COAL: Everleaf Series Book One by Constance Burris – BOOK REVIEW

Cover image and author photo obtained from http://www.constanceburris.net

COAL: Book One of the Everleaf Series

Author: Constance Burris

Type of Book: Autographed Softcover

Length: 200 pages

Release Date: June 30, 2015

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

* I received a signed softcover edition of this book through the Goodreads First Reads program.

Coal is human and yet he has lived amongst the fey for most of his sixteen years. His best friend also happens to be the “Queenling” of the Everleaf Fey.

Coal has always been treated with polite disrespect by the fey; well, by everyone except Chalcedony and the swordsmith Grigory. Most of the fey view humans as either inferior beings or vermin. His friendship with the Queen-To-Be is the only thing that has kept him from being murdered.

But, his friendship with Chalcedony is changing. As they both mature into young adults, their once innocent friendship is now seen as suspicious and worthy of scorn.

Chalcedony is to become Queen soon. Once she does so, she will be expected to take a mate. That mate cannot be a human or she would be seen as weak in the eyes of the other Fey kingdoms and they would attack.

When Chalcedony brings a young human girl into her home Coal vows to keep the girl safe. But, when the girl accidentally breaks the law, she is in danger of being put to death for her crime.

Coal then has to decide if he should stay silent and abide by the laws or if he should save the girl and protect her as he had promised to do.

When I first saw this book and read the cover I thought I knew exactly how the plot would play out. I figured that it was just another story of human/fairy love and that they would have to fight to have that love recognized. Happily, I was wrong. This story has much more substance than I expected.

COAL has quite a few attributes that make it an interesting read. These include:
1. Lots of different creatures including elves, humans, dwarves, dragons, spidren, sprites and more.
2. A black hero
3. Dilemmas that the hero has to face. He needs to choose between what he feels is right and loyalty to his lifelong friend.
4. Prejudices and long-held beliefs and facing up to them and/or trying to change them
5. Characters that readers can relate to and/or empathize with.
6. The issue of what qualities are necessary to become an effective Queen, and much more.

This book does wrap up this part of the story, but I am very interested to find out what’s next for Coal. I can’t wait to get my hands on the second book in the Everleaf series entitled “Chalcedony” and book three, entitled “Elizabeth”.

I rate this book as 4 out of 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

There were a few minor proofreading errors in the printed book such as saying “it did not both Elizabeth” instead of “it did not bother Elizabeth.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

“Constance Burris is on a journey to take over the world by writing fantasy, horror, and science fiction. Her mission is to spread the love of speculative fiction to the masses. She is a proud card carrying blerd (black nerd), mother and wife. When she is not writing and spending time with her family, she is working hard as an environmental engineer in Oklahoma City.”

To learn more about her visit:
http://www.twitter.com/constanceburris
http://www.facebook.com/constanceburris or
http://www.constanceburris.net