Review: The Exemeus by Folami and Abeni Morris

The Exemeus by Folami and Abeni Morris

ebook (and paperback), 337 pages

Published: Jan. 3rd, 2013 by Royal Colours Ink

Source: Author

Hyalee Smith is dead, she just doesn’t know it yet.

Her short life was devoted to love and to hate. Love of the man who stole her heart, hate for the man who stole the world. Murdered by the government she swore to destroy, she has been given another chance to make it right. But to save the planet, she needs the help of the most powerful mystic the world has ever seen—unfortunately he hasn’t been born yet.

In a world where fear is the only currency, Dephon has committed the ultimate crime:inspiring hope.

His only goal is to make it safely through ninth grade, but on a post-apocalyptic Earth run by the Treptonian government, it isn’t that simple. Heir to a legendary power, Dephon Johnson is the only threat to the government’s rule. And on Trepton, all threats must be eliminated. When hundreds of assassins are dispatched to neutralize him, Dephon is forced to fight back. His only chance of survival is to enlist the aid of the greatest warrior the world has ever known. The only problem is, she's been dead for 13 years.

The Exemeus is a rather difficult book to review.  It's very, very different and I know it won't be a book for everyone.  It's hard to say who will enjoy it, but I know I did!

When I first started reading I initially felt like it had a Harry Potter feel to it, like a futuristic science fiction HP.  But my opinions about that changed as I kept reading.  I think the strange things that occur in the book, like the girl that protects The Exemeus book and lives inside it who pops out and helps Dephon.  And the strange magical things these people could do just gave me that HP feel.  But as I continued to read it mixed in other things and one of those was Dr. Seuss.  Yep, this book had a portion that felt very Dr. Seuss.  I'll tell you now, that SOUNDS ridiculous, doesn't it?  I promise you, it's not.  Yes, it's just plain silly, but it goes with the whole theme of this book.  There's lots of life or death and all that junk but yet it has lots of stuff that is silly and it all works really, REALLY well. 

This story is about Dephon but the book that Dephon is reading to help him in his future is his dead mothers past.  Her experiences about coming into her powers, learning about them, meeting Dephon's father and falling in love, and saving the world.  Okay, TRYING to save the world cause it's clear that she did NOT manage to save the world and the world Dephon lives in is a MESS.  It's ruled by an evil ruler and people can't even walk the streets.  Anyway, when Dephon reads, he also sees (remember futuristic and with magic) so when he reads it kind of switches over to his mothers story and she's narrating in first person.  I would say the majority of this book is actually his mothers story because we need to know all this stuff about how and why our world became the way it did.

You need to remember when you're reading this book not to take things too seriously, not to have this picture in your head of a dystopian like we are use to reading because this is definitely nothing like the average dystopian book.  This is a fantasy with alien planets, with evil rulers, with magic, with crazy Dr. Seuss worlds (that's really just one small portion but I think it was my favorite part of the book, I loved it!) and with characters that you will totally fall for. 

I know this isn't a book everyone will love, but I really encourage you to check out the sample on amazon and see if it might be your thing because I really found myself loving the story and having a lot of fun reading it.

This book is pretty appropriate for middle grade AND young adult readers. 

Disclosure: I received this book for review purposes.  All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.