Edwin Wolfe

Edwin Wolfe has a wonderful imagination that has a created the first book in the Chrysalis Chronicles. The Eyes of the Desert Sand is full of many creatures, both we've heard of before and some made up! This story takes you to magical wells, odd riddles, and a cast of characters that are bound to make an impression. My two favorite ideas in the book is the book traveling and the paintings. I don't want to give anything away, but those two things held the most interest to me. Ethan is a 13 year old boy who has no idea who he can trust and what things his parents might be hiding. This book is a good set-up for the rest of the following books and will leave readers awaiting the next book to find out more!… (més)

Edwin Wolfe has a wonderful imagination that has a created the first book in the Chrysalis Chronicles. The Eyes of the Desert Sand is full of many creatures, both we've heard of before and some made up! This story takes you to magical wells, odd riddles, and a cast of characters that are bound to make an impression. My two favorite ideas in the book is the book traveling and the paintings. I don't want to give anything away, but those two things held the most interest to me. Ethan is a 13 year old boy who has no idea who he can trust and what things his parents might be hiding. This book is a good set-up for the rest of the following books and will leave readers awaiting the next book to find out more!… (més)

3.5
If I'm honest, I didn't particularly enjoy this book, but I've been sitting here trying to decide if what I disliked was really any fault of the book or just that I'm not 10 years old and the intended audience. It is probably a little of both. Certainly there were things I disliked. Haley's character, especially, seemed only to exist in order to fill some cliche female role of adoring all things small and cute and nagging at the main character in an overly mother-like fashion. Both children, who find themselves in what should be a terrifying situation, accept their lot with such aplomb that it is completely unbelievable and I found the constant references to the modern as distracting. It reminded me of an old childless uncle trying desperately to find a way to relate to and bond with his nieces or nephews...forced.

What bothered me the most however, was that so very little happened. This book is 320 pages long. I honestly think there are 250 pages of descriptions and 70 pages of action or dialogue. Every character, mythical beast, room, food item, mode of transportation, item of clothing, etc is described in excruciating detail. While this gives the reader a very clear idea of what things look like, it does little to move the plot along. In fact it weighed it down painfully.

This is where the 10 year old (or younger) comes in, because as an adult I grew increasingly frustrated with the constant floridness, but a child might not have. To a child they may have been a source of constant joy and amazement (as I suspect they were intended). What I think this book would be best suited for is to be read aloud to smallish children. If read to children just on the cusp of being able to read a middle-grade book, those able to follow a story over a number of days/nights but not yet able to read it all on their own, they would go to bed each night with the image of amazing creatures in their mind but not be old enough to expect much in the line of a story. Even the dialogue, which I found extremely stiff and un-natural (too many shalls, musts and upons and too few contractions) would probably work if being acted out in some fashion.

When reviewing a book that was written for an audience other than myself I always try to review it from the standpoint of the intended audience. After-all, it isn't the fault of Wolfe that I'm not the right age for his book. But in this case I got the distinct impression (though, to be fair, I'm not certain what gave me the impression) that like Harry Potter or Alice in Wonderland, two books that The Eyes of the Desert Sand takes a lot of inspiration from, it was trying to have cross-generational appeal. So it didn't feel right reviewing it solely on it's allure to children. I would give this book a 3 for adult enjoyment and a 4 for that of a child.… (més)

Ethan Fox isn't like every other thirteen-year-old. He's far from normal. Why? Well for starters, he can't seem to remember anything that happened to him before he was 8. It's like all those memories have been erased. Want another reason? Vampires tried to kidnap him. Not enough? Well, maybe it's because of the blue bunny with yellow polka-dots that was waving at him at the beach while he and his parents were vacationing. Or it could be that strange poem he wrote in his sleep. It's a tie breaker.
When Ethan Fox goes on vacation with his parents, he was not expecting the impossible to happen. At first, vacation was great. He met a sweet girl by the name of Haley who seems to have no recollection of anything before meeting Ethan at the amusement park. Then things just got weird. i.e. the blue bunny.
Ethan and Haley enter a world where the impossible is downright achievable and where the weird just gets weirder. But why is this happening to them? Why did vampires try to kidnap Ethan? Why can't Haley remember anything? And what does the mysterious poem Ethan wrote in his sleep mean?

The Eyes of the Desert Sand completely blew me away. I can't say how much I loved reading this book. It's a fantastic story that took me on a journey through a whole new world hidden inside our own. A similar version to the wonderland from Alice in Wonderland and the Harry Potter books, except twice as good. Edwin Wolfe has created a world full of wonders from his vivid imagination. A place where imaginary creatures and story-tale creatures collide into a remarkably refreshing outcome.
What I loved best about this book was its unpredictably. Seriously, I had absolutely no idea what would happen next. Things were so random. At first I'm all like 'This sounds okay, but it's sort of cliche-ish' and the writing makes it hard for me to really get into the story, but then a blue bunny with yellow polka-dots pops up in a beach. Expected? Uh, no. I can guarantee a surprise almost on every page.
The story is told in third person. The characters were unique (and I really mean it when I say they were unique, I don't think I'll find any other characters like Ethan or Haley or Daavic in any other book) and lively. Ethan was smart and just as fun as his dad, but somewhat naive. His character definitely developed throughout the book. He started off by being the kid with wide innocent eyes and he ended up as someone entirely different. The only trouble I had was that I couldn't really connect with most characters. And by 'connect' I mean not being able to see things their way and struggling to understand why they did certain things. It wasn't that big a deal, but I wished I could get to know the characters a bit more before all the action starts.
The plot was impressive. I certainly admired the way Wolfe shaped his world. It's an endless supply of surprises that kept me guessing the entire time. The pace is consistent throughout the book, maybe a little speedy here and there. There was ceaseless amounts of non-stop action, original creatures popping out of nowhere (and lots of legendary ones as well), a little bit of romance (which is invigorating), and loads of magic. The only downfall was the author's style of writing. It seemed inexperienced and more juvenile than anything else. There were lots of obvious mistakes through the book, dashes where ellipses should have gone, semicolons missing, some misuse of words, and some misspellings as well. I found it kind of hard to immerse myself into this wonderful new world. But I still loved it, even though I struggled with the writing.
Overall The Eyes of the Desert Sand is one fantasy read you don't want to miss. You'll fly through the book wishing for more (just like I did). I'm giving it 4 stars out of 5 because of the writing style, but other than that, this book has made it's way to my all-time favorites.… (més)