Zelia

De: Zora Marie

Narrado por: CB Droege

The elves voted to wait...

...and lost.

Now Zelia belongs to the Elder wizards, after they forced her powers to emerge in a deadly explosion.

Under their rage and supposed training, Zelia feels her light slowly dwindle away. The only spark that still flickers is her connection...

...to the child god of mischief.

But when her actions inadvertently cause her friend harm, even that hope is caught in the balance. Will she suffer for all eternity for her mistakes?

Find out in this epic tale of elves, wizards, dragons, and gods.

Warning: This is an old version of this book, please see Cast in Fire (A Phoenix of Hope Novel, book one) for the updated version...unless you just prefer this narrator, then the story really isn't all that different.

©2018 Zora Marie (P)2018 Zora Marie

Entered for Fun Fantasy, Left with an Epic Quest

I rather enjoyed Zelia. The novel comprised of many elements I enjoy reading; fantastical worlds, elves, gods, men, and so much more.

I did struggle getting through it, however. I fell in love with Zelia's elven family, but the whole time I was wrapped up in a web of confusion. For example, Zelia's ability to talk to animals is not quite explained in the beginning, and I assumed the elves just had talking horses, like in Narnia. I also understand that Marie tried to be tasteful with some of the more gruesome elements, but they just came off as unrealistic. Zelia says she spent more time in the cave than with the elves, but to a reader's perspective, that simply isn't true. I was made to care about her first family, and didn't even get to experience what Zelia was going through in captivity. Where was the emotion? A person can be trained to stifle their feelings and physical responses, but the reader didn't get to see Zelia succumb to a general numbness from being suppressed for so long. I never got to really see her agony in the actions she took. It was just torture, Zelia kills, Zelia compartmentalizes. It left me with the feeling that our protagonist wasn't as strong as the cast kept saying she was as the reader was never privy to that inner battle - what would have been the most gruesome part of the story.
But other than that, I'm just grateul to have a story that was an actual epic journey and felt like one and the protagonist got to meet so many new faces. I also very much pair Zelia and Eragon. The chemistry was just too good.

Droege's performance was great. He has a wonderful voice to listen to. My only comment would be that his voices for different characters would sometimes get mixed and would make me confused as to who would be talking. Also in chapter 32, Droege starts, "Cathri, Keller, and Zelia came..." the he stops and restarts the line as if this retake was overlooked in editing. I also very much enjoyed the effects as in the dragons speaking and the booking wizard voice.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Zelia and though I struggled to make it through a little bit, I would definitely recommend this to others.

A fantasy journey

This story is about a girl who finds out who she is and what family can be as she makes her way through a war torn world.

Marie does a good job of giving us insight into Zelia's thoughts as she discovers more about herself and the world around her.

Droege does a fair job at the narration. His voices are varied and unique yet there just seems to be something off about the delivery. I'm not saying it's bad it just seems perhaps unpolished.

I think if you like fantasy stories told from a young woman's perspective that you might like this book.


I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

decent

decent book that could use some polishing. might reread and change my mind but felt like it kept skipping forward in time by months, maybe intentional

A dark fantasy adventure.

As always, I have to state that this book was given to me for free in exchange for a review.
I always like to state that this does not impact my review or my opinion of the book. My reviews are honest and my own opinion of the story, performance, and overall thoughts on the book.

Bold characters and a strong, page-turning plot line clearly define this tale as the author spins an absorbing and fascinating fantasy adventure filled with astonishing venues, fantastic creatures, and magic. Marie’s writing consistently builds excitement as her character, Zelia, moves from place to place, amassing knowledge, insight, and survival skills as she faces tremendous danger—and a high likelihood of death—at every turn.

Overall, Zelia’s plight certainly held my interest from beginning to end, however, there was a bit too much repetition with the author stressing her heroine’s physical challenges—The poor girl spends a great deal of her time passing out from her pain and unconscious. It’s easy to understand the author’s intent to show Zelia as a strong-willed, larger-than-life yet vulnerable hero, but her episodes of fragility could have been curbed back with virtually little effect on the overall storyline.

The life-lessons imparted in this work focus on empathy, loyalty, conservation, respect for others, and self-acceptance, even as the story touches on many other topics of concern to teens and adolescents seeking guidance in our own modern, undefined world. Zelia is a model heroine, and her attributes are admirable.

From the very beginning of her tale, Author Marie injects a good deal of violence and suffering into “Zelia”. For example, the situation with the wizard holding Zelia prisoner and brainwashing her demonstrates a high level of prejudice and child abuse. Not only is Zelia forced to undergo extreme physical and psychological torture (which she endures throughout the read), she must also become the abuser—the murderer—when Asenten tests her powers and orders her to execute several other victims, including innocent children and small animals.

This story should probably come with a trigger warning of some kind.

Tragicly broken heroine, heartwarming story

This book is a wonderful mix of Magic and wonder with a tragically broken hero. Zelia is wonderful and you will get to follow her between worlds as she fights against all odds and against her training to be a hero. I loved this book. It is for older teens to adults because there are some very difficult concepts and fairly graphic fight sequences.