Review: Elphame's Choice by P.C. Cast

Title: Elphame's Choice
Author: P.C. Cast
Pages: 426
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: C+

From Goodreads:I was marked from birth as belonging to the Goddess Epona--but that didn't make my life easy. Because of my "blessings," I was set apart, worshiped, unable to make real connections with others. Then came the Feeling, and with it a glimpse of my destiny. It led me to the MacCallen castle of legend, deserted since the terrible Fomorian war.

I followed the wordless call to breathe new life into a place long dead, but I didn't realize there were dark remnants of the war lingering in the nearby forest--victims and survivors who remained hidden. Others marked as different, powerful. Feared.

My choice was now twofold. I could keep to the happiness and safety of my new-found home, or I could choose a path that led to something more terrible, more dangerous, more thrilling than anything I'd ever expected.

And in that future I might never be alone again. . .

I picked this up after reading the blurb and for the fact that this book seemed to have a lot of mythological references, which I like. I also wanted to read something from this author and I wasn't interested in her vampire series.

Going into it I really liked how the world Cast created was definitely original. There are many mythical and fantasical creatures populating her world. I was especially intrigued by he fact that the main character is a satyr. I am always interested in non-human or not entirely human characters. Elphame is fairly strong female character; she manages to grow up nicely despite her rare form and her being blessed by the Goddess Epona.

What I didn't particularly like about this book is the introduction of the character of Lochlan, a Fomorian. Basically, they are like vampires except they have a winged demon form. Of course, there is romance between him and Elphame, which I'm sure most would like, especially the YA audience, but it didn't do much for me. I thought it was too closely linked to vampires and vampire-romance to the point I thought it hindered the otherwise unique world. I also was a bit put-off by the large focus on everything beautiful; beauty is talked about to a large extent with characters, things, places that it just got a bit annoying. The only non-beautiful character was Brenna, who was the opposite extreme.

If you think that would interest you, then by all means I would recommend this book. It is well written and flies by at a quick pace. However, if your interest fall in line with mine, I would pass on this one.