An ancient force has awakened. And only a brave young girl can tame its destructive power… After defeating the evil forces that threatened the worlds of the Jent Path, Agnes Ann Cavanaugh has continued her magical studies. But despite her hard work and skilled tutors, she still struggles to master her power while managing her chronic pain. Until her handsome friend Temnon and his shapeshifting … and his shapeshifting cat return, and whisk Agnes with her family to train on a deserted island.
However, her training quickly goes awry when a deadly earthquake forces her to use her powers to save innocent lives from catastrophe. Temnon suspects something sinister may lie at the heart of the disaster. Returning to First Earth, the pair of investigators quickly learn that there is more to these mysterious tremors than meets the eye… and now Agnes’s home, Second Earth, is in danger of complete annihilation…
Joining with two brilliant elementals, they travel to Second Earth’s core, where they discover a force unlike anything they have ever confronted. A new magic with the power to annihilate entire worlds… or give birth to a new dawn. And as Agnes is catapulted into a dangerous journey through time and space, she soon learns that the fate of a billion souls rests on her shoulders.
If she makes the wrong choice, countless worlds will be doomed—including her own.
Journey to a world of strange creatures, heart-racing adventure, and wondrous magic. Fans of Michael G. Manning and Lucia Ashta and Brigid Kemmerer will love this coming of age fantasy series.
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On the surface, Agnes would appear to be the weakest link. After all, other elementals can wield and manipulate, water, fire, earth… well the list goes on. Agnes greatest ally is simply… the truth. Yet, the power found in it perhaps makes her the strongest of the elementals, though she would shrink from such a claim. However, her recent rescue of many worlds tells the truly miraculous story and when second earth faces a new threat literally at its core, she embraces her gift again to save those around her. Yet Agnes is more than just the sum of her elemental power. Agnes brings out the best in those around her. Agnes gives mercy to one person, rather than letting anger decide the day. In doing so, we watch as the true person we knew really existed finally emerges, one who renounces the despicable acts of the past, now stands for what is right, and is finally truly deserving of his royal title. Agnes offers the hand of friendship to another and isn’t afraid to show her vulnerability. In doing so, that individual realizes the true measure of strength and abandons her former distorted image she long held. In the process, giving someone else the chance to have a future that wasn’t possible before. Then continuously, Temnon finds himself inspired by Agnes, falling deeper in love with her each day. It doesn’t seem possible once upon a time he watched her struggle with a simple spell, because the next second she’s the one bringing calm to his panicked spirit and together they are saving their worlds, one person at a time. Who would believe wielding the truth could win the day? Or maybe it’s as much about the wielder of the truth in this case? Perhaps so. Agnes certainly shows that being able to get to the heart, to the truth of the matter many times proves to be the only path to victory.
This book was entered in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. This is what our readers thought:
Title: Second Earth
Author: Cami Murdock Jensen
Star Rating: 5 Stars
Number of Readers: 19
Stats
Editing: 10/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Content: 9/10
Cover: 8/10
Of the 19 readers:
18 would read another book by this author.
16 thought the cover was good or excellent.
19 felt it was easy to follow.
19 would recommend this book to another reader to try.
Of all the readers, 7 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘plotting a story’.
Of all the readers, 8 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘developing the characters’.
Of all the readers, 4 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘writing style’.
18 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
18 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.
Readers’ Comments
“This writer is excellent as she knows how to balance an exciting plot with strong character development. There’s plenty happening all the time but there’s also moments of reflection (mostly by Agnes) which gave the book a lot of depth, particularly for a young adult novel.” Female reader, age 15
“I loved Agnes in this story. I felt she was strong and brave and developed as the story went on particularly in terms of her powers. I love the ‘earthquake’ plot; I thought that was very clever. And I liked the ‘who can I trust’ mystery which kept me gripped till the very end.” Female reader, age 15
“This is an exciting adventure story packed full of interesting and often flawed characters. The author’s particularly good at describing setting making it jump off the page. I didn’t read the first book but I enjoyed this so much I might go and hunt out.” Male reader, age 14
“I liked the mix of science and magic and I felt the book’s pacing was good. I would recommend reading book one first to better get to know the protagonist, but other than that this is a compelling read most teenagers will enjoy.” Male reader, age 14
To Sum It Up:
‘An epic adventure pack full of magical twists and turns. A FINALIST and highly recommended!’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
She has help save life and now she needs to master her magic but one spell goes wrong. Now they are in a fight to save all life on earth. Something evil is trying to take over and destroy all life on earth. Can they defeat it? Can it be stopped? Can they stop it? See what they need to do
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
A great little epic story. Self doubting heroes. Traitorous friends. Villainous monarchs. Death. And true love awaits. Agnes goes through some rather amazing growth..
Another exciting adventure with Agnes!
While the first book focused on Agnes learning to accept who she was, this book built on the self acceptance she achieved in the previous book and focused on her journey to overcome doubt. Mixed with a heavy dose of magic and a nice bit of science and geology, this book was a creative twist on Earth’s history. I loved the journey to the core and the discovery of what was hidden deep inside. The Core is one of my favorite movies, and I loved that this book was another adventure that involved a major threat from inside the earth itself.
I also enjoyed the return of favorite characters from book one, the additional new characters, and the search for truth that was at the center of the story. The theme of forgiveness and learning to trust again was also an appreciated part of the story. Very well edited and age appropriate for teen readers: no swearing, mild action violence and scenes of natural disasters, mild romantic content.
This book surprised me, it was a much richer and more nuanced book than I was expecting. Travel to the center of the earth evokes thoughts of cheesy quasi-science stories from the 1800’s but this book went in a totally different direction and is so much more than the trek into the treacherous center of the planet. In this reality, earthquakes are not supposed to happen and finding out what is causing the earth’s crust to be unstable is very important. The science gets quite fanciful, but this is a universe where magic is real and it was a really cool concept.
In trying to figure out how to deal with the earthquakes, Agnes also learns much much more about her magic and the nature of truth. They story plays out on various different earths and introduces yet more species and conflicts in this already complex reality. The various ways Agnes’ truth power was explored and the solutions to the problems Agnes was able to come to made for a fast and intriguing read. There were a couple scenes that felt a little heavy handed with the lesson they were trying to impart, but they were brief and not a dominant part of the book. It went more into the gray areas of what seems ostensibly to be a white power. Ways that the truth can be less than truthful, ways it can be used as a weapon and cut, but also ways that it gives Agnes unique strengths and perspectives on the issues and people she is dealing with.
Book 2 in the Arch Mage series, this book does contain a standalone plot but much of the world building and character development is done in book 1 and would be best enjoyed after book 1. This book has a satisfying ending and plenty of teasers for future books in the series. There is a LOT of potential for some really cool concepts to be explored in this series and I am excited to see where it will go next.
As an ARC reviewer I am obliged to write a review, As An Honest Reviewer I highly recommend getting this book, I didn’t realize this was a book 2, It is a stand alone winner ,The twist of science and magic was exceptional. Can Not wait for the next one.