The Legend of Zelkova: Umbras by S.L. Vaden

The legend lives on. From indie author S.L. Vaden, she crafts an epic sequel to her first book, The Legend of Zelkova: Elementum. I won't lie. This one was more incredible than the last one. She had me hooked on the first chapter. Though her landscape descriptions could use a bit more work, you can feel the love poured into this novel. She is the most inclusive author I know.

Two hundred years have passed since Zelkova gave her life to save the world from Tempus. When Omnia, a girl from Silva, meets Spero, the handsome, gorgeous noble, (yes, I have a crush on him. LOL), she is thrown into the world of Elementals. Surprises leap out in every chapter and when you think you have the story figured out, S.L. Vaden takes a sharp turn into the unknown. Tullia is probably my spirit animal. She reminds me of that luma in the Super Mario Bros. Movie. With more twists and turns than in book one, the messages ring clear. Protect our world. Help our environment. Make a difference. It can start with one person and then have a ripple effect for future generations.

"Live life well. Do not take more from the elements than what is needed. Live in peace and look to one another in kindness. The dark and light will fade from your world, but before that happens, many will be overcome with fear. Do not let it spread or it will ignite like wildfire, leaving nothing in its wake. Future generations will look to you three. You must be strong and understanding. Times will be tough, but lean on one another."

What an amazing sentence that is! Let us all live in harmony with nature. Stop polluting our air, water, and earth. For me personally, living in this hazy world, it gets hard to breathe sometimes. That's because of my asthma. And inversion, pollutants, make every day hard to live without the use of my inhaler. I have never seen a crystal blue sky in my life. What a pity that is. I can only dream of what the earth was like before factories, refineries, and oil pollution.

Let's upcycle things instead of recycling. Recycling doesn't work half of the time. They throw out a lot of plastics that have detergent, chemicals, or other harmful materials in them. Guess where those plastics end up?

S.L. Vaden has imbued her love of mother nature into her characters. And it is beautiful. We need more people like her in this world; more authors willing to voice their opinions and be unashamed. This book is worth the read. It is worth the buy. You will not be disappointed.

100/100 stars