Eden (Eden #1) by Janelle Stalder

Eden by Janelle Stalder
Published: 20th September 2011
ASIN: B005ZS3C5C
Young Adult


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Aidan is 15 years old and I guess you could call him a bit of a geek. He is unpopular at school and gets picked on by the popular kids. He is tall and thin and not a fighter.


One night, he is awoken by a bright light in his garden. When he goes to investigate, he is whisked away to Eden, another dimension, by Diana, who is a witch. She tells him he is to be a great warrior who will help them to win the war against the North.


He is helped along the way by Elisa, the daughter of the captain of the army. Wolfe and Logan who are in their last year of training before they are fully fledged members of the Kings army.


This book wasn't really holding my interest and I sometimes found myself skimming. I honestly wanted to stop but I always try to go to about 50% before I give up, just to be fair. And because sometimes a book that's slow to start can become a firm favourite.


At about 48% there was a turnaround, with the introduction of Callum and Rose. I was a lot more interested in their story and was disappointed when it would return to Aidan and his friends. Unfortunately, their story just couldn't hold my attention and I wouldn't have finished this book if not for Callum and Rose. I was really interested in how things were going to work out between them, especially considering how they met.


Besides the fact that this was a story that just wasn't for me, there was very little to fault it on. It was well written and there is no doubt that Janelle Stalder is an extremely talented author. Her world building and character descriptions could not be faulted and she wrote through the eyes of a 15 year old boy expertly. I was immediately taken with all of the characters and found them all interesting in themselves, I just couldn't seem to build a lot of interest around the story. I also really liked Wolf, although at the start it seemed like I wouldn't.


There was no actual romance in this book, more so the lead up to it. Where you know its going to come, you just don't know when and that's something I love.


This book rounded up nicely in the end but I was saddened by the fact that we didn't revisit Callum and Rose just one more time. And I will probably only read the next book in the series if I know they will be in it.


If I had to find fault with this book, it would probably be the multiple POV's but then I totally enjoyed that we got to see Callum and Rose's POV too so that is kind of contradictory.


I will be interested in seeing reviews for Eden-West and if Callum and Rose are there, I will definitely be heading back to Eden to visit them.