Book Review: The Shadow Seer by Fran Jacobs

Review: The Shadow Seer
Series: Ellenessia’s Curse – Book 1
Author: Fran Jacobs
No of Pages: 337
Release Date: 2 April 2009

For generations prophets have foreseen the birth of the Shadow Seer, the oracle of dark visions and fallen kingdoms. But by the time of Sorron, King of Carnia, their warnings have mostly been forgotten and his name is known only to a handful of scholars. When Sorron's grandson, Prince Candale, falls deathly ill, the Seer's legends are brought to light once again by his saviour, a witch named Mayrila. She believes that Candale is the fulfilment of those long forgotten prophecies. She believes that he is the Shadow Seer...

My Thoughts:

The Shadow Seer was an extremely interesting read, but it was a little slow in its movement.

Candale is a prince with a secret; he is having prophecies, hearing voices, and seeing people that aren’t there. The Shadow Seer starts with Candale being gravely ill and close to death. All we hear are snippets of conversation between his relatives, arguments between his father and grandfather about how to best help him.

His grandfather sends for a woman named Mayrila, a conniving, gold-digging witch, who seems to be the only person who can help him. Mayrila saves Candale, but she also changes his life forever, revealing herself as his birth mother and him as the Shadow Seer, a dark prophet whose visions will only ever be of death and destruction.

Candale is an interesting character, if a little naive. He is intelligent and easily relatable being a quiet, odd child who fits in well enough at court, but is always dreaming and looking for something more. Candale did get a little infuriating at times when he went off by himself without thinking things through only to nearly get killed by his enemies. At times I wanted to shake him, but mostly I felt empathetic and a little sad about his situation.

The Shadow Seer was well written and completely engaging because it didn’t seem like you were racing to the finish line. Each new event in the timeline was well paced and flowed seamlessly into the plot.

The only problem with The Shadow Seer was that we never really get answers to our questions, the world of Carnia that Jacobs created was superb, but there was so much groundwork to lay that we only got to see snippets about the myths behind the shadow seer and those myths were relentlessly repeated.

The Shadow Seer was an excellently written story with an engaging main character who kept me entertained and continuously coming back for more. The mystery behind who Ellenessia is and how she is going to affect Candale in the long run has me itching to get my hands on the second book in this promising fantasy series.

Book Review: Born Into Fire by Tarah Scott & KyAnn Waters

Review: Born Into Fire
Series: Shadow Elements – Book 1
Author: Tarah Scott & KyAnn Waters
No of Pages: 138
Release Date: 22 November 2010

Ryalda, the Element heroes of old, leak from the void and bring with them beauty, desire...and destruction.

Change is hard, but the unexpected metamorphosis into fire goes beyond any change Kenna Lang could ever have imagined. When she discovers her ancestors are actually ancient beings who exist in a void beyond our universe and the dragons of her childhood dreams are real, life as she knows it is over.

Erion, an Air Element, answers the call of Kenna’s emerging fire to discover a woman on the cusp of transformation. He’s drawn to her, the need to mate overwhelming. However, Erion killed once before by having sex in element form, and has sworn not to merge with another Element. But the discovery that a male Fire Element is intent upon enslaving Kenna’s soul forces Erion to get involved. He will save her. But he aches to do more than protect her. He wants to touch her -- to pleasure her, but he can't risk bonding his Element to hers.

Erion is unprepared for the emotions Kenna awakens in him -- or the lengths to which she will go to save him.

My Thoughts:

Born Into Fire was very hard to follow, but made for a very interesting story.

Kenna is a glass worker, a budding artist who is trying to break into the creative world. She has what seems to be a unique but unrealised ability when she works glass, being able to create life-like colours and shapes.

Kenna is being pursued by a seemingly interested buyer in the form of Hadyn. He seems a little odd and a little too eager to get close to her, but she forgets all of that when she bumps into Eric whilst shopping for supplies. They share an instant connection and he seems familiar, like he is from a dream.

Kenna made for an interesting but shallow character, trying to be a strong presence but not quite getting there. Her work and the insight gathered from the art of glass blowing was what made her interesting, even though we really didn’t get to see much of how she worked.

Eric or Erion as he is referred to mainly is an Air Element. He commands the winds and the air around him when he transforms into air. Erion is somewhat of a mate to Kenna, drawn to her and the heat of her Fire Element. Erion is interesting, he is perfect in many ways, his quiet, protective nature being the main draw point and yet he can be so infuriating in others. In trying to protect Kenna from himself he runs, leaving her confused and vulnerable.


Born Into Fire has an amazing storyline, the idea of people turning into elements when they reach a certain point in their lives is definitely something I haven’t come across before. But it was very hard to understand until right at the end of Born Into Fire exactly what Erion and Kenna were. The descriptions for me were completely overlooked, and what details were given was choppy and under-developed. It was very hard for me to form a picture in my head of what was actually going on.

Born Into Fire also had a lot of sex-breaks. Yes it is an erotic novel, and yes those sex breaks were extremely hot, but Kenna and Erion seemed to be getting down and doing the dirty at really odd times, like right in the middle of a battle with an evil Fire Element, or in the middle of Kenna blowing molten glass. Sure their sex produced more power but sometimes it almost seemed uncalled for and extremely repetitive in their actions and feelings.

Born Into Fire was a very interesting read for me, and although it was hard to follow at first, now that I am up to speed on who and what everybody is, I am eagerly awaiting the next instalment in the Shadow Elements series.