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Failing grades. Misleading wind vampires. And a fortune in forgotten gold.
Traveling to the most remote region of China certainly wasn’t what Ben Vecchio had in mind for his summer vacation, but when Tenzin suggested a quick trip, he could hardly turn down a chance to keep her out of trouble and practice the Mandarin he still struggled with in class.
Of course, Tenzin might not have been clear about everything travel entailed.
Driving a truck full of rotting vegetables and twenty million in gold from Kashgar to Shanghai was only the start. If Ben can keep the treasure away from grasping immortals, the reward will be more than worth the effort. But when has travel with a five-thousand-year-old wind vampire ever been simple?
Traveling to the most remote region of China certainly wasn’t what Ben Vecchio had in mind for his summer vacation, but when Tenzin suggested a quick trip, he could hardly turn down a chance to keep her out of trouble and practice the Mandarin he still struggled with in class.
Of course, Tenzin might not have been clear about everything travel entailed.
Driving a truck full of rotting vegetables and twenty million in gold from Kashgar to Shanghai was only the start. If Ben can keep the treasure away from grasping immortals, the reward will be more than worth the effort. But when has travel with a five-thousand-year-old wind vampire ever been simple?
Genre: paranormal fiction
Publishing date: December 2014
Offensive content: this is a story involving vampires, so there's some inherent violence.
Review:
This is the first snippet at the Elemental Legacy series, by Elizabeth Hunter. Elemental Legacy follows Elemental Mysteries, which you should not miss if you love paranormal/vampire novels (I reviewed A Hidden Fire, book 1 of the Elemental Mysteries here and it's still a free download for Amazon Kindle if you want to give it a try).
Shadows and Gold is a novella, so there's not much of a story there. It is focused on Ben (the boy Giovanni and Beatrice adopted somewhere along the way in the Elemental Mysteries series) and Tenzin, the old vampire from China. Tenzin has always been a difficult character for me, because I can't reconcile the fact that she's supposed to look like a barely-out-of-her-teens girl with her real age, and that kind of hampered a bit my reading of this book. Ben, though, is a very promising character and I have high hopes for him. Oh, and other than a couple of more violent scenes, you almost forget that you are supposed to be reading a book on vampires.
What I ended up loving most about Shadows and Gold was the description of modern day China, especially in places far away from the most known cities like Beijing or Shanghai. The story flows just like any other of Elizabeth Hunter's novels, which is to say, wonderfully, but there's not a lot of substance. I guess we'll have to wait for the first full length Elemental Legacy novel to get more of Ben's story, and get a better understanding of why Ben and Tenzin's trip to China is relevant. I keep crossing my fingers for Ben and Tenzin, but after what happens in Shadows and Gold, I foresee a rough path for these two.
Still, Shadows and Gold accounts for a well spent afternoon, though I really advise you to read the Elemental Mysteries books before even trying to tackle this one, or you'll miss half the references.
Happy readings,
This is the first snippet at the Elemental Legacy series, by Elizabeth Hunter. Elemental Legacy follows Elemental Mysteries, which you should not miss if you love paranormal/vampire novels (I reviewed A Hidden Fire, book 1 of the Elemental Mysteries here and it's still a free download for Amazon Kindle if you want to give it a try).
Shadows and Gold is a novella, so there's not much of a story there. It is focused on Ben (the boy Giovanni and Beatrice adopted somewhere along the way in the Elemental Mysteries series) and Tenzin, the old vampire from China. Tenzin has always been a difficult character for me, because I can't reconcile the fact that she's supposed to look like a barely-out-of-her-teens girl with her real age, and that kind of hampered a bit my reading of this book. Ben, though, is a very promising character and I have high hopes for him. Oh, and other than a couple of more violent scenes, you almost forget that you are supposed to be reading a book on vampires.
What I ended up loving most about Shadows and Gold was the description of modern day China, especially in places far away from the most known cities like Beijing or Shanghai. The story flows just like any other of Elizabeth Hunter's novels, which is to say, wonderfully, but there's not a lot of substance. I guess we'll have to wait for the first full length Elemental Legacy novel to get more of Ben's story, and get a better understanding of why Ben and Tenzin's trip to China is relevant. I keep crossing my fingers for Ben and Tenzin, but after what happens in Shadows and Gold, I foresee a rough path for these two.
Still, Shadows and Gold accounts for a well spent afternoon, though I really advise you to read the Elemental Mysteries books before even trying to tackle this one, or you'll miss half the references.
Happy readings,
Hmm interesting, while I'm enjoying novellas and the setting sounds interesting, I'm not sure I would enjoy this one... Thanks for sharing with #TheCozyReadingSpot
ReplyDeleteUnless you've read the previous books in the series and enjoyed them, you shouldn't even pick it up. If you want, download book one free from Amazon - A Hidden Fire- and go from there. if you don't like it, it's not a big loss. If you do, then you can move ahead in the series. Thank you for stopping by!
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