Review and Giveaway Max Xylander and the Island of Zumuruud by Jon Thomason - Book Tour

“Sometimes we need bounds on our freedom.”

Looking at the cover I thought it would be a SF. I couldn't be more wrong. Max is pure fantasy!

The story is sometimes alert, sometimes funny and sometimes is downright adventure. Danger hovers everywhere even that it comes from the people (if you have higher power does not necessarily mean that you are better man) or from other creatures. The school scenes will be well entwined with some Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and mystery type and will feast the reader.

„Each of the four corners of the room had a gold statue of a gryphon. Except they were no longer statues. They were moving. Their motions were sluggish, as if awakening from a long sleep. [...]He swung in slow motion like a zombie, just enough to keep the gryphons away. There was no escape. He would die here.”

In Max Xylander the author manages to combine the stories of four characters that come to influence each other destiny, although it seemed that there was little chance that they even meet. Each has different qualities and defects, each contributes to the story and each seems to be right in his way, especially Max and Philip - the main characters.

Regarding Aaron and Brynn you certainly will love them and I hope that their role in the next two volumes will grow.

I liked that the author shows and shapes very well the various forms that good and evil can take, those shades of gray that ultimately are what matter and, depending on how they are perceived, will define people to act in one way or another.

The feelings of the main characters are deep and the experiences they going through put their life in danger not just once. But more important is their personal struggle between good and evil. Where begin the need for rules for the personal and society benefit and where the need become tyranny? How, when and to where you can breach (or bypass) the rules and when is too much?

„She was at the mercy of the doctors and of Fate. Couldn’t say no or yes. Couldn’t choose. Now, her new talent let her take the world on her own terms. It was narcotic and wild. She loved the feeling of gathering a ball of flame brighter than the sun and releasing it any way she could dream up.”

Max and Philip will be "experiments" with different results.

Max does not care about the rules, (actually she did not really have how to know them, but she suspects the need for them), she’s sometimes recalcitrant and rebellious, happy to no longer feel helpless. Yet at 13 years old only, the light in which some things are presented to her can make her to take some wrong decisions.

„She’d had enough. An angry fire burned inside her. It was fueled by rage, by hate, and by the unfairness of every second of her thirteen-year-old life.”

Philip had already some bad experiences with the "rules" or with those who impose them, but he’s lucid, smart and he sees the truth where it is.

“You worship an evil guy from a thousand years ago. You don’t think there’s something wrong with that?” The train slowed for the next stop. “We just want to free the jinn.” “So do I. I’m following the Path, aren’t I? There’s just no reason to chant and froth about it.”

If Philip is already grown and has a life experience that can help him, Max have the Adrian's help who is mature and wise, and a very dear character to me. He is the voice of maturity, discernment, the one that emphasizes the differences between the rules and those who apply them.

The main characters stories are separately evolve, on different levels and the reader will be curious how their destinies will intertwined in the end. How they will meet, how they will be influence by the power’s mirage and which will be their decisions in the end you will see for yourself.

It is a book for all ages and definitely many will love it.

I received the book for review as part of Book Tour - Thank you

Romanian:

"Sometimes we need bounds on our freedom.”

Uitându-mă la copertă m-am gândit că va fi vorba despre un SF. Nu puteam să mă înşel mai mult. Max Xylander and the Island of Zumuruud este pură fantasy!

Povestea este când alertă, când amuzantă, când de-a dreptul aventură. Pericolul pluteşte la tot pasul chit că vine din partea oamenilor (dacă ai puteri superioare nu înseamnă neapărat că eşti mai bun) sau a animalelor, iar scenele de şcoală vor fi bine îmbinate cu unele de tip Jurasic Park, Indiana Jones sau mystery şi vor satisface cititorul.

„Each of the four corners of the room had a gold statue of a gryphon. Except they were no longer statues. They were moving. Their motions were sluggish, as if awakening from a long sleep. [...]He swung in slow motion like a zombie, just enough to keep the gryphons away. There was no escape. He would die here.”

