Review: Farsighted (Farsighted #1) by Emlyn Chand

Farsighted (Farsighted #1)

by Emlyn Chand

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, a new girl from India moves into town. Simmi is smart, nice, and actually wants to be friends with Alex. Plus she smells like an Almond Joy bar. Yes, 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 begin to suggest that Simmi is in danger. With the help of the mysterious psychic next door and new friends who come bearing gifts of their own, Alex must embark on a journey to change his future.

______________________________

My Review

I was lucky enought to have won this book from a giveaway offered by the author at vvb32reads. I already had it in my TBR list for a while and was really looking forward to reading it. :)

At the beginning of Farsighted we are informed by the author that every chapter will include a rune and a corresponding 'prophecy', which will give us, readers, a hint to try and 'predict' what will happen. I, personally found this to be very good addition to the book, a nice touch to the story. But you can skip them, if you want to. No harm done.

Right from the start we can see how difficult Alex's relationship with his father is. Not to mention how difficult Alex's life is. He is visually impaired. He and his mother have accepted it and do their best to deal with it, but his father... it's like he prefers to ignore his son altogether. 

It's the first day of school and on top of the usual bullying and hardships caused by his blindness (having to have special school material, navigation of unfamiliar ground...), he starts to listen to things that didn't happen. Yet. Simple things, like his father asking for butter during breakfast, when he didn't. Hearing his father 's voice saying he's there to pick him up from school when he just got there, but it's actually his worst bully, Brady, that is there, making school even more unbearable to Alex.

The new girl at school, Simmi, who smells like cherries and almonds and is actually nice to him, gives him some hope that this year might be a bit better... that is, until he starts seeing her death.


A new store opens next to his mother's flower shop. It's called Miss Teak, and the owner is, quite obviously, psychic. At first, Alex finds her very weird and keeps his distance, but after seeing such a horrible thing in the near future, he'll get any help he can... and Miss Teak is the only that can help him understand his new abilities.


He's very surprised to discover that Simmi is also special. She can sense and manipulate people's emotions, and has been training with the psychic for a while now. They start to train together, and as their powers start to grow, so does Alex's hope that he'll be able to save her AND make her fall for him. Or at least make her stop thinking of him as a freaking brother. LOL.


Things get even harder for Alex when he finds his father in a very suspicious situation with Miss Teak... an event followed closely by his father abandoning his mother. And, if that wasn't bad enough, he starts having visions of Dax, the guy who is suppose to kill Simmi, being all lovey-dovey with her. O.o


Sometimes during the book I actually felt like I was blind myself, trying to 'see' things through Alex's eyes, trying to figure out what was happening in certain scenes, what expressions the characters were wearing... that was confusing but enlightening at the same time.


I also found the inevitable comparison between Alex and the blind greek prophet Tiresias, from The Odyssey (a book Alex had to read for school), a very creative touch.


All the characters are very mysterious. Once you think you got them figured out, the author surprises you, showing that you didn't know them that weel at all. The ending was very surprising! I can't wait to read the enxt book, Open Heart.


If you like your Young Adult with a lot of mystery, fantasy, psychic powers and sweet romance, this is your book. :)