Terror was within. Terror was without.Like her mother, she was at the water’s mercy.In the enchanted world of Aeolia, fifteen-year-old Esme Silver faces her hardest task yet. She must master her unruly Gift–the power to observe the past–and uncover the secrets she needs to save her mother, Ariane.In between attending school in the beguiling canal city of Esperance, Esme and her friends–old … Esperance, Esme and her friends–old and new–travel far and wide across Aeolia, gathering the ingredients for a potent magical elixir.
Their journey takes them to volcanic isles, sunken ruins and snowy eyries, spectacular places fraught with danger, where they must face their deepest fears and find hope in the darkest of places.
Esme’s Gift, the second instalment in the Esme trilogy, is a gripping fantasy adventure for readers 12 years and over.
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Book Review by Pauline Reid Esme’s Gift by Elizabeth Foster
What This Book Is About
This is a continuation of book 1 (Esme’s Wish). Esme’s Gift is about a fifteen year old girl, Esme, who has found her mother and her mother is alive, but in a trance, her gift has been tampered with. We are now in Pierpont where Esme has found out that she is about to start college along with other friends. This is of another world where Esme’s school mates all have a gift, which some have trouble controlling. The task ahead is to master their skills using them to help Esme find the secret ingredient to help her mother. Can she do this? A few other surprises awaits as Esme’s friends and herself, go on a journey they are unlikely to forget.
My Thoughts On This Book
Firstly I would like to sincerely thank Elizabeth Foster for giving me this book in exchange for a honest review.
I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the book and find illustrations that fascinated me, first of all there is the map of Esperance and then there is a brief outline of a school dairy, and a school guide. I love the feel of this book too, it felt like velvet and when I put it down on a slippery surface, it just stayed there, it grips. I loved the dynamics in this book. I loved Esme, a typical 15 year old teenager, sharp and speaks her mind and never misses a beat. In the real world, Esme has a father who is a bit of a drunken lout, and I loved the dynamics between the so called “family” I also love Elizabeth’s writing, it’s so dreamy and very imaginative. I’ve put my favourite quotes at the end of this book review, so you can look at them and ponder over in your own time. Now, back to the fantasy world, I enjoyed being thrown into the teenage years again and I thought how lovely it would be to attend the school of Pierpont, where most of Esme’s school friends were just developing their gifts, ok, so some of them had issues controlling them, but with control and patience the desired results would prove rewarding.
5 stars
I recommend this book to any Harry Potter fans, and anyone who love fantasy fiction.
Quotes
The busker was only half-there.
A disembodied leg, hip, arm, and shoulder protruded from the claret-coloured wall. The arm held a violin, across which a bow moved gracefully. The rest of the busker’s body, however, was firmly stuck in the stucco.
Wearing a blazer over your everyday clothes does not constitute a uniform. Remember, too, that while piercings, dyed hair, and tattoos are acceptable, unenclosed shoes are not, for safety reasons.
The alley’s long walls were splashed with psychedelic street art: rainbow-tailed mermaids, paradisiacal forests, and an enormous blue-haired Zeus.
In a meditative state, slipping into the past is as easy as slipping into a dream.
Dip your hand into the water and don’t think about what might go wrong. Once your mind is a blank slate, urge the water to show you something. If all goes well, the magic within you will wake.
Esme’s mother lies in a coma. The only way to wake her is to make a magical elixir, but using it comes with a high cost. If it isn’t mixed correctly, Esme may lose her mother forever. Esme must master her gift to look back in time to save her mother. She must find all the ingredients as she races against the clock. But gifts are running wild now that the balance of Esperance has been restored. And there’s a new boy in town that brings back awful memories of Nathan Mare. Can Esme find all the ingredients in time? Or will she once again lose her mother?
Esme will travel to new areas of Aeolia, expanding on the world-building Elizabeth Foster so artfully crafted in the first book. Readers will be swept away by the magic as Esme faces her toughest obstacles yet. But she isn’t alone. Best friends Daniel and Lillian will be right beside her, lending their strength and the use of their newfound gifts.
While the first book hinted at why Esme and her stepmother, Penelope, didn’t get along, Esme’s Gift expands on her stepmother’s behavior. Readers will see how Penelope acts towards Esme and her true intentions. I am glad that Esme had the world of Aeolia to turn to when things took a turn for the worst at home. Though I felt bad for Esme as her father refused to believe Esperance was real, I found comfort in the fact that she had a group of friends waiting for her in Aeolia who would do anything to help her.
