Monday, 25 April 2016

Oksa Pollock #4 Tainted Bonds by Anne Plichota and Cendrine Wolf, Translated by Sue Rose (Young Adult, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review)

 February 2016, Pushkin Press, 384 pages, Paperback, Review copy

Book summary
Home is where the danger starts...
Oksa Pollock's worlds are dying, and she faces her toughest challenge yet: to bring our world, and her magical ancestral home, Edefia, back to life again. As Earth collapses, only the power that Oksa inherits as Graciousness will be anywhere near enough to save them. But between her and hope lies her most wicked enemy: Ocious, the cause of all her family's heartbreak.
There are other things on her mind, too: her mother and her best friend Gus are trapped back in our world, her almost-boyfriend Tugdual is behaving oddly, and her grandmother has been lost to them altogether. If Ocious is able to take someone else close to Oksa, the future of both worlds would be in greater danger than ever...


Nayu's thoughts
Oksa shines so brightly in this part of her adventure! It's far from the end though, there are a total of 6 or 7 books. It took me a few weeks to read this, as I was never in the right mood for more than a few chapters, sometimes even 1 was a struggle. Part of what makes Oksa's tale so readable is the realism of the disasters that face both worlds she inhabits. These days I need happier reads, hence reading Oksa a bit at a time. That changed about half way through the book, when I couldn't stop reading because despite the horrendous situations Oksa found herself in she is sparklier than a diamond. 

Her essence as a Gracious (if that makes sense), all her insecurities and very human fears as well as her resolve to do her best for everyone she cares about dazzled me. She most definitely outshines Harry Potter in my eyes, which I have said before. She deals with events that a person should only deal with once in their lifetime, if they have to deal with something. She has little rest between chaotic goings on, but it's because of the support of her non-human entourage as well as those who love her which help Oksa regenerate her inner strength. I smiled so much more than I frowned because Oksa is blossoming as a young Gracious and it is marvellous to watch unravel. 

I am highly annoyed that these aren't available as audiobooks yet-German ones on Audible are useless as I don't speak German, and I can't find the French ones. I really want these as audiobooks please! That's my plea to the publisher over. While Oksa's books can be read out of order, to understand multiple continued plot threads I recommend starting with the earlier books which I have read and reviewed as follows: 



Find out more on the dedicated website. Oh, if you don't know the books are originally in French and the entire series is out. It's the English series which is currently being published.

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