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The Elder Effect
'How long have I been gone?' 'Four years,' he said, moving his hands back to my arms.A sickening rush started at the top of my head and went down my entire body, leaving my knees weak as I turned my head, dropping my chin shamefully. I can't look at him! Vance kept his hands wrapped around the tops of my arms tightly. 'We've been trying to find you the whole time,' he said. 'We couldn't control it. It was only by chance I caught you. We had been trying to tunnel you—to catch your attention. I saw you a couple times, but I couldn't get you to take it. I knew you didn't understand. I thought I had lost you forever, Beverly.'In 1812 Vikoyri, Norway, an injured stranger, respectfully referred to as the Elder, bestowed a gift on the people of a small village. Centuries later they are only beginning to understand its potential and its price. Living in modern day Montana and nearly untouched by the aging process, The Elder Effect is still a mystery to them. All they know is that they can tunnel through time and space. When a dangerous stranger begins stalking the group, they realize a powerful advantage. Will Vance and Beverly bring everyone back together in time to save them? Will they be able to defend themselves against him once and for all? With an uncertain future, the mysterious words spoken by the Elder so long ago begin to make sense. Could Beverly be permanently separated from her love, Vance?The key is where it all began in 1812. Will the stranger destroy their past, present, and future with one final blow? Can Beverly discover how to stop him before all is lost? Will they ever learn the reason for the gift?
372 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
1 person is currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 18, 2013
Overall, this can be described as a day in the life story. Unfortunately, it was not initially described as this. As the conflict does not get revealed until approximately 2/3 of the way into the book, and even then keeps getting lost in the daily routines of the 7 lead characters, this is the basis for the day in the life verdict. By the end of the tale, you will be very familiar with the shower, sleeping, eating, cooking/grilling, coffee, etc habits of the cast.
I am still not sure how the Prologue fits with the remainder of the story. What event these "superior" beings were trying to stop, aside from a death of potentially one of their own, is unclear.
The story is primarily told through Beverly's eyes who in the initial chapters is extremely whiny, vapid, weak, weepy, flippant, and annoying. She gets mildly better as the story progresses. None of the characters are particularly endearing especially since they all seem to promote a sexist view of life with the women being so vulnerable to attack and not capable or allowed to make the security or financial decisions.
There are also a few technical details which cause issue (ie. goats do not like to graze on grass even though the contrary was stated in said book).
The author does have a very crisp and easy style which is nice but unfortunately unable to pull off this particular work.
Overall, a confusing read.
I am still not sure how the Prologue fits with the remainder of the story. What event these "superior" beings were trying to stop, aside from a death of potentially one of their own, is unclear.
The story is primarily told through Beverly's eyes who in the initial chapters is extremely whiny, vapid, weak, weepy, flippant, and annoying. She gets mildly better as the story progresses. None of the characters are particularly endearing especially since they all seem to promote a sexist view of life with the women being so vulnerable to attack and not capable or allowed to make the security or financial decisions.
There are also a few technical details which cause issue (ie. goats do not like to graze on grass even though the contrary was stated in said book).
The author does have a very crisp and easy style which is nice but unfortunately unable to pull off this particular work.
Overall, a confusing read.
February 13, 2021
Berry good book
It is very good book.I like how it explorer's the elder effect.And how they are able to travel through time.I think that anybody who wants to read it would like it.
It is very good book.I like how it explorer's the elder effect.And how they are able to travel through time.I think that anybody who wants to read it would like it.
September 13, 2013
First person POV is always a difficult approach to a novel. Mix that first person POV with amnesia and the approach becomes even harder to control for the author and the reader. Add time travel to amnesia and first person POV and the author can hurtle down the proverbial slippery slope that will undermine that all-important concept of suspension of disbelief.
This novel is in the paranormal/science fiction genre, not mystery and thriller, and suspension of disbelief is one of the most important concepts required to keep the reader engaged in this genre. Quite frankly, the author is not supposed to make the reader doubt his or her own native intelligence to understand the written word, let alone doubt his or her own sanity. But by using a first person POV for our heroine and by not intimating the time travel premise of the storyline clearly in the prologue, she does exactly that.
Because I, as the reader, was not expected to know in advance that the entire premise of this novel revolves around time travel, I had a lot of trouble with the beginning of this book, as in the first 50 pages. I had to continually re-read what I had just read and had to constantly backtrack to earlier pages trying to understand the timeline and importance of events.
For instance, our narrator goes from being a happily married YOUNG woman in 1812 Norway to being the depressed YOUNG widow of a different man in 1879 Ohio in a matter of 5 pages. This widow has amnesia of her entire life before a fire that occurred 4 years previously and spends 5 pages of text bemoaning her fate.
Then, after being left behind by a wagon train, she emotionally collapses in a massive thunderstorm and wakes up in 2011 Montana, again a YOUNG married woman, except she doesn’t recognize her husband – from 1812. And then she does remember, SUDDENLY, with no explanation given by herself or the author. At this point, she almost rejects her “real husband” because of her “dead other husband” and internally bemoans her fate, ad nauseum. Then, SUDDENLY, all is well and her emotional life rewinds to 4 years previously, again with no explanation by herself or the author as to how this occurred.
