I love the title of this hop! I am a book lover for sure and I love sharing a good book. Which is exactly what I'm going to do for this giveaway. I recently read The Magi by Kevin M. Turner. I was impressed with his book and honestly, with him. I really want to share his book with as many people as will listen to me. :) When I approached Kevin with a giveaway request, he was all in. And I mean, ALL in. 'Tis the season! So, we will be giving 10 20 EVERYONE e-books of Kevin's book, The Magi. All you need to do to receive the book is leave a meaningful comment about Kevin's book along with your email address. That's it! (woot! yeah! Happy dancing...)
Thirteen-year-old Elijah Hawk has been on the move ever since the night his family was murdered. His unique sense of instinct saved his life on that horrible night, but he has the feeling that since then, he is being followed. Suddenly, during a rather awful stay at a northern boarding school, Elijah stumbles upon a secret world. The world of the Magi.
He learns that the Magi are a simple people with a very complex power which they agree to let him train with as long as he promises to use it only to protect others. But when a powerful group of men storm the Magi city and demand that Elijah be handed over, who will protect him?
Honestly, this book was a pleasure to read from beginning to end. It starts off with a bang and keeps right on moving. Here are some of the things I loved about this book.
I really liked Elijah. He seems to be a typical teenager, still growing, still developing. The moments when I sensed Elijah's insecurities were the moments when I felt most connected to him. I felt like Elijah was a kind kid, easy to get along with, which was refreshing.
I really enjoyed the growing relationships between Elijah and his new friends and family and the sense of loyalty that came with that. The book was good to focus on the collective being stronger than the single and that was demonstrated several times when people worked together to accomplish something big.
This was a quote I found funny. Maybe as a mom who cleans bathrooms, I can relate. It goes, "no matter how well he cleaned those bathrooms, he never wanted to be known as the toilet master."
But, my favorite quote was this. "The soul is the fingerprint of the Creator. Once a soul connects to another soul, they unite and become one. So if your soul is able to access the soul of an element, you can control that element the same way you would control your own body." Cool stuff.
You can tell that the author, Kevin Turner, is a teacher. I felt like some of the best moments were those when Elijah was being instructed by his mentor. It sounded very teacher-ish in the best of ways. Kevin tells on his blog how The Magi came to be. Frustrated by kids who didn't want to read or who couldn't find books they wanted to read, Kevin set out to find out what those kids were looking for in a book. Eventually, from those ideas came the plot to The Magi. Kevin says, "For almost half a year I worked on constructing a plot that eventually became The Magi, making sure I stuck to the requests of my students. I may have initially written it for my students, but if it's good enough, I hope to be able to contribute something fun for kids, teens, and adults everywhere."
I would say to Kevin, thank you. And mission accomplished. I think The Magi is a fantastic book filled with exactly the kinds of things kids (and adults) love to read about. I love that this book is family friendly. And I love that Kevin is the kind of teacher who cares and wants to make a difference. I'm looking forward to the next book!
You can find out more about Kevin here on his blog.
You can buy The Magi on Amazon or Smashwords.
Happy Hopping!
