Elissa's Quest

This summer I was lucky enough to get out of taking a Research Methods course at the College of William and Mary. This meant that while most of my cohort was taking two classes during June, I was floating along with one measly 3 credit hour course. Suddenly, for the first time in over 8 years, I found myself with time for pleasure reading. I quickly devoured nearly every Young Adult and Junior fantasy series that had been released in the last 8 years. Therefore, I was surprised to run across this series when I visited the library last week. I guess I must have missed it in my ravishing quest for great adventure stories.

Elissa's Quest is the first in a three part series about a young girl who is prophesied to be the Seeker. The book opens with a mysterious prologue, in which this goddess, or at least we can assume it is a goddess, is sitting around a fire falling asleep. She knows she is suppose to do something, but she can't remember what. Suddenly she remembers, and the chapter ends.  When the next chapter starts, the reader finds themselves in a quaint village, where they are introduced to Elissa, a spunky green-eyed red head who lives with an old herbalist. From that point on, the book follows the story of Elissa, and the quest that she finds herself on. It is only later that readers learn of the Prophesy of the Phoenix, which states that every thousand years, the Phoenix must throw herself into the fire and rise again from its ashes, or the world will end. At that time, the Phoenix thrusts a Seeker into the world to help guide her back from the fire.

I love this book because it threw some curve balls at me that I wasn't expecting. In case my first paragraph didn't clue you in, I inhale fantasy books. Nothing makes me happier than a great new series to curl up with. So I fancy that I know a  good deal about the fantasy genre, but this book had some interesting components that I wasn't expecting. Now mind you, it does have the traditional "orphaned" main character, talking animal, magical elements, and imagined world, but something about the Middle Eastern setting and the layout of the text really intrigued me. The opening chapter was a masterful touch, and the prophesy itself is unique enough to really hold my interest. However, there was something else that really struck me about this book, and I just couldn't put my finger on it until I read the Author's Note on her website. Apparently, Erica Verrillo based this story on a tale she had told her daughter. The setting is based off of a trip the author took to Morocco, and even the mysterious Blue People from the tale find their basis in the reality of the Tuareg Berbers. I think the way that the author integreated her experiences into this imaginary world adds tremendously to the believability of the story, and makes it that much more enticing of a story. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series, Elissa's Odyessy.