The Elementalists Book Two

The second installment of The Elementalists by the father-daughter duo of Ephie and Celia Risho picks up a little bit after where the first book leaves off, and keeps on running. It’s action-packed with no lulls!

About the Book

★★★★★ “More than just your typical youth fantasy book!”
A massive goblin army approaches humanity. When Amber, Basil and Theo see it from afar, they scramble for ideas. Little do they know, they’re up against not just the goblins, but the evil wizards controlling them.

With Sage the wizard missing and no better ideas, they decide to seek help from the unthinkable . . . a ferocious red dragon trapped by a wizard’s spell: Crodor the Ancient.

Even if they succeed, will there be time to uncover the diabolical strategies behind the invasion and create a big enough defense?

Not if the fiendish White Queen gets her way.

My Thoughts

There’s no room to get bored in this series! The Rishos keep you on your toes and turning pages to find out what’s going to happen next to our young elementalists. In this book, we’ve added more exciting creatures – dwarves, elves, dragons, and more! Unfortunately, we’ve also added the problems that always seem to come with different creatures (or races). Fantasy is often a chance for us to explore the woes of our own world, and racism is definitely one of the themes the Rishos are tackling with certain races or species of creatures hating each other. But they’re being forced to unite to defeat a common enemy, so hopefully that will help.

Elements of Lord of the Rings blend with Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia to continue to build a wonderfully adventerous and totally new story filled with magic, nature, wild creatures, and exciting adventures. You will find surprises in these pages, and even if you’re much older than the recommended ages, you will enjoy it. Especially if you cut your teeth on any of the comp titles, you’ll love it. And if you didn’t, maybe you should go back and check some of those classics out!

The three main characters continue to be developed, as well as our parallel quester Ryder. Will he join our main trio in this book? You’ll have to read to find out. Other characters, possibly elementalists as well, join the crew as well. Are all elementalists human, you’ll have to read to see that as well. Exciting new information to find in the book, and there are still two more books to read. Which is great, because you will absolutely be looking for more when you finish!

I’m so grateful to the authors and Love Books Tours for including me in this tour and I can’t wait to dig into Book Three! Keep an eye out for my review of the third book on March 13! And if you haven’t already, you can read my review of the first book Phoenix Rising here.

Who’s It For?

This book is a middle-grade fantasy and is marketed for 8 to 15-year-olds. Like the Harry Potter books, and other similar books, it is designed to grown with the main characters and the readers. So the themes, characters, and scenes get more intense with each book. There were definitely vague hints of romance, but nothing outlandish for a middle grader, in this book. The book, as both books in the series so far have, had exciting adventures and scary elements, appropriate for middle schoolers. Parents should practice caution with their younger readers It also depicts children engaging in unsafe activities, often unsupervised, which is common in the fantasy genre.

Content Warning: Violence, Danger/Scary Situations, Racist Tones, War, Armies

About the Authors

Ephie (dad) has been writing his whole life. Inspired by his sixth-grade teacher to write a story every week, he enrolled in the writing program at his undergrad Middlebury College and has been writing ever since. He loves the outdoors, music, community, his family, and telling stories. He currently lives in beautiful Bozeman, Montana, where he works in software development and is active in various community groups.

Celia (daughter) is an avid book lover and packs a novel with her wherever she goes. She developed the book idea at age nine inspired by a 3rd grade writing assignment. She was born in Vancouver, Canada where her first two syllable word was “hockey”! She, along with her brother, is being raised in the mountains of Montana, where she enjoys sewing, 4H, performance art, and visiting hot springs.

Links

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