Farsighted (Farsighted, #1) By Emlyn Chand

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Farsighted by Emlyn Chand (read it on my blog by clicking HERE
Read my Interview with Emlyn Chand by clicking HERE

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Farsighted by Emlyn Chand is the first in a series of books about teenagers with various types of psychic gifts. One of these teens is Alex Kosmitoras who learns that he has psychic ‘visions’ which is ironic as Alex is blind. So for Alex, his ‘visions’ come in the very same way as he experiences the rest of the world, through his other senses.

When the story starts, we meet Alex as he is just about to begin another year of (high) school. At first he feels lonely, which he believes is largely because he lacks the ability to see. But Alex doesn’t let that stop him and has adapted, he is in mainstream classes without any sort of adult aide. He does require all his textbooks be special ordered in Braille which makes them much larger and heavier than his peers’ editions. Throughout the store Alex undergoes a lot of changes in respect to his newly found psychic gifts. Alex does get help and guidance from two sources, one of which, to Alex at least, is highly unlikely ally.

I gave Emlyn Chand’s Farsighted a 4 because I felt it took awhile for me to really get ‘into’ the story. I did enjoy the runes and ‘fortune’ given at the beginning of each chapter. As someone who lives with both a physical and invisible disability, I very much liked the synopsis of the book as not many [books] I find have a protagonist who has any sort of disability. I was also pleased that Alex has a couple of very good friends that don’t treat him differently just because he was born without vision.

I am very much looking forward to the next book in the series that we’re told will be narrated by someone other than Alex. Now I have a couple guesses, but am not going to share them as I do not want to give away too much of the story. And I thank the author Emlyn Chand and Novel Publicity for allowing me to join the Farsighted book tour.

Farsighted by Emlyn Chand is scheduled to be released in print on Nov. 24, 2011 and is currently available for Kindle on Amazon.com.

~Jaclyn~
Links to corresponding posts on my blog:
Farsigted Review

I was also fortunate enough to interview Ms. Emlyn Chand and you can read my interview by going to the following link!
Interview with Author Emlyn Chand

** Disclaimer: I write book reviews on my blog, Jaclyn's Musings, and received a free copy of Farsighted as part of Novel Publicity's Book Tour in exchange for an honest review** ebook I must admit that I almost never read YA fiction. I must have started reading grown up books when I was about 14 and never really went back until Harry Potter. But very soon I will have a teenage daughter and I quite like the idea of being able to recommend books that she might enjoy. I very much enjoy that this particular book is paranormal without being about, well, let's face it, vampires. Not that I have anything against them, it's just that they really are suddenly everywhere. The concept of this book is fantastic, and Emlyn must certainly be commended for taking on such a seriously daunting task. Most writers would surely have found writing the first person account of a blind person way too complicated. I look forward to reading the next one, and to passing these on my my daughter when she is old enough. ebook Full, non-spoiler review courtesy at Book & Movie Dimension a Blog

What there is first off that really set a nice tone was Farsighted contains a Note to Readers. Helps to bring us along the story much more closely and found intimate.
A Note To Readers
You are about to embark on a journey along with the characters in this novel. At the beginning of each chapter, you'll find a rune and a corresponding prophecy. Put your powers of divination to the test by trying to predict what each chapter holds based on the hints provided. Or you may choose to ignore the runic prophecies altogether and dive right into the story. Either way, happy travels.

Nobody really likes Alex. His own dad doesn't much. Only his mother just because he happens to be blind. Beginning high school this year, he expects it to be another awful year but along comes a new friend. It's Simmi. While quiet and reserved Alex finds her intriguing. Just as Alex is starting to feel a romance blooming as he hoped he starts to develop crazy powers that suggest he can see the future and more. At first he's skeptical what with a new psychic and the psychic's daughter moving into town too. It quickly becomes apparent he just has to believe before Simmi becomes entangled in a danger, Alex can actually prevent. Alex finds all the more frustrating as he realizes it's all connected to his powers that are attracting powerful but obviously dangerous psychic kids.

