The Eighth Day by Dianne K. Salerni

The Eighth Day
(Eighth Day, #1)
by Dianne K. Salerni
Released |April 22nd 2014 by HarperCollins|
Edition |eARC|
Source |Edelweiss|
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In this riveting fantasy adventure, thirteen-year-old Jax Aubrey discovers a secret eighth day with roots tracing back to Arthurian legend. Fans of Percy Jackson will devour this first book in a new series that combines exciting magic and pulse-pounding suspense.
When Jax wakes up to a world without any people in it, he assumes it's the zombie apocalypse. But when he runs into his eighteen-year-old guardian, Riley Pendare, he learns that he's really in the eighth day—an extra day sandwiched between Wednesday and Thursday. Some people—like Jax and Riley—are Transitioners, able to live in all eight days, while others, including Evangeline, the elusive teenage girl who's been hiding in the house next door, exist only on this special day.
And there's a reason Evangeline's hiding. She is a descendant of the powerful wizard Merlin, and there is a group of people who wish to use her in order to destroy the normal seven-day world and all who live in it. Torn between protecting his new friend and saving the entire human race from complete destruction, Jax is faced with an impossible choice. Even with an eighth day, time is running out.

The Eight Day was a pretty interesting read. I found the entire idea of the eighth day to be pretty cool. At first, I didn't know what I was going to be getting into when Jax first entered into the eighth day after his 13th birthday, but as the book progressed things got pretty interesting. The whole idea of being descendants of King Arthur and Merlin was so interesting. That instantly made me want to know more because I've not read a book that's taken that approach. The book was a fun read some middle grade books tend to be, but sometimes the book did drag out in certain places. Sometimes all the explaining would start to bore me, but even though it was information overload at points, I still found it to be interesting.


The characters were pretty cool as well. Jax was a bit annoying at times and had that childish feel to him, but I mean, he's 12 going on 13 so it was understandable. And sometimes he was pretty mature for his age and I did feel as though he learn a few lessons by the end of the book. Riley, Jax's guardian, was a wild card in the beginning. He didn't really take care of Jax all that well and he didn't really act as if he care much about him, but by the end of the book the relationship between the two had gotten better. I'm still on the fence about Evangeline. She was nice, but she's still a mystery. I think there's a lot that we still don't know about her.

Overall, the book was pretty good. I had a few issue with the pacing, but there was a good amount of action in the book that kept me entertained and I really liked the plot of the book as well. If you like middle grade or fantasy books, then I'd definitely consider giving the book a try.