Official Review: Elquin by Rose Sweetwater
Posted: 30 Jun 2020, 21:12
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Elquin" by Rose Sweetwater.]
Meet Jen, a student and sorority sister at the University of Florida. There’s not much unusual about Jen … apart from her occasional precognitive dreams. All she wants is to enjoy college and earn her degree in physical therapy. Unfortunately, everything gets a little messy when an alien (disguised as a human) kisses her at a casino and puts her life in a lot of danger.
Enter Vishnu (or Taren, depending on the planet) and Locknoff. They come from the dying planet Elquin and are tasked with the mission of finding out how hospitable Earth is for the Elquin population. They need to make a move soon, regardless of whether or not the people of Earth are willing to cooperate. Unfortunately for Vishnu, the thought of destroying the human race doesn’t sit super well with him. You see, he’s grown to care for the humans … perhaps much more than he should.
Rose Sweetwater’s Elquin is the first novel of an extremely promising sci-fi series. It’s beautifully detailed; action packed; perfectly paced; and the characters were incredibly well developed, each having a complete story that helps the readers empathize with their motives and actions. Furthermore, at times Sweetwater diverts from a chronological story-telling format in a way that allows the readers to slowly put the pieces together. I found this method to work exceptionally well. It leads the reader to see each character in a variety of scenarios (each one reveling a new part of the character) before learning the entirety of their story and forming a final opinion of them.
There is not much about this novel that I can criticize. My only disappointment came at the very end. Although I know this is the beginning of a series (so the reader does need to be left wanting more), I felt the ending was quite abrupt. I thought the outcome of the final council meeting or an update on Jen would at least be revealed. But alas, I suppose I must wait for the next one.
Elquin absolutely deserves 4 out of 4 stars. I did not find a single spelling or grammatical error in all 333 pages, and I was completely absorbed by all the action, adventure, suspense, and romance this novel has to offer. Certain scenes were so wonderfully descriptive that I actually got goosebumps and felt tingles in my stomach. I simply did not want to put this one down.
I think this novel would most certainly appeal to a young-adult audience (I, personally, cannot wait for the follow-up). Readers should know, however, that there are a few scenes with erotic content, and some are quite descriptive.
******
Elquin
View: on Bookshelves
Meet Jen, a student and sorority sister at the University of Florida. There’s not much unusual about Jen … apart from her occasional precognitive dreams. All she wants is to enjoy college and earn her degree in physical therapy. Unfortunately, everything gets a little messy when an alien (disguised as a human) kisses her at a casino and puts her life in a lot of danger.
Enter Vishnu (or Taren, depending on the planet) and Locknoff. They come from the dying planet Elquin and are tasked with the mission of finding out how hospitable Earth is for the Elquin population. They need to make a move soon, regardless of whether or not the people of Earth are willing to cooperate. Unfortunately for Vishnu, the thought of destroying the human race doesn’t sit super well with him. You see, he’s grown to care for the humans … perhaps much more than he should.
Rose Sweetwater’s Elquin is the first novel of an extremely promising sci-fi series. It’s beautifully detailed; action packed; perfectly paced; and the characters were incredibly well developed, each having a complete story that helps the readers empathize with their motives and actions. Furthermore, at times Sweetwater diverts from a chronological story-telling format in a way that allows the readers to slowly put the pieces together. I found this method to work exceptionally well. It leads the reader to see each character in a variety of scenarios (each one reveling a new part of the character) before learning the entirety of their story and forming a final opinion of them.
There is not much about this novel that I can criticize. My only disappointment came at the very end. Although I know this is the beginning of a series (so the reader does need to be left wanting more), I felt the ending was quite abrupt. I thought the outcome of the final council meeting or an update on Jen would at least be revealed. But alas, I suppose I must wait for the next one.
Elquin absolutely deserves 4 out of 4 stars. I did not find a single spelling or grammatical error in all 333 pages, and I was completely absorbed by all the action, adventure, suspense, and romance this novel has to offer. Certain scenes were so wonderfully descriptive that I actually got goosebumps and felt tingles in my stomach. I simply did not want to put this one down.
I think this novel would most certainly appeal to a young-adult audience (I, personally, cannot wait for the follow-up). Readers should know, however, that there are a few scenes with erotic content, and some are quite descriptive.
******
Elquin
View: on Bookshelves