DNF ARC Review: The Elementalists by C. Sharp

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopian, Romance

Publisher: Diversion Books

Publication:  October 28th, 2014
Formats: Paperback

Pages: 374

Rating: DNF

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Rising sea levels, droughts, earthquakes, tornadoes. Far below the earth’s crust, imprisoned in ancient slumber, the elemental powers of the land grow restless…

Meanwhile, in small town Virginia, Chloe McClellan’s first day of sophomore year was an epic fail. After she becomes the target of the fiery queen of the It-Girls in gym, she gains instant notoriety when she’s struck by lightning. That’s when things start to get weird.

There are disconcerting gaps in her memory, and freaky weather seems to follow her everywhere. She comes to believe that either she’s going insane, or her accident has awoken a terrifying creature from mythology, triggering the final countdown to the extinction of humankind.

Chloe finds unlikely help from a trio of male classmates: the grounded captain of the football team, the flighty stoner with a secret, and the enigmatic transfer student who longs for the sea. All the while, she struggles with the growing realization that dragons exist, and she, and her friends, may be the only ones who can stop them.

In the first book in the epic new Tipping Point Prophecy series, global dragon mythology is reimagined against a backdrop of ecological disaster, high school angst, and the power of the human spirit when working in accord with the elements.

A free copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley. Thank you!

I hate to DNF ARCs, especially Galleys. It feels like cheating. I get a copy, what's more I request a copy from the book and then I sort of get back on my end of the bargain; refuse to read all of it. But if it was just so damn unenjoyable to me!

I think - in fact, I'm pretty positive - the main problem was that Chloe had accident after accident, almost winding her up dead several times, but I could not relate to her enough. She was a weird and even a bit scary combination of aloof and a big box of seething anger. In one moment, she was humble and afraid to talk, in the next, she answered back to her mother's boyfriend with an impressive amount of sarcasm and hate and wished her bully a rather ugly death. 

The mix of fantasy and dystopia didn't win me over either. There was this dying world, where natural disasters were daily. It was interesting and sufficient for the story. But a dragon intruded on the plot at about halfway and it was just too much. 

The slow pacing provided the finisher. Already not favoring the main character and disliking the world-building, it made me put the book down and never look back. I'd had a promising premise and I'm honestly sorry it didn't work out, but I couldn't struggle through this one.