In Quest of Theta Magic

In Quest of Theta Magic by Enid Wilson

ISBN# 978-0-9806105-0-5

Available now

Published by Steamy D Publishing

Format: trade pbk., 166 pages

Genres: fiction, paranormal romance

This is the first book by Australian author Enid Wilson.  It's also a self-published, POD (print on demand) book so it will cost you a few bucks more.  If you have an e-reader or don't mind reading on the computer you can buy it from Lulu.com and save yourself quite a bit.  The story behind this book is that it started out as Pride and Prejudice fan fiction and as the story grew longer, the setting more sci-fi than anything else, the fan fiction turned into a story that could stand on its own merit.  If you want to get a glimpse into Enid's head on her book and the reason she chose self-publishing her article on The Shared Self Publishing Experience website is pretty interesting.

 I admittedly haven't read many self-published books so I'm still not sure how I feel about this corner of the publishing business.  It is very hard to know the good books from the bad because they don't have a marketing department behind them so they don't get the reviews and fan bases that mainstream authors get.  They also don't benefit from having an editor who will push them to write the best book they can by asking the hard questions and making harder decisions.  So, the real question I have to ask is, knowing all this, should readers judge these books by the same standards as books from conventional publishers, or should we open these books with a few lowered expectations?  I think I'll reserve my opinion until I get the chance to read a few more.

Mr. Dean Williams is a Theta male on a mission to save his younger sister, but before he can go on this quest he must find a wife strong enough to weather whatever danger the quest may bring.  He skips over the Theta women in the enclave near his home, instead using a brocour (broker) to set up a meeting with Mrs. Bailey and her five Theta daughters.  Thetas are a lot like humans, but they have special abilities that mostly seem to be taken from nature like eagle sight, giraffe legs, hurricane breath, etc.  After choosing the middle sister, Elana, they go back to his home and the Theta enclave for the traditional eight day wedding ceremony where they basically show what each of them will bring to their household.  After the wedding ceremony Dean tells her more about the quest for the transparent octahedron and the prophecy his mother left for him mentioning their daughter being the key.  How in the world are they going to have a daughter and then find this octahedron in time to save Dean's, already very sick, sister, especially once it's clear that they are not the only ones searching for it?

Elana and Dean are pretty likable characters although the whole falling in love process was a bit too short to be believed.  I'm just not one of those instantaneous soul mate believers, but it is used in quite a few paranormal romance books so some of you may be fine with this.  What I have major problems with is the lack of background information about the Theta and the resolution.  Where are the Theta from?  How long have they lived on Earth?  Is this book even set on Earth or just another planet that can support humans and Thetas?  The resolution only sounds plausible if you live in a Utopian society, in which case no one would be after you in the first place.  If I catch people that are after me and my family I'm sure as hell not going to send them home and tell them not to do it again.  There are quite a few holdovers from the Pride and Prejudice fan fiction, but the Theta characters and sci-fi type of setting definitely make this original.  Enid is on to something in this book, but I just don't feel like it's fully realized yet.  I'd wait for the second or even third Theta book to see what she's fully capable of.

Zhye