Scan barcode
jachin's review
2.0
The story was good, some of the characters were interesting... but the over flowery language kept getting under my skin.
kittyg's review
4.0
A solid read that I picked up purely based on the audible recommendation and one or two people mentioning it was good. It's a self-published read, but it feels well paced and although it starts off slow the drama and intensity builds once you know who's who.
This is the story of three vastly different people and what happens when their paths cross.
There is the old ancient race of the Adepts who are a slowly dying race with just Bjorn as the man who may somehow save them. Led by Raine, we are attempting to uncover the mysteries and intricacies of the race and the reasons it may be dying out and how to reverse the effects.
Although I liked the ideas in this storyline it was probably the slowest for me in terms of action and interest. By the end of the book I was into it, but at first it was a slow burn.
Then we have Ean, the last prince who is the last heir to the Eagle Throne and seeks to avenge the early death of his blood brother after an assassination attempt. Ean is young and yet he is key to many of the games currently being wagered in his Kingdom and when his return home is bombarded with assassination attempts, distrust and death he ends up many miles from where he wished to be.
I definitely found Ean's story to be a solid one and I liked being able to learn a lot more about the magic of the world through his (and Alyneri's) eyes.
Finally we have Trell, a young soldier who is seeking answers about who he is and where he's from. Trell has little memory before he woke up on the shores and was taken in and trained by the Desert people, but there's certainly more to him than even he knows and his journey helps him to discover some of that.
I found myself really enjoying Trell's story right from the start and although I think it's a fairly slow beginning for all three of the major characters, I think Trell interested me the most from the start :)
Some other characters I really enjoyed included:
Carian - a pirate who reminds me greatly of the character of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of Carribean (a fave character of mine). He's silly and rude and charming and lewd and he won't take anything for granted or as impossible.
Tanis - a young truth-reader in training who is learning the ropes and the ways of the world. In particular there was once scene where Tanis is curiously asking a bunch of questions about how haggling works in a market and a grouchy guard is answering him and I loved the raw curiosity and honesty in this scene. Maybe it would feel unnecessary for some, but for me it made the whole moment feel totally real as though this was a genuine conversation a young boy may have with someone considered a role model to him.
The magic within this world is all based around patterns. There are five different strings of magic and different people can use different strands. We know when the book starts that there are fewer fifth-strand magic weilders than the others strands, and we alos learn a lot more about the various uses and qualities over the course of the book.
We also have Shades and Zanthers and healers who are vital to the workings of this story. These different types of people are both wacky and wonderful becuase it fleshes out the magic feeling and makes the story seem more involved. I particularly liked the idea of people's souls being strands of pattern woven together into unique designs and healers being the ones who have to patch up and mend these patterns if people are injured.
There are Sundragons! and Shapeshifters and they're PRETTY cool :)
There are many things I really liked about the magic within this story, I just would have liked to see a little table or key in the physical book to show you exactly what's what so you didn't have to remember every one.
The pacing and style of this feels a little slow at first but by halfway I was super into it and really loving the cast and plot. I am definitely eager to continue on, and I would class this as a High Fantasy becuase of the sheer amount of magic used and thwarted in the story.
Overall a fantastic start to what promises to be a very solid series. I am looking forward to the next one a lot and I can's wait to give that one a try asap! This one gets 4*s and I'd highly recommend the audio version! :)
This is the story of three vastly different people and what happens when their paths cross.
There is the old ancient race of the Adepts who are a slowly dying race with just Bjorn as the man who may somehow save them. Led by Raine, we are attempting to uncover the mysteries and intricacies of the race and the reasons it may be dying out and how to reverse the effects.
Although I liked the ideas in this storyline it was probably the slowest for me in terms of action and interest. By the end of the book I was into it, but at first it was a slow burn.
Then we have Ean, the last prince who is the last heir to the Eagle Throne and seeks to avenge the early death of his blood brother after an assassination attempt. Ean is young and yet he is key to many of the games currently being wagered in his Kingdom and when his return home is bombarded with assassination attempts, distrust and death he ends up many miles from where he wished to be.
I definitely found Ean's story to be a solid one and I liked being able to learn a lot more about the magic of the world through his (and Alyneri's) eyes.
Finally we have Trell, a young soldier who is seeking answers about who he is and where he's from. Trell has little memory before he woke up on the shores and was taken in and trained by the Desert people, but there's certainly more to him than even he knows and his journey helps him to discover some of that.
I found myself really enjoying Trell's story right from the start and although I think it's a fairly slow beginning for all three of the major characters, I think Trell interested me the most from the start :)
Some other characters I really enjoyed included:
Carian - a pirate who reminds me greatly of the character of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of Carribean (a fave character of mine). He's silly and rude and charming and lewd and he won't take anything for granted or as impossible.
