So I stumbled upon this book because the author, Aaron McGowan, liked a photo of a book I had posted on Instagram (look him up @aaronelpis), which led me to visit his page where I saw he had posted a link for a limited time offer to obtain his ebook for free. Boy, am I glad I did! Wow...what a fantastic read! I was pretty sure it would be good based on the Goodreads ratings, and I was so not disappointed. I'm typically not a fantasy reader or even really science fiction...not necessarily because I don't like it, but more because I just don't know what to read. This one...A DEFINITE WIN!
Elpis is nothing but full on action and adventure from page 1! The story begins with us meeting Terico, a blue haired sixteen year old who is handy with a sword...a literal sword. He, his father, and his best friend, Turan, are in some underground caves searching for this gigantic plant monster because its roots can be used by Terico's mother to make medicines for patients in the clinic. This scene kind of sets the stage to allow us to see the interaction between Terico and his father and the strong relationship they have. Terico's father uses this time to teach his son valuable lessons, not just about fighting, but about life. We also get to see the relationship between Terico and his best friend Turan. The two have a camaraderie basically like that of brothers..which comes into play much later on. When they return to Terico's home, with the roots!, Suran is in the kitchen whipping up a little breakfast. Now, Suran is this cute little red haired girl who Terico has had a crush on since forever. She is an elf but not the keebler kind...more like LOTR kind. She is a very selfless young lady and constantly says thank you even if someone is thanking her. Suran leaves saying she must go help her brother with something, and Terico and Turan set off for school after breakfast. What they stumble upon on their walk to school will change their lives forever. Smoke and fire can be seen in the distance and the further they get into the town center, the more destruction they find. Terico, fearing for the safety of Suran, begins searching the school building only to find everyone dead and the entire building up in flames...yet there is no sign of Suran. Upon exiting the burning school, barely able to breathe, Terico is attacked by a member of the Brotherhood...this clan of bad guy warriors who are working for the evil Shire brothers, Augurc and Delkol. He also sees Turan is in a battle with 2 members of the Brotherhood. Now...they don't just fight with swords like it's all medieval...oh no. In the world of this book, there exists these powerful stones called Nexi stones. Each color has a different power that can be used through a simple mental connection with the stone. For instance, a green Nexi stone will produce vines that can be controlled by the wielder's mind. Light blue is for ice, dark blue is for water, orange is for super strength, teal is for communication, red is for fire...you get the picture. It's really quite inventive and the battle scenes described using these Nexi stones has been well thought out. I seriously would watch the movie about this book!! Back to the battle...ultimately, Terico becomes so exhausted from the smoke inhalation and the use of the Nexi stones that he basically passes out...meanwhile Turan is kidnapped by Augurc. Now this motherfucker is CREEPY! He likes to experiment on people...and Nexi stones...and uhhhh just all around mad scientist bad guy creepy experimentation. He has green Nexi stones grafted into her arms so basically he uses vines as extra arms like that Octopus character in Spiderman and he has a light blue Nexi stone grafted into his hand so he can shoot out ice spikes and stab folks! He's just creepy and weird and ugh! Terico eventually comes to enough to stumble back the way he came in hopes of finding his mother and father but his house has already burned down. He finds more mayhem and destruction at the town cathedral where exhausted once again he falls to the floor. During his semi-conscious state, he sees the other brother, Delkol, kill everyone who tries to battle him, including Terico's parents. He beheads Terico's parents in one smooth motion. Terico succumbs to the darkness and when he awakens, he finds the town burned down and he is the only one left alive.
Terico begins burying the dead of the town in mass graves, and while digging on these graves, he uncovers an underground hiding place of the town drunk named Jujor. Jujor begins explaining to Terico that the Shire brothers, specifcally Delkol, were looking for a piece of the Elpis stone. Legend has it, the Elpis stone contains the power of all Nexi stones and was actually used to create them. Apparently, someone along the way realized it could be used to destroy the world so it was broken into 4 pieces and hidden in different locations. Jujor and Terico set off to find the first piece, deep underground. Before they can go though, they need something to battle the Forsaken with, these creatures who are half human half kind of wolf like who honestly have no rational though other than to kill. In order to obtain a Nexi stone to battle them, they travel to a nearby town to see Febraz, a vampire who once saved Jujor's life. They obtain from him an indigo Nexi stone, which has the power of soul catching. Since the Forsaken are neither dead, nor alive, they can't really be killed...only their souls can be taken. Febraz gives the stone to them after Terico saves his life by alerting him to the fact the blood he is about to drink is poisoned. Febraz though also requests that Terico do him a favor, whenever he asks for it, and he cannot say not to it. Terico agrees and off they go. Jujor and Terico successfully find the piece of the Elpis stone down deep in the caves where an underground town used to exist...thus the residents of this town eventually became...the Forsaken. Upon retrieving the Elpis fragment, Terico is summoned to Febraz who asks him to help his daughter...
