Take a talisman with the four elements: earth, wind, water, and fire. Add Arcadia, believed to be another world in the center of the Earth. Add a boy and friends searching for answers. And you have suspense, mystery, monsters, and people that are not what they seem.Author Alecia Stone’s YA fantasy novel, TALISMAN OF EL: BOOK ONE, opens with a boy named Derkein’s father placing a talisman around his son’s neck and then vanishing. The story flashes to another boy, fourteen-year-old Charlie Blake. Charlie, an orphan, lives with Jacob, his guardian, who Charlie hopes will adopt him. That is until weird things start happening, and Charlie discovers the real Jacob. The author has woven mystery, adventure, surprises, and danger into a story that will keep you guessing what happens next.Charlie, along with Derkein (still wearing the talisman), and other friends are soon on a search to find the entrance to the Garden of Eden that some believe lies at the center of the Earth in another world called Arcadia. Charlie has a lot of questions. What does the talisman have to do with him? Does Arcadia actually exist? If so, can they find it? What then?Will Charlie find the answers?### Good fast-paced fantasy, a more current good and evil, god and satan story. What deterred me from further enjoying the book were the sudden jumps in time between paragraphs (as opposed to starting a new chapter). In the beginning, these jumps made me crazy and I felt like I missed a big chunk of time. Towards the end of the book, I got used to the sudden jumps and realized this was the writer's style. Overall, book kept my attention for an entertaining, edge-of-your-seat read.
What do You think about Talisman Of El (2012)?
It was okay. To be honest, I found it a little confusing at times. I did like the humour though.
—Sahar
Book one was great. So much adventure and excitement. A new fave for me.
—Lext199500
