Book Review: The Unknown by Melissa Pearl

Unknown

By Melissa Pearl

Smashwords Edition

Publication Date: June 10, 2013

ISBN: 9781301071968

Amazon Synopsis:

Darkness is covering the land. As the city of Mezrah grows with power and greed, the rest of the world can only stand by and wait for their inevitable destruction. The only hope against this growing power is an ancient prophecy that people have stopped believing in.

Then a star begins to fall.

Princess Kyla of Taramon stopped believing in the power of light the day her father died. Trapped in a city she does not care for, under the watchful glare of her mother, the queen, she struggles to accept her fate.

Then a star begins to fall.

Jethro has loved Kyla for as long as he can remember. Learning that she was to marry his cousin drove a wedge between him and the feisty princess. Watching her from a distance is a torture he is unable to free himself from.

Then a star begins to fall, sparking an ember of hope and sending two seekers on a treacherous journey into the unknown.

My Thoughts:

Unknown is the first book in the Elements Trilogy. It was a fascinating book from cover to cover. Filled with magic, trolls, poisonous insects, dangerous snakes and the ever-present darkness that is once again encroaching upon the entire world. The seekers, Jethro and Princess Kyla must work together to locate the four elements in order to bring the light of

 Oron back. Oron is the god who died when he killed the evil Kohlac, “the epitome of darkness”. But there is a prophecy which says that Oron will return when the star falls.

Jethro and Kyla have been friends since the day they were born. They share the same birthday. But since Kyla has become engaged to Athra, Jethro’s cousin, Kyla has found that Jethro has practically ignored her. Jethro on the other hand is dying inside because he knows he can never have what he truly wants with Kyla. I appreciated how honourable Jethro is, and how he refuses to betray his cousin by expressing his love to Kyla.

The element children that we meet in this first book in the trilogy are adorable. They are positive, innocent children, only 709 years old. They are the embodiment of childhood innocence and belief. They have been given magical powers over a single element.

There is lots of action in this novel as the seekers are tracked by Ashan’s army and his elite soldiers. Even the guards from Taramon give chase to the seekers in an attempt to bring Kyla back to the queen who has forbidden Kyla to undertake this mission.

I found there was an interesting parallel between Oron and his prophecy and Jesus Christ and the prophecies of his return. Both are described as light, both died and both have been prophesied to return. I don’t know how intentional this was on the part of the author, but it provided me with some intriguing speculation.

I was very sad to see Unknown come to an end. I won’t spoil it for you by telling you where the book ends, but you can be sure that you will want to read the second book, “Unseen” and the third, “Unleashed”.

I gave this book 5 stars!

Disclaimer: I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my fair and honest review. A free product does not influence my opinion. All thoughts are my own. 

About the Author:

Melissa Pearl was born in Auckland, New Zealand. She has lived in a number of different countries including Jordan, Cyprus and Pakistan. She also did a nine month road trip around North America. Presently she lives in China with her husband and two sons. 

Melissa has a teaching degree and taught full time but chose to be a full time mom. Over the past ten years she has been honing her craft and now has eight published novels.

Contact Melissa:

Website: http://melissapearl.blogspot.ca/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelissaPearlG

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissapearlauthor

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/MelissaPearl