În Max Xylander autorul reuşeşte să îmbine poveştile celor patru personaje care ajung să-şi influențeze destinele, deşi ar fi părut că există puține şanse ca ei să se întâlnească vreodată. Fiecare are calități şi defecte diferite, fiecare îşi aduce aportul în poveste şi fiecare pare a avea dreptate în felul lui, mai ales Max şi Philip – personajele principale.

În ceea ce îi priveşte pe Aaron şi Brynn cu siguranță că îi veți adora şi sper că rolul lor în următoarele două volume să crească.

Mi-a plăcut faptul că autorul arată şi conturează foarte bine formele variate pe care le poate îmbrăca binele şi răul, acele nuanțe de gri care în final sunt cele care contează şi care, în funcție de cum sunt percepute, vor determina oamenii să acționeze într-un mod sau altul.

Trăirile personajelor principale sunt profunde şi experințele prin care trec le pun nu o dată viața în pericol. Dar mai importantă este lupta personală pe care o duc între bine şi rău. Unde începe nevoia de reguli pentru binele personal şi al societății şi unde această nevoie devine tiranie? Cum, când şi până unde poți încălca (sau ocoli) regulile şi când e prea mult.

„She was at the mercy of the doctors and of Fate. Couldn’t say no or yes. Couldn’t choose. Now, her new talent let her take the world on her own terms. It was narcotic and wild. She loved the feeling of gathering a ball of flame brighter than the sun and releasing it any way she could dream up.”

Max şi Philip vor fi „experimente” cu rezultate diferite.

Lui Max nu-i pasă de reguli, (de fapt nici nu prea avea cum să le cunoască, dar bănuie necesitatea lor), uneori recalcitrantă şi rebelă, bucuroasă să nu se mai simtă neputincioasă. Totuşi, la doar 13 ani, lumina în care îi sunt prezentate lucrurile poate s-o facă să ia unele decizii nepotrivite.

„She’d had enough. An angry fire burned inside her. It was fueled by rage, by hate, and by the unfairness of every second of her thirteen-year-old life.”

Philips are deja unele experiențe neplăcute cu „regulile” sau cu cei care le impun, dar este lucid, deştept şi vede adevărul acolo unde trebuie.

“You worship an evil guy from a thousand years ago. You don’t think there’s something wrong with that?” The train slowed for the next stop. “We just want to free the jinn.” “So do I. I’m following the Path, aren’t I? There’s just no reason to chant and froth about it.”

Dacă Philip are deja o vârstă şi o experiență de viață care îl poate ajuta, Max se bucură de ajutorul matur şi înțelept al lui Adrian, personaj foarte drag mie. El este vocea maturitătii, a discernământului, cel care subliniază diferențele dintre reguli şi cei le aplică.

Poveştile celor doi se desfăşoară separat, în planuri diferite şi cititorul va fi curios cum destinele lor se vor împleti până la urmă. Cum se vor întâlni, cum îi va influența mirajul puterii şi care vor fi deciziile lor în final veți vedea singuri.

Este o carte pentru orice vârstă şi cu siguranță se vor găsi mulți cărora le va plăcea.

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Author Jon Thomason

Jon Thomason lives with his family in San Diego, after many years living in the beautiful Seattle area. He has a successful career in high tech where he's been fortunate enough to participate in many big-name industry releases.

Storytelling permeates everything he does. In the moments when Jon is not helping build the story of the tech world, he can almost always be found working on a project: writing, photography, videography, graphics design, or 3D art.

And he's always careful to conceal his jinni magic abilities, though perhaps might slip one day and be discovered...

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Blog Tour Giveaway
$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash plus a copy of Max Xylander and the Island of Zumuruud
Print copy to US only, Ebook Internationally
Ends 3/31/13
The Book Tour and giveaway was organized by I Am a Reader Not a Writer.
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