Sunday, December 4, 2011

Book Review: Farsighted



Farisghted

by Emlyn Chand
Series: Farsighted Series #1
Release date: 24th November, 2011
Publisher: Blue Crown Press
Pages: 218 (Epub provided for blog tour in exchange for an honest review)
Next Book: Unknown

Summary from Goodreads:

Alex Kosmitoras’s life has never been easy. The only other student who will talk to him is the school bully, his parents are dead-broke and insanely overprotective, and to complicate matters even more, he's blind. Just when he thinks he'll never have a shot at a normal life, a new girl from India moves into town. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Yes, sophomore year might not be so bad after all.

Unfortunately, Alex is in store for another new arrival—an unexpected and often embarrassing ability to “see” the future. Try as he may, Alex is unable to ignore his visions, especially when they begin to suggest that Simmi is in danger. With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and new friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex must embark on a journey to change his future.

Review By Alaiel Kreuz:

You've heard the expression "don't judge a book by its cover", right? Well, this is exactly what happened here. I'm not really a fan of this cover but I've heard so many good things about this book that when I was offered a spot in the blog tour I just couldn't say no. And you know what? I'm so glad I said yes!

Our main character, Alex, is your average guy. Bullied in school by the "cool kids" (who in my opinion, of course, are just idiots...), with zero friends and always eating by himself in the cafeteria.

Sorry, not average, right? Well, thrown in there that he is actually blind and that he has a gift: he can see the future.
Yeah, not average but interesting. Really really interesting.

So, he is a guy. A really good kid who struggles with his father's relationship with him because he knows that, deep inside, his dad blames him for being blind and that he only acts nice and sweet when his mom is around.
To compensate his father's behavior Ale'x mom is a sweetheart. She is the type of mom who would call her son "brave little oak tree" (which I think is absolutely cute!) and make sure that he knows she loves her by doing small things to make his heart smile.

But then Alex's life changes when a new girl arrives to his school. Her name is Simmi and she is from India. Soon she becomes Alex's best friend. Actually only friend. But he is happy, happier than ever. He is falling in love for a girl with a sweet heart and a kind soul, a girl that smells like Almond Joy Bar and that really cares for him.

And everything is just great until one of Alex's visions suggests that Simmi is going to die very soon. He has never intervened in the future but now things are different, he can't just sit and wait for it to happen, he needs to stop it, to change the future... But, is it possible? Can he really do something to stop Simmi's death?

Personal opinion:
Where do I start? Let's begin with Alex. I love him, I really do. He is such a sweet kid who knows that being blind makes his life a little harder but that understands that is part of who he is and lives with it with grace.
It was so refreshing to read a book from a male's point of view! The way he thinks, the way he express his feelings, the way he acts are so real that I usually found myself thinking of him as a real person and not a character written by a girl. Kudos for that, Emlyn! You really captured his essence in this book and he became a real person for me.

Another thing I enjoyed was the fact that we have a lot of cultures in this book. No kidding. I'm in love with the Indian culture and this book just captured me with all the things I could learn with the characters. And since my own background is a mix of three cultures (Spanish-Peruvian-Brasilian) I'm absolutely grateful to the author for making Farsighted a house for different people.

Oh, you want me to tell you something cool? Every chapter begins with a rune. This rune comes with a little prophecy that, if you think about it, will give you an insight of what is going to happen in the chapter. I thought that was absolutely clever! I often found myself pausing my reading to think about what might happen next and smiling when correct.
This idea brought more depth to the plot and its magic side. Again, kudos for that, Emlyn!

And, just so you can understand how much I enjoyed this book I'm going to re-read it before the end of the year. I'm not sure how since I have so many other books to read but I simple will have to find a way to do so... this book was marvelous! The ending left me happy but eager to read the next part... Months can't pass fast enough.

Read it, please, you won't regret it, I promise.

Alaiel's Rating:


If you really like it, you can find it here:

7 comments:

  1. This is the first review I have read on it. I'm even more excited to read this one now. Thanks for the review!

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  2. I love the premise of this book and want to read it.

    Thanks for the post!

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  3. Love your review! It's on my must BUY list!!!

    Mary

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  4. I have heard awesome things about this book. I love the way you wrote your review because it really made me want to read this book. The fact that you thought of Alex as a person and not a character says a lot about the writing. Also, I LOVE that each chapter starts with a rune. How fun! Thanks for sharing!

    ~Jess
    http://thesecretdmsfilesoffairdaymorrow.blogspot.com/

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  5. Great Review! Thanks for being a part of this tour!

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  6. Wow! What a wonderful review, Alaiel. I am beyond flattered. I'm glad that you were able to connect with Alex and that you enjoyed the multiculturalism of the other characters. It was really important to me to show diversity in fiction, because I just don't think there is enough of it. The fact that Alex became real to you, that means I've done my job. I'm so happy I was able to entertain you for a little while. Shoot me an email if you'd like an ARC of the next book in the series, Open Heart :-D

    Emlyn

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  7. +JMJ+

    The things you personally loved about this book, I think I'd love, too. =) I already knew I wanted to read this when I heard that Alex was a blind "visionary" (inspired by Teresias!), but knowing about the mix of cultures was icing on the cake!

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