review this book.
Okay so first of all I loved the main character Kyra she was an outsider in her world and although she loves her family she never felt like she fit in and then she finds the world of Aisis Lip with its small towns of people and the great palace of Enchantus and in turn she finds herself on a Journey destined to happen for thousands of years, which she accepts right away and I liked that there wasn't alot of her sulking and complaining like in other books I have read. There were a few other good characters and the existence of her family in both worlds in some form was an interesting addition but I found that the introduction of Doci the guide was what picked up the story for me and the two of them on a journey they never expected and finding themselves together they were very cute together. I also really really enjoyed the world that the author built it was a magical place full of wonder that I wish I could visit.
Now all that being said I will say that I had a hard time getting through the first half, it was what I would call a bit wordy and some of it I could have done without. I also found the shift from points of view to be choppy it was kind of weird how they would be in separate sections and then all of a sudden they were all at once it was not hard to follow but it made it a bit awkward . So I guess overall this was a good book and again I want to thank Alex C. Telander the author for allowing me to read and review this book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews