phyllish
Written on Aug 25, 2020
My rating is 3.5 stars
I'm always curious how much I will enjoy the second book by an author, especially when it is in a series. I have found that some authors consistently write books that I love, some authors consistently write books that I dislike, and some authors get mixed reviews from me.
Esme's Gift picks up with Esme returning home after an exciting adventure in the enchanted world of Aeolia. And nothing is as she had left it. When she discovers a terrible secret about her new stepmother and is threatened with being put into an institution because of the fantastic claims she makes that "prove" she is crazy, she runs back - and attempts to save her mother.
As Aeolia is a world filled with people with special "gifts" that manifest themselves when they are teenagers, the things that happened at their high school as the teens were learning to use their gifts were humorous. My favorite of these was Lillian's accident!
I still really like Esme's new friends, Daniel and Lillian. They are loyal and true and stand by her. Daniel is protective and sweet. So fun!
I was surprised at some of the secrets they uncovered along the way. Especially the secret of the sea eagle who delivered her messages!
There were a couple reasons I took away a star for Esme's Gift. The first is that there was too much retelling the events from Esme's Wish. While I appreciate having an author give me hints in second and third books in a series, I prefer when they are only given when the details will cause me to be lost if I don't remember them, especially in a trilogy such as this. If I read the books one after the other, I don't want to feel like I should be skipping through things I already know. Not only were the details repeated, it felt a little more like telling instead of showing and caused the story to drag at the beginning.
Once Esme returned to Esperance and began to attend school, there was some more telling instead of showing and, again, the story dragged for a bit. Once I got past this section, things began to pick up and became interesting again.
It seemed like there was more "magic" in Esme's Gift than there was in Esme's Wish. There were also more ghosts, mythological creatures, mythology, and violence which made me a little uncomfortable. I didn't reduce the rating because of these with it being just my personal preference and not a reflection of the quality of the writing.
The ending was satisfactory and except for a small detail that remained unresolved, it could have been the conclusion of the series. Which leaves me with a decision to make, whether I will read the final book when it comes out. I'm currently guessing I will...
Lovers of young adult fantasy, and especially those who like magic and mythology will likely enjoy this series.
Read my full review at Among the Reads
I was given a copy of this book. I was not required to give a favorable review nor was any money received for this review. All comments and opinions are my own.