The thing most impressive is that the story has solid characters. Alex is likable enough but can aggravate you making him somewhat more real. While Ms. Teak, the new psychic who is a sort of guide to Alex and seems very mysterious. Let's hope we see more of Ms. Teak and her background since going that way could be interesting. Shapri, Ms. Teak's daughter, it seems is a psychic as well and it becomes apparent that as Alex and her grow closer there is a sort of potential for romance. She's really more prone to be louder than Alex or Simmi which I like a lot since she's really a more overly lively type of girl. While, Simmi is a contrast to Shapri who's sweet and a calm presence. She's also Alex's main biggest love interest. Even, Alex's dad however small the role plays a pivotal role in the book towards the later events in it.

Farsighted is by far easy to get into. The characters are involved in various situations sometimes immensely important in the dangerous zone or sometimes just friendship problems but all fit together well. The story has some very subtle suspense in both situations and romance. It's unique in many ways from the perspective and how character complexity is developed through the use of plot. Since, this is the first in a series, once read you'll be wanting to reach for the next one soon after. Proving that there is something in ,Farsighted, that makes for a unique story that has big potential in more books to come even. ebook Alex Kosmitoras's life has never been easy. The only other student who will talk to him is the school bully, his parents are dead broke and insanely overprotective, and to complicate matters even more, he's blind. Just when he thinks he'll never have a shot at a normal life, an enticing new girl comes to their small Midwest town all the way from India. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Sophomore year might not be so bad after all.

Unfortunately, Alex is in store for another new arrival--an unexpected and often embarrassing ability to see the future. Try as he may, Alex is unable to ignore his visions, especially when they suggest Simmi is in mortal danger. With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex embarks on his journey to change the future.


*Overall Winner of the Dragonfly eBook Awards, 2011
*Best Young Adult Fiction, Dragonfly eBook Awards, 2011
*Best Debut Author, Dragonfly eBook Awards, 2011
*Winner of the Alternative Booker Award, 2011
*Winner of the WritersType First Chapter Competition, September 2011

Review 5 out of 5

Alex Kosmitoras is a 15-turning-16-year-old boy who hasn't had an easy life. He's been bullied at school, his parents are overprotective and to make matters worse, he's blind. He's never had a friend, but when a new girl comes to their small Midwest town from India, he finds that he has a chance to have a normal life. Simmi is very smart, nice and wants to be Alex's friend.
As it gets closer to his birthday, Alex's life has another surprise in store. He begins to see the future. Alex is unable to ignore these visions, as they suggest that Simmi is in danger. With the help of a mysterious psychic, and friends who have gifts of their own, Alex embarks on a journey to change the future.

I loved this story for it's insight (no pun intended) into the mind of a boy who is bullied, but doesn't act the victim. Alex is a great character. He has a great sense of humour, but he also has feelings that get hurt as easily everyone else's. Being blind doesn't seem to hold him back from doing what he wants. When Simmi enters his life, he doesn't understand why she wants to be his friend, but he is ecstatic!
I definitely recommend this book! It is a fantastic read and Emlyn Chand has created characters I can relate to emotionally, if not physically. - Lynn Worton ebook I was very honored to be given the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Farsighted, by Emlyn Chand. Until I discovered that it was a story told in the first person. And then I tried to come up with a way to get out of my commitment without appearing to be a rotten person. It’s not that I’ve never read this kind of book, it’s just that with few exceptions, I much prefer those told in the third person. Especially when there’s more than one perspective.

But I couldn’t find a way to back out gracefully, so I decided to suck it up and just get it over with.

Except I found, very early on, that Alex intrigued me. And then I found that I wanted someone to beat the snot out of Brady, the lowlife school bully, when it became clear that he had no problem being mean to a blind kid. I knew then that I actually cared about Alex. In other words, I was hooked.