I could not put this book down as Esme and her friends found themselves in new situations that forced them to grow as characters. There was so much more tension and conflict as they learned about Aeolia’s dark past and faced down new challenges. And all the while there was a clock ticking in the background as Esme’s mother continued to fade away. Rest assured, readers will find a mix of action, adventure, and mystery in this novel.
And there is so much left to tell of Esme’s story! I can’t wait for another addition to this series!
Picking up where Esme’s Wish leaves off, Esme’s Gift continues on the epic journey to find all the ingredients needed to hopefully save her mothers life. Elizabeth Foster does a masterful job of filling the reader in on everything that occurred in the first book, so this could be read as a standalone, but Esme’s Gift is so good, I highly recommend you read it as well.
Reading Esme’s Gift literally transports you to a different world, giving you a view of breathtaking and unimaginable scenery, introduces you to rich, colorful characters that blend perfectly with all the characters from the first book. It all gives you that escape that makes stories so incredible.
Finding out all the answers to the questions I had from the previous book was so satisfying, and all the action and adventure was perfection. There were a few things I wish I could’ve witnessed but these instances were eluded to, and my imagination did the rest of the work, but I would’ve still loved to read how much further the author would’ve taken it.
Though this is geared more towards youth readers, I found this book immensely enjoyable and highly recommend for all readers.
*I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from Prism Book Tours . All views and opinions are completely honest, and my own.
Even Better Than the First Book in this Series!
Australian author Elizabeth Foster returns with a second book in her middle grade/young adult fantasy trilogy.
In Esme’s Gift, fifteen year old Esme Silver tries to get her father to return with her to Aeolia, but he is broken by Esme’s disappearance (in Esme’s Wish). Her stepmother is in full control, and Esme discovers some startling information about her. She is torn between Aeolia where her mother lies in a coma and the “real” world where her father lives. Her father doesn’t believe Aeolia really exists.
Reluctantly Esme returns to Aeolia to learn more about her gift. Daniel, Lillian, and Esme attend school together in Esperance where they learn about mastering their gifts. When Esme discovers that a special elixir might cure her ailing mother, her friends Daniel and Lillian join her on a journey to gather the magical ingredients. It makes them face their biggest fears, find hope in the darkness, and deepens their friendship. Can they find the ingredients in time? Will it work?
Esme’s Gift is more action-packed and a little darker than Esme’s Wish, yet the reader will be engaged in the story. It is a story about never giving up, never losing hope. The characters show growth as the friends face dragons, oracles, secrets, and more in their journey to find all the elixir’s ingredients. Esme is determined to do whatever is needed to help her mother. Foster does an excellent job in creating Aeolia and building on the world she first created in Esme’s Wish. The various gifts experienced by the teens are original and delightful as they are unveiled.
Disclaimer: Book reviews are written for books I either purchased or received free of cost from the publishers, publicists, or authors. The author gifted me with a copy of this book. I was not required to write a review on it.
The adventure continues
My rating is 3.5 stars
I’m always curious how much I will enjoy the second book by an author, especially when it is in a series. I have found that some authors consistently write books that I love, some authors consistently write books that I dislike, and some authors get mixed reviews from me.
Esme’s Gift picks up with Esme returning home after an exciting adventure in the enchanted world of Aeolia. And nothing is as she had left it. When she discovers a terrible secret about her new stepmother and is threatened with being put into an institution because of the fantastic claims she makes that “prove” she is crazy, she runs back – and attempts to save her mother.
As Aeolia is a world filled with people with special “gifts” that manifest themselves when they are teenagers, the things that happened at their high school as the teens were learning to use their gifts were humorous. My favorite of these was Lillian’s accident!
I still really like Esme’s new friends, Daniel and Lillian. They are loyal and true and stand by her. Daniel is protective and sweet. So fun!
I was surprised at some of the secrets they uncovered along the way. Especially the secret of the sea eagle who delivered her messages!
There were a couple reasons I took away a star for Esme’s Gift. The first is that there was too much retelling the events from Esme’s Wish. While I appreciate having an author give me hints in second and third books in a series, I prefer when they are only given when the details will cause me to be lost if I don’t remember them, especially in a trilogy such as this. If I read the books one after the other, I don’t want to feel like I should be skipping through things I already know. Not only were the details repeated, it felt a little more like telling instead of showing and caused the story to drag at the beginning.
