The League of Delphi

Seventeen-year-old Zach is not desperate to find a girlfriend, does not want to sleep with the prettiest girl in school (or even spend the night chastely in her bedroom), and isn’t even in school anymore since he completed his education in France. So this is not your average teen thriller. It has a realistic (male) teen protagonist, who keeps his heart and his history hidden, his head down, and his home private. It introduces a slightly creepy town, that grows progressively more so. And it offers a pleasing supporting cast of characters, teen and adult, plus a truly intriguing central mystery.

The writing is smooth, the characterization convincing, and the story progression is filled with twists and turns. History and mythology feel as show more real as technology and politics. And this small town’s secrets will keep readers both guessing and looking for more—what more could you ask of book one of a trilogy.

Okay, the story ends on a cliff-hanger, but enough has been learned for the reader to feel a certain sense of completion. This promises to be a really great trilogy—the thinking teen’s answer to a world of look-alike romantic thrillers. I’m eager to read more.

Disclosure: I was given a free copy and I offer my honest review. show less

Warning-- this book has a cliffhanger which feels as if the story isn't over. That pisses me off. I need to know what happens next.. Ugh. Obviously it's a good story if I'm this upset about the cliffhanger.
Zach is a great male lead. You get to enter the mind of a teenage boy who is a bit paranoid, and afraid he might be going crazy. I found myself smiling and shaking my head as his date with Katie was a total bust. I was glad because I was rooting for Ashley anyways.
Oh Ashley!! I found myself relating to her so much. Sibling rivalry, jealousy and all of that angst. I could see myself having similar outburst if no one reacted to a suicide. She is overflowing with so many emotions. I absolutely love her as a character. Silly Zach, she was show more always the one.
I found myself enthralled with the conspiracy I really want to know what happens next. So much so that it might overpower my anger about the cliffhanger.
One thing I must say though... Where are the prophecies? Will there be some in the next book? I sure hope so because so far I have been disappointed on that front. show less

We meet our protagonist ‘Zach’ working in a local coffee shop. He has just come back to town after a 10 year leave, forced on him by his mother, his father having died when Zach was young. He spent most of his time at a boarding school in France. Only receiving infrequent visits from his mother, and those were often very unusual.

She was scared and paranoid and this influenced Zach. After his mother died and he graduated, he came back ‘home’, kept the pseudonym his mother gave him and set himself up with a job and an apartment. It didn’t take long before he started noticing weird things about the town. Often people didn’t react how one would expect. A local rising star in the high school died, from all appearances a suicide. show more But no one seemed to notice or care, or almost no one. Life went on as if it was someone from some other town far away. Not even the boys father showed remorse.

Ashley did notice. She also was very upset about everyone’s reaction and Zach noticed. They talked a little at the coffee shop and she told Zach some hard to believe stories, and if he had been anywhere else he might have dismissed them out of hand. The two become friends and start to investigate what was really going on.

I really enjoyed this book and thought the story was very good. It had a good pace, didn’t get boring nor was it a non-stop adrenaline rush either. It was well written and the two main characters were well developed. Most of the rest of the cast, not so much, but then that is pretty show less

Zach White has returned to Arcanville after his mother's death - unsure of why he is drawn to this little PA town. Working at the coffee shop, he sees and meets most of the other highschoolers but he is still confused until he and Ashley find a way into the library and discover the secrets of the town.

The story was well written and gripped my attention so that I am looking forward to the next installment of the trilogy.

I liked this book very much! and luckily I could go strait into the 2nd one "The Delphi Deception" which I enjoyed too and now I am waiting for the next one to see to where Mr. Everheart will take me this time. The plot is so fast acting that you can't leave the book, cuz you really carious to find what next.

But before I'll go into the plot itself a few tings that i found and I think it really important facts before starting the reading itself:

*"The name Delphoi comes from the same root as delphys, "womb" and may indicate archaic veneration of Gaia, Grandmother Earth, and the Earth Goddess at the site. Apollo is connected with the site by his epithet Delphinios, "the Delphinian". The epithet is connected with dolphins .

**Apollo's sacred show more precinct in Delphi was a panhellenic sanctuary, where every four years, starting in 586 BC athletes from all over the Greek world competed in the Pythian Games, one of the four panhellenic precursors of the Modern Olympics.

***Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, and became a major site for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew Python, a dragon who lived there and protected the navel of the Earth. Python (derived from the verb pythein, "to rot") is claimed by some to be the original name of the site in recognition of Python which Apollo defeated).

***Apollo spoke through his oracle: the sibyl or priestess of the oracle at Delphi was known as the Pythia- Though little is known of how the priestess was chosen, she had to be an older woman of blameless life chosen from among the citizens of the area.(e.g. can come from very well educated and noble family as well as from a poor or peasant family). The Pythia was probably selected, at the death of her predecessor, from amongst a guild of priestesses of the temple.
According to Plutarch said that the Pythia's life was shortened through the service of Apollo. The sessions were said to be exhausting. At the end of each period the Pythia would be like a runner after a race or a dancer after an ecstatic dance, which may have had a physical effect on the health of the Pythia. She sat on a tripod seat over an opening in the earth. When Apollo slew Python, its body fell into this fissure, according to legend, and fumes arose from its decomposing body. Intoxicated by the vapors, the sibyl would fall into a trance, allowing Apollo to possess her spirit. In this state she prophesied. It has been speculated that a gas high in ethylene, known to produce violent trances, came out of this opening, though this theory remains debatable. While in a trance the Pythia "raved" – probably a form of ecstatic speech – and her ravings were "translated" by the priests of the temple into elegant hexameters. People consulted the Delphic oracle on everything from important matters of public policy to personal affairs. The oracle could not be consulted during the winter months, for this was traditionally the time when Apollo would live among the Hyperboreans.

****Pneuma is an ancient Greek word for "breath," and in a religious context for "spirit" or "soul. In ancient Greek medicine, pneuma is the form of circulating air necessary for the systemic functioning of vital organs. It is the material that sustains consciousness in a body. This was the only thing that Mr. Everheart took some liberty and change the meaning.... and I don't care because its done so nicely with some good criticism to the pharmaceutical industry.

The book it very well written and as I said in the beginning it is a fast reading full of action the character of Zach is very likeable - smart young kiddo. The other figure that will intrigue you will be Larry.
As for females from some reason I found myself like Katie more then Ashley. show less

Unclear, overdramatic, and ninety percent of it is written in prose. I had a hard time getting through this one guys. I don't want to be mean, but it's the truth.

Full review: http://brittanysbookrambles.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-league-of-delphi-by-chris-e...

When is book 2 available!!!!