Thursday, November 24, 2011

Monthly Book Review: Farsighted by Emlyn Chand


Last month, I reviewed Lauren Clark’s “Stay Tuned,” which falls under Women’s Fiction. This month, it’s Young Adult Paranormal—with psychics!

Today’s YA Paranormal market has become oversaturated with vampires, werewolves, trolls, faeries, and just about any other creature you can think of. In “Farsighted” Emlyn Chand decided to return to an original not-so-beastly paranormal—psychics.

“Farsighted” is about seventeen-year-old Alex, whose last name is Greek and incredibly difficult to pronounce, and his journey of learning that he is psychic. Unlike some psychics, Alex can’t read other people’s minds. He sees the future. There’s one problem, though. Alex is blind, so he sees the future how he experiences the rest of the world—through sound, touch, and smell. Oh, and Monster energy drinks help him reach that psychic state.

Chand does a great job of building suspense and mixing flashes of the future with Alex’s everyday life. The first time Alex experiences a vision, he doesn’t know what’s happening, which makes for a very interesting interaction between him and a bully. As his powers grow, Alex comes to work with them. At least, in some cases. While most of us probably think it would be awesome to have psychic powers, Alex doesn’t believe he has them at first, and has a difficult time understanding his powers throughout the novel.

The challenges Alex undertakes helps build him as a character and round him out. I found him to be a believable high school student, struggling to come to terms with his newfound abilities. Another thing Chand does well is make sure that school is continuously in Alex’s life. In some YA Paranormal novels, school gets shoved into the background and somehow students manage to magically pass every class. For Alex, school is a very real place and homework is a very real obligation.

Also differing from the YA Paranormal scene is the lack of romance in this novel. There is a love interest, Simmi, and as a reader, I really wanted her and Alex to get together in the end. Sadly, I felt like the romance wasn’t paid enough attention to. The tension that Chand tried to build between Alex and Simmi was often rerouted into psychic training or family problems, which is understandable, especially since this is not a YA Paranormal Romance—it’s just Paranormal. I do hope that Chand builds off of the foundation she began in “Farsighted” and that Simmi and Alex have a chance to become more romantically involved.

My only other concern is the rising action. The visions are very well done, but when the end of the novel comes around, I feel that the climax doesn’t quite match the rising action. It’s not as climactic as I would have hoped, and the antagonist, Dax, feels like he doesn’t have enough meat on him. I’m excited to see if Chand will add more to Dax in the sequel.

All in all, “Farsighted” gets 4 out of 5 stars. It was a quick, enjoyable read, and Alex was a fun character to “see” the world through.

“Farsighted” is available now as an e-book! Click here to get your copy of “Farsighted” today!

 

Blog Tour Notes



THE BOOK:  Alex Kosmitoras may be blind, but he can still “see” things others can’t.  When his unwanted visions of the future begin to suggest that the girl he likes could be in danger, he has no choice but to take on destiny and demand it reconsider. Get your copy today by visiting Amazon.com’s Kindle store or the eBook retailer of your choice. The paperback edition will be available on November 24 (for the author’s birthday).

THE CASH PRIZES:  Guess what? You could win a $100 Amazon gift card as part of this special blog tour. That’s right! Just leave a comment below saying something about the post you just read, and you’ll be entered into the raffle. I could win $100 too! Please help by voting for my blog in the traffic-breaker poll. To cast your vote, visit the official Farsighted blog tour page and scroll all the way to the bottom. Thank you for your help with that.

THE GIVEAWAYS:  Win 1 of 10 autographed copies of Farsighted before its paperback release by entering the giveaway on GoodReads. Perhaps you’d like an autographed postcard from the author; you can request one on her site.

THE AUTHOR:  Emlyn Chand has always loved to hear and tell stories, having emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). When she’s not writing, she runs a large book club in Ann Arbor and is the president of author PR firm, Novel Publicity. Emlyn loves to connect with readers and is available throughout the social media interweb. Visit www.emlynchand.com for more info. Don’t forget to say “hi” to her sun conure Ducky!

MORE FUN: There's more fun below. Watch the live action Farsighted book trailer!