Once Esme returned to Esperance and began to attend school, there was some more telling instead of showing and, again, the story dragged for a bit. Once I got past this section, things began to pick up and became interesting again.
It seemed like there was more “magic” in Esme’s Gift than there was in Esme’s Wish. There were also more ghosts, mythological creatures, mythology, and violence which made me a little uncomfortable. I didn’t reduce the rating because of these with it being just my personal preference and not a reflection of the quality of the writing.
The ending was satisfactory and except for a small detail that remained unresolved, it could have been the conclusion of the series. Which leaves me with a decision to make, whether I will read the final book when it comes out. I’m currently guessing I will…
Lovers of young adult fantasy, and especially those who like magic and mythology will likely enjoy this series.
Read my review of Esme’s Gift by Elizabeth Foster at AmongTheReads.net
I was given a copy of this book. I was not required to give a favorable review nor was any money received for this review. All comments and opinions are my own.
Esme’s Gift is a worthy follow up to Esme’s Wish. The additional world building and character development that come with book 2 are well-done. This story didn’t feel as action-y as the first, but it was just as interesting. The addition of new teen side characters is welcome, as in the first book it sometimes felt like Esme, Daniel, and Lillian were the only kids in Esperance. Out of all these things, though, my favorite part is the further understanding that Esme develops about her powers. She learns how to use her ability to get the answers she needs, and, it may just be me, but it seems that maybe she has additional powers that she isn’t completely aware of yet. I look forward to reading the final book in this trilogy.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
There is no sexual content, no cursing, and no violence, so I would say this book would be good for readers aged 14+.
This author brings Esperance to life with her worldbuilding, but it’s not so much that I get bored. This story is full of heros who quickly become friends. It’s got that one person who you’re not sure which side he’s on, the one person you’ll love to hate (for many resons). There is action, adventure, many different beasties. Our heros have amazing and unusual gifts. I could go on and on about this story, but you really should it (after you’ve read book 1). RECOMMENDED
I loved this book so much. It really built on the promise of the first book and was more action packed and exciting. The world building was fantastic, the detail amazing and I fell in love with Esme and her small group of determined and loyal friends and the world of Aeolia all over again. I did not want the book to finish and can’t wait to read the final book in the series.
Thank you to the publisher and BookSirens for providing me with a copy of this novel. It has been published in November 2019.
“Esme’s Gift” by Elizabeth Foster is the second chapter in the Esme Trilogy, a fantasy YA series that has already won two Purple Dragonfly Book Awards and an IPPY Award and will undoubtedly go on collecting more prizes.
The story in Book 2 starts exactly where we had left off in Book 1, with 15-year-old Esme going home to try and convince her father of the existence of the enchanted world of Aeolia and that her mother, Ariane, is still alive. However, Ariane needs a magical elixir to bring her back from her trance-like status and Esme and her friends will soon have to embark on a perilous quest in order to collect all the ingredients.
This novel is even more unputdownable and action-packed than the first one if that’s even possible. The narration is fast-paced, without this ever detracting from the awesome world-building or from character development.
Actually, I think that the different characters’ growth arcs are my main reason (among the many others) for enjoying this series so much. It’s so enthralling to read a story where not only the protagonist but every single character undergoes such an amazing evolution, while still remaining consistent and true to themselves!
Kudos to the author for finding age-appropriate ways to address a few thorny issues such as child abuse (it’s not graphic and it doesn’t even happen on-page, but it’s definitely there), gaslighting, ill mental health and alcoholism. These themes are handled in a way that is suitable for middle-grade readers, and that cannot have been an easy feat, but the author managed it splendidly.
One of my favourite quotes in this book is: “Not everybody who is abused is destined to become an abuser. Mare’s childhood does not excuse him, or exonerate him. It simply sheds a little light on things.”
Also, I particularly appreciated how the magical elements in this series are organized in a cohesive whole, with its own consistent rules, so that even when a major plot point is resolved by a spell or a shapeshifter, it doesn’t feel like a deus ex machina, it feels like an organic unfolding of the story’s universe.
I can definitely recommend this novel to all fans of the genre, young adults and grownups alike.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.