I figured it would take me about a week to finish Farsighted, but Ms Chand is very good at what she does, and I wound up staying up much later than I’d planned...meaning I finished it the same night I started it. First she made me care, then she made me curious. Enough so that I needed to figure out what was going on.

I won’t go into a lot of detail, because I don’t want to give the story away but, as Alex’s exercises his gift, it changes in a very cool way near the end of the book. A unique twist that I never saw coming.

If you have even a little bit of an imagination, and you’re into fantasy at all, I believe you’ll enjoy Farsighted as much as I did. It’s well worth your time to check it out.
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Putting out a paperback version of the extended edition as well. It should hit all your favorite online retail outlets within a couple weeks. The hardcover edition is now out as well! ebook FINALLY! FINALLY! FINALLY!

A young adult novel with absolutely NO FAIL! Emlyn Chand covers all the bases and manages to tell one hell of a rollercoaster paranormal featuring a hero who's blind, but far from weak. Screw Edward and the rest of the fake-hero-stalker-mysterious-hot-boy-with-bad-attitude posse running rampant in YA-land, Alex Kosmitoras is the real deal.

Firstly, kudos to the amazing Emlyn Chand who obviously gets that the world is filled with people of different races and who populates her book with that in mind. To this day I still don't get why so many authors think this world resembles some 1950's all-white suburb. I mean, where the hell do these authors live? Do they work with diverse groups or are they in some scary gated hell where everyone looks like them? Wake up people! It's 2012, there's a black man with his beautiful black wife and two adorable black girls in the White House! Your girls probably prefer Drake to Justin Bieber and your boys probably listen to Kanye West and PitBull. Time to join the human race folks.

When asked why she featured different cultures in Farsighted, Ms. Chand said: I don’t see why my characters all need to belong to the same culture or ethnicity. What fun is that? Culture shapes our characters in a big way, so by diversifying my cast, I was able to hit on more types of personalities and situations. Simmi, for example, is very polite and reverent. Alex is shaped by his own way of looking at the world too—his blindness. This may not seem like a culture at first glance, but look again. How different would your world be if you couldn’t see it?

Great answer.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to be born blind, and yet through Ms. Chand's brilliant yet spare narrative which sounds exactly like a teenage boy making his way through adolescence, I see Alex's life through his eyes. He's fiercely independent but also has times where he seems to overcompensate for his blindness. In short, he's real. Ms. Chand does not gloss over his blindness nor make it seem cool. It just is. His other senses are incredibly keen and I will never look at an Almond Joy candy bar the same way again. Alex has big problems that have nothing to do with his blindness. He's the target of Brady Evans, school jock and bully extraordinaire, his family is struggling financially (the way so many are these days) and now he's seeing visions of things that may happen. When a psychic shop moves in right next door to his mother's flower shop, his life shifts from 0 to 60 as he discovers he's gifted. Along the way he meets and starts to fall head over heels with Simmi, an Indian teenager whose family moved from New Delhi to the small town of Grandon. He also meets the mysterious Miss Teak (please, no raspberries) and her tough-as-nail daughter Shapri, both of whomleft New Orleans after Katrina and settled in the sleepy town for reasons that have a lot to do with Alex and his father.

Best part is there's no genderfail either. Simmi and Shapri and strong and active girls in their own right. They like science and do well in Advanced Chemistry (how cool is that)! Shapri comes to Alex's defense, and both have their own special gifts. In short, they don't need a guy to rescue them or to give them meaning the way so many so-called YA heroines seem to. These are girls you'd actually like to be friends with.

Farsighted is intelligent and gripping young adult fiction in a sea of absolute dreck. It's one of a few books that gives me great hope the irritating trend of Twilight-reduxes may be coming to an end. ebook I was contacted by the author of Farsighted - Emlyn Chand about a month ago and she asked me to read and review her book for a blog tour she is going to have. After learning more about her book I found the synopsis of Farsighted to be very interested so I decided to give it a go and read the book and I am very pleased that I did. Her book was surprisingly really good. I love that it is not your ordinary paranormal fiction novel. Farsighted takes the paranormal fiction genre to new levels with a fresh, entertaining, and fast paced novel you will love to read over and over again.

