Lovin' los libros

Protector (Magio-Earth #1)
   by: Joanne Wadsworth

Publication Date: Jan. 7, 2013
Publisher: Lyrical Press, Inc.
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: e-book received from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review
Page Count: 210 pages
Order Links: Amazon | B&N| iTunes| Kobo
My Rating: 2/5 stars

                                                                         -goodreads.com description


I received this from the author and was really intrigued by the synopsis. I love when the real world collides with a magical/fantastical one. Our main character is a girl living in New Zealand, attending classes with her best friends. However, Faith (our main character) can communicate with her friend Belle, telepathically. Her best friend, Silvie, whom she's grown up with, is aware the two can communicate like that and is completely comfortable with that knowledge. (Which I thought to be a bit strange.)

I think my biggest issue with this book was the way the world building was handled. It felt like we were introduced to these characters right away and they were completely comfortable with the fact that there is another planet called Magio. Faith acts like she doesn't believe in any of this until a new student shows up, who happens to be the prince of Peacio (one of the ruling lands in Magio), Davio. It just did not seem very believable to me. One minute Faith is in denial saying there's no such place and then the next she's like 'Ok, I guess this is real after all'. There is quite a bit of info-dumping as well in this book and I am not a fan of that. I would have rather been given the information more gradually, and not so much via the characters and dialogue. I would have preferred to be shown a lot of what the characters told me. The dialogue was also a bit strange- it was a bit more mature and at times archaic for how 18 year olds would speak.

I found Faith a bit hard to relate to as well. She did a lot of flip-flopping with her emotions. I understand the back and forth with Davio (though it did annoy me). They fell into a bit of a pattern: fight, make up, fight, make up, fight some more. It really made it difficult to believe in them as a soul-bound couple. Even when they weren't fighting, it just wasn't quite believable that they were in love with one another. Faith also is back and forth with her friends and her family, which really made me doubt a lot of her choices and genuineness.

My favorite character was Silas, Davio's cousin. He is introduced a bit later in the book and I like that he keeps Faith on her toes. He is bound to protect his Prince from outside threats and himself. I'm glad to see that the next book in the series will focus on him.

I really liked the idea of the world of Magio and that there were two kingdoms at war with one another- Dralion and Peacio. This ends up playing a vital role in the book and again, I wish we were shown more of these two places to explain their significance.

Overall, the plot was intriguing, but the story lacked the necessary execution to make it what I would have liked.