Eden Forest (Part One of the Saskia Trilogy)

Sarajane Anderson is a regular girl in her twenties, struggling with her mother’s recent disappearance. What she doesn’t know is that her mother isn’t from earth, and neither is she. More importantly, Sarajane is the only person who can save Saskia, a parallel world -  a world where magical abilities are the norm and classes define the people. To save Saskia, she must face a father she never knew, confront love, learn about her magical abilities, and fight to defend those closest to her. But will she be able to do it and what price will have to be paid for victory?

An intriguing plot idea, beautiful cover, and the hidden potential add up to the one star. However, the rest needs intense work. The formatting is misleading.  The characters sound the same, the extreme difference between timelines is distracting, the romance is forced and shallow, and the action is disjointed. A lot of characters are added and then disappear or are killed off at random as if that is the only solution to removing them. Unfortunately it clears up a great deal of the conflict too quickly as well. Additionally, the story is very rushed so the reader is just barely absorbing one new point when something else is pushed at them. "Eden Forest" is a mass of unrealized potential, which is even more disappointing when the premise is so intriguing.  One hopes there will be a re-edited and re-released version of this work that will achieve the promise of the author's idea.

Sarah Bradley