A couple of weeks ago, MMGM host Greg Pattridge at Always in the Middle informed me I was one of the winners of a box of 10 middle grade books for his 1,000th post giveaway. Since my son has been doing the MG reviews lately, I suggested he address the box to him, and today he’s decided to review one of those books.

EPOCA: THE TREE OF ECROF is an amazing read. It was written by Ivy Claire but was created by Kobe Bryant. I don’t exactly know the difference between written and created, but I think that Kobe Bryant came up with the idea and story while Ivy Claire wrote the book off of that idea. I would like to thank Mr. Pattridge for giving the book away; I had a lot of fun reading it. There were many things that I liked about it and I think you will too.

Set in an alternate classical world dominated by sports and a magical power called grana, EPOCA: THE TREE OF ECROF is the story of two children: the lowly born Rovi and the crown princess Pretia who uncover and battle terrible evil and discover their inner strength along the way.

EPOCA: THE TREE OF ECROF takes place at the most elite sports academy in the land, where the best child-athletes are sent to hone their skills. When Rovi and Pretia arrive, each harboring a secret about themselves, they begin to suspect that something evil is at play at the school. In the course of their first year, they must learn to master their grana in order to save the world from dark forces that are rising.

So, here are some of the things that I like about it.

1. The pages are colorful. While this is not important to the story, it made me happy looking at unique, colorful pages instead of the regular white pages. This is what the pages look like.  ➩
2. I liked the characters. The character building was great. They always had a motive. You felt like what they were doing was right in a way that even if it hadn’t happened to you, you understood.
3. I like the setting. While there are a couple different places in the book, mostly it is on the island where the elite athlete academy is held. It has many strange and exciting things, yet are relatable and you can visualize exactly what they are.
4. Everyone has this magical power to them, called grana. In a society based around sports, the more powerful grana you have, the more famous you are, the more achieved you are, the more known and loved you are. I have always liked the idea of superpowers, especially those special to you, so this was one of the most prominent points that stuck out to me during the read.
5. I liked that it had sports. Even though some of the sports I hadn’t heard of or didn’t understand, I still appreciated what they put in there. I rarely get to read a good fiction book about sports.

I hope you enjoyed this review, and I hope that it causes you to read this amazing book. So, have a good day and happy reading!

Sounds like he needs some recommendations on books with sports. If you have some, please pass them along!