BLOG TOUR # 1 - BOOK REVIEW - TOWER OF PARLEN MIN by MATT XELL

By : Matt Xell
Published By: Matt Xell
Released : Available Now
Details : Ebook , 345 Pages

Book Blurb : Taken From Goodreads

Ves Asirin wins a trip to the Tower of Parlen Min. There, with 19 other children, he competes in the Sword Challenge; a series of puzzles and tasks, for $12 million. As fantastic and glorious as the tower seems to be, Ves finds that it keeps a dark and secret history that he has been connected to for over 150 years, a secret that will define his destiny ... if he can escape 'The Shadow'.


BOOK REVIEW:

Tower of Parlen Min, is a YA book aimed at age bracket 14-18yrs. I did enjoy a lot of Matt's writing as he is very creative.  I personally was a little conflicted with this rating as to me it is a middle grade book as most of the characters ages are 11-15yrs. The story is mainly surrounded around Ves Asirin who is only 11 yrs old , I would feel better if Ves was as an example, 15 yrs old as it would help it to fit into the YA bracket as the book has a lot of violence in it. The book cover screams Middle Grade, the story line is very middle grade fantasy. I don't believe it fits into YA except for the violence. It's quite conflicting in my eyes, either cut the violence and you have a nice middle grade fantasy book of the adventures of Ves or up the ages and maybe have a stronger YA storyline. Currently it is a mix that I find difficult to place.

There is an enormous amount of fantasy/mythology in this one book. Matt has a wonderful imagination , sometimes I wondered about the length of descriptive. It could be several pages long and in my eyes it needed to be shortened or else my mind started to wander.

There is a lot going on in this book. There are the tasks set out for each group to retrieve the Sword of Belsaris in the sword challenge. The things going on with all 19 characters, who would pop up. That many characters was rather lengthy for remembering what was going on . There is a serial killer who is rather violent with stabbings, use of sledge hammer, sickle , a body hurtling to it's death.

I really liked the wolves , but needed more storyline there. I loved Tammi, Vikey was a tad annoying and Ves was too young for this book. I didn't understand why he had to be the youngest character. I really liked Ves as he was a very different character with his things he had going on, memory loss after 10 to 15 hours, when younger some autistic traits. Ves would cut himself as a form of remembering , I did find that a little frightening as a mother of 3 children myself and he being only 11, but you get where I am coming from. Matt made Ves quite an original character. I loved the way he carried his scrapbook and sketched his memories so he could have some starting point for the following day when he had to try and remember what his previous day had been about or his lost hours. I loved that Ves learnt how to cope with his life. He grew as a character through the book but it needed better development. It was a little up and down with his mood swings and other things with his character. 

I loved the Marcorsky twins, Anry and Andy. They had great potential . I would have loved better depth and more storyline with them as they were fun to read.

There is a combination feel to this book of Charlie and the Chocolate factory ( Jacobius wants to find a heir to the Tower Of Parlen Min) , a bit of The Hunger Games ( with the children and violence), Harry Potter ( mythical creatures , the Goblet of Fire) , loads of creatures and imagination.

I feel personally this would be a most awesome Middle Grade book, without all the violence, a good editor to shorten the book as too long for middle grade reader and maybe concentrate on 5 main characters, and a smaller list of creatures that could stretch out into the other adventures of Ves Asirin. Matt Xell has a lot of passion for his writing and I can see from what I read that he really loves writing. BUT!!  even authors on the best seller list need a good edit.

Tower of Parlen Min , does need an edit and the story reined in, the nuts and bolts of storyline tightened and Matt will have a 5 star read across the board. There is such great potential for this book that I hope a publisher takes it by the horns.

I received this ebook for an honest review and I felt that I have been very honest. I do not mean to upset the author in anyway. I have tried to be constructive with my review .

Michelle