Sunday, June 3, 2018

Review: The Helm of Darkness by A. P. Mobley

About the Book

Published by Sea of Ink Press on June 3, 2018

Find it on Amazon!

GoodReads Description

Andy and Zoey are two normal teenagers living in the modern day—that is, until they’re knocked unconscious in a freak storm sweeping the United States. 

When they wake up, the world they know has been tossed away. Their city is in ruins, strange creatures walk the earth, and worst of all, everyone is gone. They stumble across Diana and Spencer, two kids around their age who possess incredible magical abilities, and who claim to be the demigod children of Greek gods. Not only that, they also claim the year is 500 AS, five hundred years after the gods conjured a massive storm that destroyed most of humanity and helped them take the world as their own once again.

Andy and Zoey are soon handed an impossible task: To save humanity. To lead a war on the gods.

They’ll have to battle monsters, death, and their own inner demons to survive and to protect the people they love.

What readers are saying:

"A fast-paced, easy read that I feel the target audience will have no problem sitting down and digging into. They'll become engulfed in this post-apocalyptic fantasy world." ~Josh O.

"A fantastic and unpredictable read that pulls you into the land of the Greek. Readers relate and truly recognize themselves within the pages. The biggest struggle was putting it down and leaving the story unfinished." ~Kaylee K.

"A.P. Mobley's characters are extraordinary, yet relatable. The burdens that each of them carry will keep you turning the pages to find out if they can overcome them. She describes nightmarish monsters throughout, and Hades as a place scarier than hell. If you are not familiar with Greek mythology before reading this book, you will be obsessed with it after you are done." ~Shanele W.

My Thoughts

I was absolutely in love with this book from the first page.  Not only does Mobley know how to craft a story to keep her readers engaged, she is more than willing to help her readers learn.  After reading more of the book, I was surprised by how fast-paced her plot was.  Typically, I prefer if the plot slows down just a little more than what Mobley presented, but her target audience isn't 25 year old English teachers.  Her target audience is the kids I teach and they would be absolutely in love with this book.  I want to do something a little different for this book.  Allow me to tell you why this is an absolutely necessary addition to any English teacher's classroom library.

First, Mobley made d*** sure to include a good amount of wonderful information on the Greek gods and goddesses. I would LOVE to get my hands on some classroom copies of this book to introduce my seventh and eighth grade students to the Greek pantheon.  They would be enthralled by the story and forget that they were learning World Literature at the same time. Not only would this benefit them in their current stage of school, but in eleventh grade when I teach World Literature!  This book is a wonderful way to present students with ideas from other cultures and broaden their horizons.

Second, Mobley is seriously talented in the ways of character creation.  OMG!!!  So many of my students would fall madly in love with the characters because they are so stinking easy to relate to!  I love that Andy gives the boys an example of someone their age who isn't afraid to love their family or to show their feelings.  He isn't a super macho guy and I don't think that there should be as much pressure on today's boys to be unrealistically macho either.  Andy is physically strong, but his real importance lays in the strength of his emotions.  Additionally, Zoey is a wonderful role model for girls who deal with rumors and bullying.  She knows the truth.  Even though she hates the rumors that circulate, she plans to build herself up and create a good future for herself that takes her far away from the nasty, sheepish girls that she has been surrounded by.

Finally, this book is engaging!  It is too easy for English teachers to force kids to read books that engage us, but not them.  We are engaged by different things because we're older and we've had Byron, Wordsworth, and Spenser shoved down our throats.  These kids will get there, but they need books like The Helm of Darkness to open the doors for them and to bring them from "reading is boring" to "reading is fun!"  They need these fast-paced adventures to bring them into the reading life.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this novel.  I think it would really appeal to fans of Jessica Therrien and Rick Riordan.

My Rating


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