Book Review - Sparks Ignite

Title: Sparks Ignite
Author: J.A Gouthro
Series: White Fire (book 1)
Publisher: CreateSpace
Release Date: 27th August 2012
ISBN-13: 978-1478320562

Synopsis
Eons ago, elves, a unique species with the ability to summon the Earth’s elements, were created. Eventually, elves began intermingling with humans and the resulting offspring were neither elf nor human, but rather a hybrid of the two. These children became known as Elvens. Elvens looked like humans, but shared the elves’ unique bond with the Earth. However, one limitation had arisen. Elvens were able to summon one element alone per individual. Over time, the Elven Gene was passed on, often without the individual‘s knowledge. To this day, Elvens walk the streets among the common population.
Owen has a secret, which dates back to a single day in his early childhood, a day in which he unwittingly created fire at will. Owen has never again been able to recreate the events of that day, but the memories have haunted his dreams since. Follow Owen’s journey as his secret is revealed and he finds his purpose in life.

My Review
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest. 
I thought the synopsis of this one sounded really good, I love fantasy and have always had a soft spot for Elves so this was a definite read for me. It sounded just like my sort of book.
First impressions - the cover doesn't really fit the book and I wouldn't really pick the book up if I saw that on the shelf, but if you can get past that, then the book inside is good.
I'm going to split this review into positives and negatives. I'll start with the negatives to get them out of the way.
To start with the writing didn't flow very well for me, it is made up of a lot of very short and sharp sentences. I did a writing project at school once and my teacher said it read like a shopping list, point after point jotted but no expanding on it and no feeling. That's how this started for me. It does warm up as the book goes through and gets better or maybe I just got used to it? It just sort of slowed down the pace and instead of being able to disappear in the story I felt like I was outside looking in.
My next thought was the fact that the prologue is 35 pages long, it explains all the background of the Elves and Elven which you do need to know, but it's a bit of an information overload, and makes for quite a slow start. I kept wondering when we were going to meet Owen, if he was ever going to appear.
Ok, onto the positives, the world was clearly well thought out and had a definite goal. It was explained well and I knew who everyone was and where they were.
The characters do develop and you see the story unfold. Once you get further into the storyline it flows better and I did start to get into it more. I liked Eric as a character, he was cool, kind of kick-butt, but at the same time thoughtful. Owen wasn't my favourite character, he comes across as quite hot headed throughout and although he is doing everything to find his 'true love' again, he actually seems a bit selfish, but he does change, and ends up helping the others a bit more too.
The Griffins idea was fab and I really enjoyed that, there was a bit of humour in there too. :D
I really liked Alexia and kept hoping she would come back - maybe in the next book? 
There was a lot of 'double agents' and I quite enjoyed myself trying to work out who was good or not, quite a few were fairly predictable, but a couple of things surprised me.

Overall it was a good story and I did enjoy it, but the writing style wasn't ideal for me. I like to get lost in a book but I couldn't get that into it, I always just felt like a spectator.
If you are a fan of fantasy then this is worth a read. It did hook me enough that I am intrigued to read book 2, I do want to know how everything turns out. 

My Rating