Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Mythica
AUTHOR: L.J. LaBarthe
PUBLISHER: Bottom Draw Publications
LENGTH: 235 Pages
BLURB:
Caiden Jones is part-selkie and lives an idyllic life by the sea in South Australia. He’s had his fair share of disappointments, like being kept out of the Navy due to his mythica status, but overall he’s got a pretty good life. Until he’s in the wrong place at the right time.
Cai steps in to subdue an out-of-control minotaur and in the process suffers a serious injury to his ribs. As Cai struggles to breathe, a gorgeous suit-clad sy’lph with mesmerising blue eyes races to his rescue. When it’s learned that the minotaur was poisoned, the sy’lph, Gray, makes it his personal mission to keep Cai and his family safe.
Cai has always harboured some resentment towards the sy’lph because of their easy acceptance into the community, so the attraction he feels for Gray takes him by surprise. But how can they find out what this might mean when the lives of Cai and his family are endangered by someone closer than they realise?
REVIEW:
Anybody who knows me is aware that I hate “outside”. Actually hate is too gentle a word. I abhor, detest and loathe any activity that requires me to experience direct sunlight, indirect sunlight, hot weather, cold weather, sand, dirt, a stiff wind or a gentle breeze. So imagine my surprise when I read the first few pages of this book and felt a mad desire to head to the beach. I think this is perhaps one of the best beginnings of a story I’ve come across for a while. Caiden’s frolicsome enjoyment in the sea pulled me straight into the story and left me with a yearning to experience the ocean the way he does. For Caiden being in the water is almost a spiritual experience and that’s because he and his sister are part selkie.
This book is set in a world exactly like our own except in this version mythica have always existed along side humans. Mythica are the descendants of mythological creatures such as fairies, selkies, dragons and minotaurs and although they’ve been around just as long as humans they’re treated like second class citizens and must keep the government appraised of their movements and living situations. Aside from the humans and the mythica, the Earth has also become home to the only survivors of an alien race called the sy’lph. Caiden resents the sy’lph for the way they’ve been accepted by humans, given almost superstar status, while mythica are still hated by so many. But when he meets a sy’lph named Gray, he finds himself instantly attracted despite his prejudices and he realizes that he’s perhaps just as wrong as the humans who hate the mythica.
The author did a great job with this part of the story. As Caiden learns about the history and physiology of the sy’lph we get the chance to learn along with him without the author having to simply drop a ton of background information in our laps. By the end of Gray and Cai’s “getting to know you” period, I had a firm understanding of both main characters. I loved Caiden’s close-knit group of friends and family and felt that they all had a purpose rather than just to add to the crowd. And I love a book that can make the first kiss between the main characters into something special.
Underlying the budding romance between Caiden and Gray is the mystery of who and what is poisoning mythica around the world. While this aspect of the story was interesting I definitely preferred the first half of the book to the part when Cai and Gray are separate while Gray helps track down a terrorist group who is targeting mythica. Cai’s behavior is just incomprehensible. Gray’s behavior too, for that matter. This is my one and only complaint with this story but I’ll be honest, it seriously bugged me. Mobile phones people!
The danger and I guess “climax” of the story is all wrapped up quickly, easily and with little drama. Also, the identity of the bad guy is pretty obvious but the idea of the poison was interesting.
Despite the mythical creatures and the aliens I’d actually hesitate to label this book as paranormal or fantasy. It really is just a contemporary romance with the addition of some rather interesting characters. I’m glad the blurb didn’t mention aliens because I doubt I would have chosen to read this and overall I seriously enjoyed this book. Although, when next I find myself sitting at the beach trying to shade my burning face with my hands while at the same time brushing off sand and shivering in the sea breeze, I’m going to curse this book for convincing me that leaving the man-made, temperature controlled comfort of my house could possibly be a good idea.
RATING: 
(4.25 stars)
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