Book Info: Genre: Fantasy
Reading Level: Middle Grade, or Young Adult, or Adult—see comments
Recommended for:
Book Available: Please note: this book is only available at Smashwords to my knowledge, linked here where formatting allowed. To view links and other formatting, please visit my blog, Now is Gone.
Trigger Warnings: bullying, murder, attempted assault, hints of sexual slavery and rape, attempts to destroy a neighborhood for profit, maybe kidnapping

My Thoughts: I've had this book sitting waiting for a review for about a year and a half. To my intense amazement, when I went looking, I saw that no one else had it on their shelves on Goodreads, it didn't even exist on Shelfari or Amazon, no one had reviewed it on Smashwords (which is the only site on which it is available to buy as far as I can tell) and there are only four short reviews on LibraryThing, which is where I originally won a copy! This astonishes me, as I've never seen something like this before. It's really a pity, because it's a quite decent story featuring an almost-eleven-year-old girl with a vivid imagination.

There are a few formatting problems early on, in the several pages of quotes from other books about the wind that begin the book, where the font changes size and is almost too small to read a times, but once I was into the actual book that ended, and it's easy enough to change the font size on my Nook to see the smaller areas, so all it did was slow me down a little.

I will say that while this is a decent story, a good content and line editing would really make it shine. There aren't a lot of spelling or grammar errors (a few, like “heal” for “heel” are fairly endemic, though), but it could still use some cleaning up. For instance, at one point Yonni talks to one of her friends, and walks away. Rather than remaining in Yonni's head, like we have all the way so far, suddenly we're in her friend's head for a paragraph. There are also a lot of tense shifts from present to past to a couple future tenses that will probably drive some readers nuts. Also, it is repeatedly said throughout the book that Yonni is 10, but also that she is in 6th grade, which is not possible unless she was skipped ahead a year. Otherwise the law requires that a child be at least 11 before they are in the 6th grade, or have their 11th birthday within a certain period of time after starting 6th grade.

While it seems I have a lot of criticisms, I really did love this story and this book. There is mention of a sequel, called Yonnie Hale and the South Wind, but I do not know if this sequel actually exists. If it does, I would love to read it. However, I would strongly encourage the author to have this book further edited. What is a very enjoyable and fun read could be something truly amazing with just a little more polishing. There was a chapter toward the back where I literally cheered aloud, and then two of my favorite series were mentioned: Harry Potter and the Dark is Rising, which also feature (at least initially) 10-year-old going on 11 characters.

The reading level on this one is a little hard to assign. The main bulk of the story is about Yonnie Hale, who is 10 through most of the book, which would be middle grade (MG). However, a lot of the issues deal with reaching maturity and taking control of your own destiny, so that leads me to think that it might be better for Young Adult (YA) readers. But then there are the chapters with the mayor, in which we receive an in depth look at a truly despicable character doing truly despicable things, some of which are very adult in nature. So that leaves me thinking this is a very adult book in many ways. I would recommend that any consideration for younger readers be filtered through their maturity level. While I might have had trouble with this one when I was 10 myself, I think by 12 I would have been fine with it, while other people I know might not have been able to really understand some of the themes until they were much older.

A lot of the magical ideas in this are particularly interesting. I love how the author has worked in so many different cultures. If only it were better edited I would be willing to recommend this wholesale to almost anyone, but as it is, too many people I know would not be able to see past some of the issues and just enjoy this wonderful, excellent story. It's been a year and a half since I received this book and in this time not a single person has reviewed it on Goodreads or Smashwords, and only four on LibraryThing. I had to physically add it to Shelfari myself. In some ways this is very good, as that means there has not been any negative attention put on it yet. I would recommend that the author take the time to have this gone over professionally and then re-release it on a wider market. I truly this that with just a little more work this could be a major hit among the crowd that has been missing Harry Potter. I hope the author will see this review and take this advice to heart, and also take the same steps to polish the next book in this series. This has already been an extraordinarily long review, but it's an extraordinary book, and I can only hope that my passion for it will help in some small way to reach a larger audience. Meanwhile, if you're interested, go to Smashwords, grab your own copy, look past the few problems and see the bigger picture, because I think this one is a real winner. I can't give it the full 5 stars, no matter how much I want to, because of the flaws, but I am willing to give it 4 just on its overall merits. Check it out. It's truly magical.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book through the LibraryThing Members' Giveaway program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: She was warned. She tried to avoid it. But Yonni Hale had to learn that life is not safe, not even in her small Kansas hometown of Pratt. After having a vision, strange horse-women begin haunting her dreams, calling her to obey the will of the Cosmic Wind. Balancing good and evil, the Cosmic Wind recruits Yonni to stand against greedy men who desire nothing but power and money, no matter who they harm in the process. When her friends' homes are in danger because of the greedy mayor's real estate scam, Yonni must use her abilities to control the wind to help her friends save their homes. In the process, though, she exposes her family to danger, and must decide what is more important: justice or her family. ( )