Oh, come on, people! To paraphrase Bella Swan, “Your mood swings are giving me whiplash!”
So why did I continue, when I was so thoroughly distressed with the novel so far? I won the second novel in the series, Vital Perception, in a Goodreads Giveaway, and I have a moral obligation to give an honest review of that book in return. Since that second novel is intimately dependent upon this first book, I could not possibly give it an honest review without reading The Elder Effect first.
So, read on, I did. Through trite and stilted dialogue, I read on. Through scenes full of fluff and filler with no relationship to the conflict, I read on. Through a thousand times of one character telling another character “Thank you,” I read on. And occasionally, it paid off and something actually related to the Elder Effect occurred.
Don’t get me wrong; the premise behind the story is original and quite well thought out. I just wish the execution of that premise didn’t feel like the proverbial fingernails across a chalkboard.
This novel is in the paranormal/science fiction genre, not mystery and thriller, and suspension of disbelief is one of the most important concepts required to keep the reader engaged in this genre. Quite frankly, the author is not supposed to make the reader doubt his or her own native intelligence to understand the written word, let alone doubt his or her own sanity. But by using a first person POV for our heroine and by not intimating the time travel premise of the storyline clearly in the prologue, she does exactly that.
Because I, as the reader, was not expected to know in advance that the entire premise of this novel revolves around time travel, I had a lot of trouble with the beginning of this book, as in the first 50 pages. I had to continually re-read what I had just read and had to constantly backtrack to earlier pages trying to understand the timeline and importance of events.
For instance, our narrator goes from being a happily married YOUNG woman in 1812 Norway to being the depressed YOUNG widow of a different man in 1879 Ohio in a matter of 5 pages. This widow has amnesia of her entire life before a fire that occurred 4 years previously and spends 5 pages of text bemoaning her fate.
Then, after being left behind by a wagon train, she emotionally collapses in a massive thunderstorm and wakes up in 2011 Montana, again a YOUNG married woman, except she doesn’t recognize her husband – from 1812. And then she does remember, SUDDENLY, with no explanation given by herself or the author. At this point, she almost rejects her “real husband” because of her “dead other husband” and internally bemoans her fate, ad nauseum. Then, SUDDENLY, all is well and her emotional life rewinds to 4 years previously, again with no explanation by herself or the author as to how this occurred.
Oh, come on, people! To paraphrase Bella Swan, “Your mood swings are giving me whiplash!”
So why did I continue, when I was so thoroughly distressed with the novel so far? I won the second novel in the series, Vital Perception, in a Goodreads Giveaway, and I have a moral obligation to give an honest review of that book in return. Since that second novel is intimately dependent upon this first book, I could not possibly give it an honest review without reading The Elder Effect first.
So, read on, I did. Through trite and stilted dialogue, I read on. Through scenes full of fluff and filler with no relationship to the conflict, I read on. Through a thousand times of one character telling another character “Thank you,” I read on. And occasionally, it paid off and something actually related to the Elder Effect occurred.
Don’t get me wrong; the premise behind the story is original and quite well thought out. I just wish the execution of that premise didn’t feel like the proverbial fingernails across a chalkboard.
October 6, 2013
The Elder Effect and Vital Perception go together as one complete story. These fantasy fiction/time travel novels primarily take place in modern day Montana, though the characters are originally from 1812 Norway.
Once I started reading these books, I couldn’t put them down until I was done reading them.
I felt for the characters; their anxiety, friendship, experience, caring for one another, happiness, sadness, wisdom, challenges, excitement, and anticipation.
There are many twists and turns to hold your interest. I felt like I was one of these characters every step of the way.
I give credit to Tate Publishing to have the insight to publish these books and for the author’s imagination.
It gave me much pleasure to read, and provided me a temporary escape from reality of the present day to the past.
I also attended two book signings of this author and look forward to future books. (Rumor has it that book number three is also a time travel story, unrelated to the first two books, and that it is in progress.) M. G.
Once I started reading these books, I couldn’t put them down until I was done reading them.
I felt for the characters; their anxiety, friendship, experience, caring for one another, happiness, sadness, wisdom, challenges, excitement, and anticipation.
There are many twists and turns to hold your interest. I felt like I was one of these characters every step of the way.
I give credit to Tate Publishing to have the insight to publish these books and for the author’s imagination.
It gave me much pleasure to read, and provided me a temporary escape from reality of the present day to the past.
I also attended two book signings of this author and look forward to future books. (Rumor has it that book number three is also a time travel story, unrelated to the first two books, and that it is in progress.) M. G.
October 19, 2013
The story was very original and an easy read. Subtleties that I thought had no purpose ended up leading important to the story line and new characters. By the end of the book, I felt like I knew the characters. By the time I finished the second book, bits and pieces came together to form a great story. I could tell this was a newer author, but the originality of the story was refreshing.
November 2, 2023
This was overall pretty boring and repetitive. It wasn’t predictable as far as plot twists went, but I could predict how it ended.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews