Titles: Elemental Rising, Forbidden Elemental & Elemental Betrayal
Author: Toni Cox
Genre: Fantasy
Date started: 14 September 2018
Date finished: 24 September 2018
I bought Toni Cox’s Elemental Rising and Forbidden Elemental at a local fair because I believe in supporting artists. I believe in supporting artists and writers even if they are not my genre because they are someone else’s and that they need to eat in order to make more art. Sadly, in South Africa, books are a luxury item. And while I won’t lay out a huge amount of money on a car, I will happily spend a small fortune on books.
I am a fan of fantasy (in fact, it’s probably one of my favourite genres). So the Elemental Trilogy being fantasy was an incentive to read it. I read the first two books, Elemental Rising and Elemental Betrayal, in February this year. And then eagerly awaited the final book in the series.
The Elemental Saga follows the journey of Maia, and her family from Earth, on Eleveron. Maia, must step up and fulfill her role as a powerful magician when her world comes under attack from Vampyres from a different world. And her husband from Earth, Aaron; and her children Jasmine and Luke must adapt to life on a new planet.
Elemental Rising has the marks of a first novel, sometimes the writing is a bit stilted, but the story is powerful. (Sir Terry Pratchett, said something along the lines that you should never judge an author by their first works because the writers are still learning their craft). The third book, Forbidden Elemental is a technical masterpiece and leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor.
I was genuinely sad when I finished Forbidden Elemental, but I did not feel like I was being cheated and that the story was unfinished. I am really excited that I still have the short stories to look forward to.
I loved the nuances and details of the stories in the Elemental trilogy were the best form of escapism, and I loved the details of the relationships in the world. Additionally, Cox masterfully captures her characters growth and changes to circumstances and the passage of time. Which is a wonderful contrast to the choice that authors sometimes make, in staying with a winning formula and not having their characters grow.
If you love dragons, magic and strong characters this is the trilogy for you 🙂
You can buy Toni Cox’s Elemental Trilogy from Amazon, or if you are based in Gauteng you can often catch her at local events, so follow Toni Cox’s Facebook page to find out when you can meet her. (She is absolutely lovely)
Love and fantasy,
Trisha