New Book Alert: Unbalanced by Courtney Shepard; Fantastic Fantasy About Sisterhood and Elemental Magic

New Book Alert: Unbalanced by Courtney Shepard; Fantastic Fantasy About Sisterhood and Elemental Magic

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: We are all familiar with the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. They are used in both science and magic. Many characters in fiction such as the X Men's Storm or the characters in the animated series, Avatar: The Last Airbender and it's spinoff, The Legend of Korra, have the ability to harness them for power. Some Pagans use them as conduits for spells and believe the elements represent certain goals or traits that a person has. When the four elements are balanced, they create harmony in the earth, but if one gets too powerful dangerous things are bound to happen.

Courtney Shepard's fantasy novel, Unbalanced is about that premise. It begins in the Middle Ages (don't all fantasies) in Spain en media torture as a sinister character called The Master interrogates a village about the location of four young girls. These aren't just any young girls as we learn when they confront the Master. Each one controls the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. After the girls defeat him, they disappear and the Master vows that if he doesn't find them, then his descendants will.

Fast forward to 1988 and a woman named Emma is giving birth to quadruplet daughters when five mysterious hooded figures appear at her bedside. As soon as the babies pop out, four of the figures take the babies away to be raised elsewhere while the fifth insists they will be cared for.

Now in modern day, the four babies are all grown and are well aware of their tremendous power, but unaware that they have sisters who also have similar powers. Asha is a freedom fighter in Central America who has the power of fire. Ivy is a veterinarian in Vancouver who controls earth including plants and rocks. Mere is a surfer catching and controlling the waves in Australia. Meanwhile, Avia is a flutist currently touring Hong Kong and has the power of air.

Besides their abilities, the women also had guardians whom they called “Father” whoever (like priests) that were either killed or disappeared. They also are being stalked by dangerous people and have the feeling that they are not alone and that they are sharing each other's pain.

Unbalanced is a fun exciting modern fantasy filled with suspenseful and magical moments. The four sisters are great protagonists, especially after they meet and show off their awesome abilities.
The four women embody their element in their personalities. Asha is firey and passionate and often blazes with a bad temper. Ivy is the practical, stable more grounded leader of the quartet. Mere is the most emotional, intuitive, and sensitive sister. Avia is the more rational, intelligent, sometimes seemingly emotionless one. The four sisters are memorable characters whether alone or together.


They are united when the Master’s current descendants find and chase after them. The sisters encounter four brothers who work for the latest Master (called the Grand Master because there are two younger Masters), Clay, Cole, Rio, and Aron who also control respectively Earth, Fire, Water, and Air. The brothers and sisters unite when the Grand Master's real motives are revealed as well as the close connections that the sisters have to one of the younger Masters and the family that has spent centuries stalking them.


While the four sisters are brilliantly written, their new equally powerful potential love interests are not near as identifiable. They are mostly interchangeable in their encounters with the sisters and each other. The only one that stands out is Clay, a sensitive doctor who in the first few chapters guards a captive and naturally irate Asha. Clay is drawn to Asha's beauty and spirit and helps her escape. Cole, Rio, and Aron have some nice romantic moments with Ivy, Avia, and Mere especially when the guys and gals are sent two by two on missions and they get to mutually save each other and defend themselves from enemies.

However, the men don't have as many identifiable idiosyncrasies that make them stand out like Mere's Guns N’Roses T-shirt, Asha's marksman skills, Ivy’s garden, or Avia's swank Zurich villa that tell us more about them. The sisters are unique not only in their abilities but in those traits and interests that make them individuals.

Of course with the brothers that might be the point. The sisters were raised separately to be individualistic while the men were raised together in an almost military-like fashion that eschewed independent thought and action. The men were raised to be a unit using and suppressing their powers, but the women were not. Ironically, that's what makes the four sisters stronger more identifiable characters.

At first, each woman acts like someone that exists within her own element and that's how they live and operate. Their reliance on only their element causes trouble. In the opening chapters, Asha burns down a whole village and has memories of several people she caught on fire because of her temper. Besides controlling the air around her, Avia has the creepy ability of removing the oxygen from someone's lungs. Both Mere and Ivy have accidentally caused floods and earthquakes.

The four sisters are powerful, but when they live only within their element, only that element reigns and it is overpowering. The Grand Master and his minions want the sisters killed or separated because he fears not their separate power, but how much stronger they are together.

Together, Ivy, Avia, Mere, and Asha balance each other out and are able to channel their abilities in tandem.
That is also probably why Shepard chose not to pair the same element characters with each other instead Asha with Clay and Ivy with Cole (Fire and Earth), and Avia with Rio and Mere with Aron (Air and Water). Too much of the same element can be destructive but two different elements recognizes each other's strengths and limitations.

What the Grand Master and his ilk fear is the balance and strength the sisters bring. Separately, they are weakened by the excess of their elements, but together they are a team that balances each other and their environment.