Alex Kosmitoras life has never been easy but full of daily challenges. Why? Because he is blind. Alex sees through all of his other senses with are more in tuned because of his loss of sight. Upon going into a new school he meets two girls Simmi and Shapri (both main character's of the book) ,and learns they all share similar gifts. Alex will come to learn his gifts are more that he ever knew he had when he begins to see visions of the future. Alex is only now to learn that, Simmi the girl who has a major crush on may be in trouble. With Alex's new visions he keeps seing that Simmi will die and he will do anything he can to protect her from this horrible future he sees. Will his gifts save the girl he loves or will it be to late?

I found reading Farsighted to be quite refreshing. The book was unlike any other paranormal novel I have read. The whole concept of the book is very unique and like a breath of fresh air - Not your normal paranormal read (Vampires, Fairies, Angel, Werewolfs.) I really enjoyed reading about Alex and his gifts and I have never read a book where the main character is blind. That makes for a very fun, and entertaining book to read. All of the characters in the book both main and secondary were well thought out and very interesting with their own stories which gave Farsighted more depth and personalty. The plot within the book was very fun to read with twist and turns along the way which made for a fast paced read and had to keep turning the page to see what would happen. I could tell the author, Emlyn Chand did her research while writing the book to learn more about blind people and as well as people from India's culture. I would very much recommend Farsighted to the YA crowd as well as adults. If you are looking new to read I would so say to give this book a chance. You will not regret you did.
ebook I'm the proud mother. I used to be the one telling her stories! ebook Alex Kosmitoras (Pronounced Caas-me-toe-rh-aas as insisted by Alex) was born blind and at fifteen he has adjusted to life well enough. Depending upon his other senses, he can get through school, homework – pretty much everything. But he is treated like an outcast, a freak at school because of his handicap. Well, that seems to be like the life of any blind person, right? Only Alex is different. He has visions of present and future! You may say that it is ridiculous – how can a blind person, who has never seen the light of the day, have visions? Well, like everything else, Alex’s visions are also dependent upon his other senses – he hears and feels it rather than ‘seeing’ them. It’s ironic that he should have the ‘second sight’ when he has always been deprived of the first!

His life was set. A loving and coddling mother, a father who is nice to him only when his mom is around, zero friends and the school bully’s favourite target! But everything changes when Simran Shergill arrives in the town and enrolls in his school. She is sweet and empathetic. She befriends him and his life takes a turn. He enjoys having a friend and even has feelings for Simmi and they certainly have ‘CHEMISTRY’ together ;). That is when he starts getting visions and that too visions of someone mortally hurting Simmi. What option does he have other than finding that person and trying to prevent the whole episode? So, Alex along with his dad (oh! did I mention that he has his own secrets?) Simmi, Shapri and Miss Teak, embarks on an adventure that is going to influence everyone around them.

I love the characters in this novel. They are truly lovable. The plot is amazing and so is the flow of the story. Towards the beginning I did feel that it was a bit slow, but later on I realized that the details were necessary for us understand how the characters think and feel and also the dynamics of the relationships. But what I love the most about this book is that at the beginning of each chapter there are one or two lines written that set the mood for the chapters. It’s simply unique and genius of Emlyn!
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Alex Kosmitoras's life has never been easy. The only other student who will talk to him is the school bully, his parents are dead broke and insanely overprotective, and... oh yeah, he's blind.

Just when he thinks he'll never have a shot at a normal life, an enticing new girl comes to their small Midwest town all the way from India. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Sophomore year might not be so bad after all.

Alex is in store for another new arrival—an unexpected and often embarrassing ability to see the future. Try as he may, Alex is unable to ignore his visions, especially when they suggest Simmi is in mortal danger.

With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex embarks on his journey to change the future. Farsighted (Farsighted, #1)