Eyes of the Desert Sand

by Edwin Wolfe

[Ashley]

As posted on booknook - YA and Fantasy book reviews

The Eyes of the Desert Sand is an incredible fantasy story! It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland.. but with technology and more “purpose” - there’s a war to be won and lives to save!

This story is about Ethan Fox. He lives a fairly normal life with his child-like parents, but things start getting weird when two vampires try to abduct him. Rescued at the last minute, he tells his parents, who don’t believe him. But Ethan gets the strange sense that they’re hiding something. Maybe they know his account is true, but won’t admit it?

From there, Ethan meets up with a girl named Haley and ends up at The Residence. He learns all about other-worldly creatures who were brought to Earth to help nudge evolution along and protect Earth and its inhabitants. Ethan, Haley, and his new friends at The Residence work together to figure out why the vampires tried to kidnap him, and help protect Earth from the Grimleavers’ evil plans.

Man, Edwin Wolfe has an amazing imagination! He has created this incredible world full of awesome creatures, strange inventions, and intriguing lore. This story will completely draw you in with its weird creatures, funky dialogue, and memorable adventures. In a way, this story is very Alice in Wonderland meets otherworld meets technology. This book isn’t really based in magic — it’s more based in science, which I find extremely cool! Whenever people say, “That’s impossible,” I always think, “It’s only impossible because we haven’t seen a way for it to work, but that doesn’t mean it can’t work somewhere somehow,” and this story really embodies that. Here you have two normal humans — Ethan and Haley — and they’re exposed to a whole new world of impossible. But it’s not necessarily full of magic; there is a bit, but they’re mostly introduced to ‘natural’ creatures and awesome technologies.

My only real issue with the book is the lack of character development. The world itself was incredible, with so many details and new ideas, but the characters never really grew or interacted. Most of the dialogue was explaining story and furthering the plot, rather than developing the characters or having them socially/casually interact. I didn’t get a great sense of who Ethan was, or what his personality was like. I never really felt for him or connected with him.

That being said, The Eyes of the Desert Sand is still a great book. The story is so intricate and interesting and there’s never a dull moment. Each page is full of some new creature or object to read and learn about. We are thrown into an amazing world we never knew existed — one with shape shifters, vampires, trolls, leprechauns and more. There are some great histories that are a delight to learn about.

There is a lot of promise here and I can’t wait to read the next book! I’m hoping we’ll learn a lot more about the Caretakers and their history. Their world, purpose, and culture are all so interesting and I’m thirsting for more!