Terico is sent to Istar, a vampire city, to help Area, Febraz's daughter, pass her Rite. Basically, during the Rite, 2 vampires battle each other to the death, The victor wins a pink Nexi which has transformative powers thus allowing vampires to walk in the sun. Area wins, but of her own volition, and she and Terico are teleported back to Febraz but what they find upon their return is not what they were expecting. Febraz is on the floor with a knife aimed at his heart...the sword held by a Brotherhood member who actually turns out to be Turan but his new Brotherhood name is Lynx. He's now batshit crazy thanks to all of the experimentation that has been done on him. Turan escapes and Terico and Area set off to return to Jujor. Once they are all together again, their next step is to travel to the island of Vurse, a major island of the Eigni people...they're blue and don't have noses. They might be my favorite simply because of this. In order to get to Vursa, they need to charter a boat but the only one they can afford is captained by a very loud dude named Borely who reminded me very much of a laid back surfer dude. Borely is immediately smitten with Areo, but it turns out he has a thing against vampires considering his brother was turned into one and proceeded to kill his family, so Borely had to kill him. Of course, Areo doesn't let on that she's a vampire and it's a while later before Borely finds out. The two of them develop that 'we really like each other but we're going to deny it and just argue with one another a whole lot but it's our way of flirting' relationship. They make it to the island of Vursa and find that all of the people are mindless, except for one boy named Kitoh. Turns out the government is controlling them...specifically one man, Ganto, who has used the indigo Nexi to take their souls. Ganto also has a pink Nexi stone, which allows the Eigni people to transform into a dragon which is just what he does. A battle ensues and Ganto is killed, but Jujor is also killed. Delkol also shows up but eventually he too is too weakened to continue on in the fight so he flees.
Whils recuperating at Kitoh's house, we learn through the teal Nexi, that Jujor was actually working for the royal court to look out for Terico and help him find the Elpis fragment. They are also arranging for an airship to pick them up and bring them to capitol of Setar. When the airship arrives, wouldn't you know, it's Suran and her brother!! SHE'S ALIVE! The gang is all back together, except Turan, and they all begin telling stories of their adventures and where they have each been since the devastation of their hometown. Upon arrival near Setar, enemy airships are trying to surround the capitol, so once again the fighting ensues. Kitoh turns into a dragon and takes out an airship after he drops of Areo and Borely onto another airship. Suran and Lanek (her brother) work to engage in aircraft warfare with the other 2 airships. They manage to take one down, but not the other before members of the Brotherhood manage to make their way onto their airship. During the process, all of the Brotherhood members are killed, except Turan, who is nearly killed by falling out of the airship. Terico saves him with the green Nexi and they think the jolt of almost dying has snapped him back to his old self. In reality though, he's too far gone and he stabs Suran with a blade infused with the poisonous gray Nexi. Terico thinks he has healed Suran with his Elpis fragments, one of which was retrieved by Suran and Lanek. It isn't until their airship goes down and Terico wakes up in the infirmary that he realizes the gray Nexi poisoned all of Suran's bloodstream and organs...she will be dead within days. After a couple of days of suffering, Suran actually does die. SAY WHAT?! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!!!! Terico though finally gets some sleep. He is hoping that once he has all of the fragments of the Elpis (he has 2 and Delkol has 2) he will be able to bring her back to life.
The armies of Setar come together and have reinforcements from other areas and THE BATTLE IS ON! I'm not going to tell you how it ends....because you honestly need to read this book. I will say though...it doesn't end how you think it's going to and I really really really hope there is a sequel! I really need to know what happens to a few of my favorite characters.
Honestly, this book was AAAHHHHMAZING and I highly recommend it. I've written a lot here and given a lot away but there's so much I've left out. You honestly need to read it too simply for the descriptions of the battles. McGowan is very descriptive so that you can actually see what's going on, but he doesn't get so involved you lose sight of the big picture. I honestly loved his characters and wanted to just give Terico a hug. He has been through so much at such a young age. He's had such responsibility and expectation and even power thrust upon him. How he managed through it all, I will never know. He's definitely a strong young man. I look forward to many more novels by +Aaron Elpis (Aaronelpis)!!!
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