Yonni Hale and the Cosmic Wind is a story of a young girl learning about the magic in life. The magic that she encounters comes both in the form of the spirits of the wind and appreciation for the magic around us in everyday life. This combination draws similarities from the “urban fantasy” genre while still maintaining its core identity of teen fiction. That in my opinion is its weakest point; the writing is at times it strongest when not from the perspective of the young protagonist. This leads me to believe the author would be much better suited to writing something for a more mature author, but as things stand Yonni Hale is plenty capable of holding her own with other teen fiction stars. She just needs the teens to find her. ( )

Yonni Hale and the Cosmic Wind, written by Rajah Hill, focuses on the growth and perceptions of a young girl as she comes to learn of her personal power and her connectedness with women of all ages and with nature. One of a series of projected books containing the character Yonni Hale, and set in Kansas, this novel captures elements of small-town life, where the division between those with money and those without money is readily apparent. Those who run the town seek yet more influence and make an effort to destroy the lives of others. While her large family allows Yonni to grow up assured of love and support, she is not willing to let any of her friends suffer because of the influence exhibited by those businessmen with money. Yonni, as she gains strength and control over her personal power, harnesses nature to protect those she cares about. The novel develops Yonni’s transformation and her control over this power. At the same time, the novel lingers over such things as the strength of Yonni’s mother, her parents’ relationship, Yonni’s relationship with her sisters, and her introduction to the professors and the knowledge available at the local college. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable novel, and although there are things worth savoring, there is enough suspense to cause one to stay up reading into the night. ( )

Like the main character of this novel, I, too, have lots of imagination. I found myself liking Yonni Hale, the 11 year old narrator of Cosmic Wind, because she seemed real. She’s imaginative, insecure, worries too much about trivial things, but learns how important friends and family are. Through a series of what seem to be dream sequences, Yonni meets and holds deep conversations with the Cosmic Wind, who are five horse/spirits/women of multiple ethnicities led by one horse-spirit in particular, Grandmother Muhawt. What I found most believable about Yonni’s new powers given to her by Grandmother Muhawt is that she doesn’t have the slightest clue about how to use them until her mysterious neighbor, Sandy Scratch, (which my mother says is another name for the devil!) gives her some lessons. Sandy, too, is a complex character who I would like to know more about. As the novel progresses, Yonni learns that magic is all around her, as are people who know about it and practice it—from mysterious college professors to Sandy Scratch’s mother, who makes yummy cinnamon rolls! I like to learn new things and this novel covered so much—from ethnic issues in small Kansas towns to how the “Plain” folk live. I’m eager to see where the next book in the series goes! ( )

Yonni Hale and the Cosmic Wind, written by Rajah Hill, is not a typical young adult novel about magic. Hill defies two common conventions used in such novels: the orphan or parentless child as protagonist and the “other” realm where the magic happens. The orphan motif, which could also be called the Disney Destiny, is guaranteed to cause immediate sympathy for readers of such novels. Yet Yonni Hale, the protagonist of this novel, not only retains both parental figures in her life, but also has six sisters, sisters who add color and a bit of drama to her eleven year old, soon to be twelve, life. Yonni is, in fact, a bit self-centered, as real children tend to be, but she also has a strong imagination, and the plot involves Yonni attempting to sort through what is imaginary and what is real. While most magic-oriented young adult novels transport the characters to another realm where magic is practiced freely—such as through a brick wall or down a rabbit hole—Yonni’s magical abilities grow within her in ordinary hometown, Pratt, Kansas—a real place on a map of Kansas, if you care to look. The story builds slowly, but is well worth the effort. ( )