Review: Talisman of El

Info: 
Title: Talisman of El
Author: Alecia Stone
Series: Talisman of El #1
Publication Date: May 20, 2012
Source: Won.

Synopsis:
WHAT IF YOUR WHOLE LIFE WAS A LIE? 

One Planet. 

Two Worlds. 

Population: Human ... 7 billion. 
Others ... unknown. 

When 14-year-old Char­lie Blake wakes up sweat­ing and gasp­ing for air in the mid­dle of the night, he knows it is hap­pen­ing again. This time he wit­nesses a bru­tal mur­der. He's afraid to tell any­one. No one would believe him ... because it was a dream. Just like the one he had four years ago - the day before his dad died. 

Char­lie doesn't know why this is hap­pen­ing. He would give any­thing to have an ordi­nary life. The prob­lem: he doesn't belong in the world he knows as home. 

He belongs with the others.

Review:
I really wanted to like this book. I mean, it's written by a book blogger! Unfortunately, this book did not really work for me. I found it really dragged on and I couldn't get invested in the story or the characters. It seemed unnecessarily long and, while I did slog my way through it, I didn't enjoy myself.

Main character Charlie starts off as a typical fictional orphan. But don't worry, he's special! Alex, Derkein and Richmond (who I can't help but picture as a minuature goth version of Richmond from IT Crowd) were fairly stock supporting characters, with the possible exception of Derkein.

On the bright side, I did find the world to be very interesting and original. Elements and angels are a mix I haven't seem before. Unfortunately, for me, the original storyline was not enough to make up for the poor pacing that made this one a chore to read. 

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