Summer has come for fifteen-year-old twins Erin and Bain, and with it their favorite activity of exploring. They delve into the woods near their home quite often, but it is only now that they discover a new trail leading to a cabin. The place seems abandoned, and so they enter, only to find there is so much more to the world than they had thought. Not only is magic real, the magical world has been awaiting the two of them.They are introduced to this new world slowly, and are trained in magic, swordplay, and in knowledge of this new world. Only after much of this training has ensued do they realize what they are training for—to become elves. But with that realization comes a choice; to become elves, they must give up their old lives.But it is not only the good of the magical world that has an interest in them. Evil wants to stake its claim as well. Twins are powerful, but can Erin and Bain survive?Honestly, I found the first two-thirds of this book EXTREMELY boring. I almost stopped reading it multiple times, I was so bored and didn’t care at all about what happened to the characters or what was going on. The first half of the book is basically Erin and Bain training, and there’s one hint at something darker, but that’s pretty much it. Other than that, they’re just training and training and training and it’s boring and there is nothing really at stake. If they become elves, they give up their old life, and if they keep their old life, they lose their magic and special abilities and all that jazz. I get that, but… I could have cared less. I didn’t feel a strong enough connection to who they were before, and while Erin stressed about the decision, I didn’t connect as to why it was such a big decision. I mean, I know why, but I didn’t feel or care why, which makes all the difference.It wasn’t until the villains actually did something that the book got more interesting. Even then, it took me a few chapters to care, because I hadn’t really connected with the story or characters. And this book was still kind of slow, because I got the sense that the villains weren’t good guys and that they had an evil plan up their sleeve, but, aside from two spoilery incidents, they didn’t seem to do much… And it didn’t seem that hard to dupe them either. I rarely ever felt as if Erin was in any danger.Still, the ending wasn’t all bad. The book did get a little better, enough that I am interested in reading the sequel, even though I wasn’t before, and enough that I’ll keep this book, even though I was going to give it away before.Also, I don’t quite get while Erin and Bain are so special. The prologue clearly indicates they have been awaited and searched for, but why? And why do they get to be elves? It’s never really explained.Basically, the writing in this book is pretty poor, and the structure/pacing is even worse. It’s kind of like bad LDS fiction, except for the characters aren’t LDS (even though they can’t date until sixteen).Also, just a little side note/rant that contains SPOILERS…The whole incident of Erin meeting Pulsar for the first time bothers me. Pulsar gives her magic, which can only be done if she doesn’t have magic of her own… Then, she gets magic of her own anyways, and never really does much with the magic Pulsar gave her. Umm..., what? What was the point in her gaining magic from Pulsar, then? I can understand the needing it to talk to Pulsar/being able to read each other’s minds, but I’m not really sure if that was from the magic or not. It’s not really made clear, what the magic given to her from Pulsar is, especially since she gains her own magic anyways, a few chapters later. Alvor is a great read for the entire family! The author spends a great deal of time developing the characters and creating a picture in the reader's mind of the world of the faeries. I am anticipating some great fan art to come out of reading the story. The last third was very exciting and the ending leaves the reader looking forward to the next book in the series. I especially liked the lessons about love, honesty, loyalty, and friendship that are weaved into the story. Well done!
What do You think about Alvor (2009)?
Very fun read, if you like Harry Potter or Eragon, you'll love this! Great for all ages!
—Joey
Great read. Good fairytale for readers not yet old enough for Harry Potter.
—karincic
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't wait for the next one!
—jojo
