Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone [Paperback]

Stacey Cochran (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2005

On the island of Maui in Hawaii, a sixteen-year-old international spy named Rio Kayenta discovers a two-thousand-year-old coral stone. Legend has it that the stone is meant for a girl named Amber and that with it, she can stop the evil S.H.R.O.U.D. organization.

Amber Page lives in the Arizona desert and wants one thing more than anything else in the world: to see her mom and dad back together again. Amber's mom is a school bus driver who has split with her dad, but Amber believes the two still love one another.

When a strange old man stops at nothing to tell Amber that the legendary stone is meant for her, it frightens her and her family deeply. It is a race against the clock to get the stone to Amber and to see if she will realize its legendary powers. For with the stone strengthening her, Amber may be able to save her family and the world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A Da Vinci Code for the junior high generation. -- Simon Wood, author of Accidents Waiting to Happen

An entertaining, fast-paced read with a hero like no other... Highly recommended. -- Jeremy Robinson, bestselling author of The Didymus Contingency

Nonstop action . . . powerful! -- Ken Brosky, Editor-in-Chief Brew City Magazine

This is one heck of a good idea for a novel. -- David Morrell, internationally bestselling author of First Blood and creator of Rambo

[Stacey Cochran] has very clear empathy for Amber, her mom, her dad and their situation in life. -- Mark Jeffrey, bestselling author of The Pocket and the Pendant

About the Author

Stacey Cochran is the international bestselling author of The Colorado Sequence and CLAWS. In January 2010, his collection The Kiribati Test reached #6 overall in the Kindle store.

Stacey was born in the Carolinas where his family traces its roots to the mid 1800s. In 1998 he was selected as a finalist for the Dell Magazines Award for undergraduate fiction writing, and he made his first professional short story sale three years later. In 2004, he was selected as a finalist in the St. Martin's Press/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Contest, and he began teaching at North Carolina State University in 2006. He lives in Raleigh with his wife Susan, son Sam, and daughter Harper Jane. His published books include CLAWS, CLAWS 2, The Colorado Sequence, Amber Page, Born on the Bayou, In Love with Eleanor Rigby, and the short story collection The Kiribati Test.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Lulu.com (October 19, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141165448X
• ISBN-13: 978-1411654488
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,013,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stacey Cochran is the internationally bestselling author of In Love with Eleanor Rigby, The Colorado Sequence, and CLAWS. One of the first authors to advocate for free and 99-cent pricing, Stacey made it onto numerous bestseller lists in 2009, with his collection The Kiribati Test eventually reaching #6 overall in the Kindle store in January 2010. An excerpt from his current novel-in-progress Eddie & Sunny was selected as a finalist for the James Hurst Prize for Fiction by PEN/Faulkner Finalist Ron Rash in November 2011.

Stacey was born in the Carolinas where his family traces its roots to the mid 1800s. In 1998 he was selected as a finalist for the Dell Magazines Award for undergraduate fiction writing, and he made his first professional short story sale three years later. In 2004, he was selected as a finalist in the St. Martin's Press/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Contest, and he began teaching at North Carolina State University in 2006. He lives in Raleigh with his wife Susan, son Sam, and daughter Harper Jane. His published books include CLAWS, CLAWS 2, The Colorado Sequence, Amber Page, Born on the Bayou, In Love with Eleanor Rigby, Chromosome 4, The Loneliest, and the short story collection The Kiribati Test.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Get to Know Amber Page, March 1, 2010

By 

blondie (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone (Kindle Edition)

Amber Page is a little girl you'll love to meet and get to know in this action-packed sci-fi novel by Stacey Cochran. I would describe this novel as a sort of Sci-fi, action, comic book. The story begins with a young spy who is in possession of the coral stone - a legendary artifact that will change the world when given to young Amber Page. But will it ever get there? And if it does, is she strong enough to defeat the evil SHROUD Organization?

I enjoyed this book, not even realizing it was aimed at young adults. I thought the story line was a great idea and was very excited to start reading. The novel was indeed a page turner - I needed to find out what happened next as well as how the book would end. This is not a book you can walk away from easily. It was a fast-paced, but easy read. I read it in a weekend and still managed to get all my errands done. This makes sense as it is a Young Adult book.

Although I wanted to read until the end of the book, there were a few things I didn't like. I felt that the character of Rio fell a little flat or two-dimensional but I wonder if this was intentional because it is a sort of comic book type character. They're all a little flat to me so this could very well be my own bias. The other characters were well developed and I absolutely adored Amber.

I thought that at times there was too much description - too much about clothing, eye color or random information that truly had no bearing on the story. There seemed some unnecessary narration. For example, during the various newscasts each newscast contained the description "city X was accredited in the corner of the screen." In addition to an overabundance of description, sometimes the same words or ideas were repeated. For example there was always a description of the material underfoot, whether it is sand, concrete, asphalt, etc.

I also didn't think the book explained everything. I have a bunch of questions about the coral stone and its origins. I also have a bunch of questions regarding the old man in the story. I'll not ask them here for fear of spoiling the story but I do think there are more questions than answers even after I finished reading the book in its entirety.

All in all, I enjoyed my reading experience with the Amber Page. I think Stacey Cochran is a talented writer who needs a little editing work when it comes to wording but I would most definitely read another book by him - in fact I have already purchased the next one. If you are looking for a fun, quick read I would recommend this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pass the Popcorn Please, December 16, 2006

By 

Gene Curtis "-Seventh Mountain-" (VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone (Paperback)

I agree with David Morrell that this is one heck of a good idea for a novel! In a nutshell, it's a "James Bond" type tale with a climax reminiscent of "The Matrix's" flair for bending reality and it's really hard to put the book down after about page 20. With all the action scenes, running gun battles and explosions this story has all the makings for an action packed, big-screen movie. Before you start reading this one, make sure you have a large bucket of popcorn and a large drink at hand.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars That girl is more than what she appears, July 11, 2007

By 

Matthew Peterson "Matthew Peterson - www.Para... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amber Page and the Legend of the Coral Stone (Paperback)

Writing-wise I can see that Stacey has spent a lot of time editing this book. I noticed some redundancy in narration, but not too much. I was impressed with the active voice he used. That's something I initially struggled with when I wrote my first book, Paraworld Zero.

Story-wise, Amber Page is not what I expected. From the cute little girl on the cover I was expecting something like an elementary school book for young girls, but I soon discovered that the reading level is much higher than that. Lots of fighting and action. Imagine a seven-year old girl beating up grown men with Matrix-style moves.

I did enjoy how Stacey brought everything together at the end. The interactions of the father at the end were probably the best writing in the book, although it might have been nice to introduce him a little earlier (perhaps in a phone call or something).