Inquisitive Hippo

Image courtesy of Janelle Stalder

Author: Janelle Stalder

Series: Eden(Book 1)

First Published: 2011

ISBN: 1462051448

Aiden is certain his boring, high school life spent trying to stay invisible to the school bullies couldn’t be more ordinary. When he emerges from a dream to find himself in another world, he’s just as certain that this couldn’t possibly be real. Pulled into the land of Eden because they believe him to be a savior, he is overwhelmed by a world he can’t understand. Befriended by the handsome and confident Wolf and Logan and facing a growing attraction to the lovely Elisa, he must learn to trust himself and his abilities to save Eden from war.

Interwoven with the stories of Elisa, the only girl in the Army and Rose, the only survivor of a massacre, Eden takes the reader on an adventure that does a wonderful job marrying the medieval setting with the interpersonal relationships among the main characters. While some components of the story are a bit predictable, the general tone and storyline are engaging and compelling.

There were a fair number of spelling and grammatical errors that were difficult to ignore, but overall the story was compelling. It’s worth mentioning the errors may have been atypical as I did receive an advance review copy.  I do think the ending was very abrupt and Stalder should have spent more time finishing out this first book in the series rather than ending it where she did. Overall, I’m interested and want to see what happens next in Eden.