Tanis - a young truth-reader in training who is learning the ropes and the ways of the world. In particular there was once scene where Tanis is curiously asking a bunch of questions about how haggling works in a market and a grouchy guard is answering him and I loved the raw curiosity and honesty in this scene. Maybe it would feel unnecessary for some, but for me it made the whole moment feel totally real as though this was a genuine conversation a young boy may have with someone considered a role model to him.
The magic within this world is all based around patterns. There are five different strings of magic and different people can use different strands. We know when the book starts that there are fewer fifth-strand magic weilders than the others strands, and we alos learn a lot more about the various uses and qualities over the course of the book.
We also have Shades and Zanthers and healers who are vital to the workings of this story. These different types of people are both wacky and wonderful becuase it fleshes out the magic feeling and makes the story seem more involved. I particularly liked the idea of people's souls being strands of pattern woven together into unique designs and healers being the ones who have to patch up and mend these patterns if people are injured.
There are Sundragons! and Shapeshifters and they're PRETTY cool :)
There are many things I really liked about the magic within this story, I just would have liked to see a little table or key in the physical book to show you exactly what's what so you didn't have to remember every one.
The pacing and style of this feels a little slow at first but by halfway I was super into it and really loving the cast and plot. I am definitely eager to continue on, and I would class this as a High Fantasy becuase of the sheer amount of magic used and thwarted in the story.
Overall a fantastic start to what promises to be a very solid series. I am looking forward to the next one a lot and I can's wait to give that one a try asap! This one gets 4*s and I'd highly recommend the audio version! :)
sometimesleelynnreads's review
4.0
Disclaimer: I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Podium Publishing. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
Okay I’m definitely a newbie to adult epic fantasy novels. They can be pretty dense and full of a lot of information that you need to pay attention to. It’s not an easy read, at least not for me. So it helped a lot that I was listening to this novel rather than reading it. So thank you so much to Podium Publishing for making this into an audiobook for the likes of people like me. Epic fantasy / high fantasy adult novels are best digested when someone is telling me the story than if I read it to myself.
Which brings me to my first point. Thank goodness Podehl was a great narrator. Especially for this kind of novel, that got super long, had difficult scenes that I needed to get through, and just was very long. He made it entertaining for me and I felt like he matches epic fantasy novels. I’m curious to see what his favorite genre of book is to narrate, but I definitely give him kudos for this one. I think he did an amazing job in this novel, and I am so glad he helped me pronounce a lot of the names that I wasn’t sure of. It just made it a lot more interesting.
Now, on the book itself. McPhail definitely knows how to write an adventure. I’m glad that she made this into a trilogy rather than one super long novel. Even though each main character’s plot could make their own novel if we really wanted it to be, I liked that McPhail intertwined their plotlines in this trilogy. I think I like Trell of the Tides mostly because of that moniker. But I was pretty into Prince Ean as well. I don’t know who my favorite was, but I was definitely intrigued with all of their journeys. I’m curious to see what happens in the second novel, and I’ll find out soon.
Okay I’m definitely a newbie to adult epic fantasy novels. They can be pretty dense and full of a lot of information that you need to pay attention to. It’s not an easy read, at least not for me. So it helped a lot that I was listening to this novel rather than reading it. So thank you so much to Podium Publishing for making this into an audiobook for the likes of people like me. Epic fantasy / high fantasy adult novels are best digested when someone is telling me the story than if I read it to myself.
Which brings me to my first point. Thank goodness Podehl was a great narrator. Especially for this kind of novel, that got super long, had difficult scenes that I needed to get through, and just was very long. He made it entertaining for me and I felt like he matches epic fantasy novels. I’m curious to see what his favorite genre of book is to narrate, but I definitely give him kudos for this one. I think he did an amazing job in this novel, and I am so glad he helped me pronounce a lot of the names that I wasn’t sure of. It just made it a lot more interesting.
Now, on the book itself. McPhail definitely knows how to write an adventure. I’m glad that she made this into a trilogy rather than one super long novel. Even though each main character’s plot could make their own novel if we really wanted it to be, I liked that McPhail intertwined their plotlines in this trilogy. I think I like Trell of the Tides mostly because of that moniker. But I was pretty into Prince Ean as well. I don’t know who my favorite was, but I was definitely intrigued with all of their journeys. I’m curious to see what happens in the second novel, and I’ll find out soon.
harmony's review
3.0
I'm having a little trouble keeping people straight as this fantasy has an enormous cast, many of whom never interact. The mysterious connections between a lot of them just make it more confusing, but I'm intrigued anyway. Will keep listening
lissyiszy's review
3.0
Wow, when I received this book I was glad I asked for a paperback because this guy was massive! This book has to be about an inch thick. Needless to say, it wasn't only because of the size that I was grateful to have received a paperback. I was glad because I needed to constantly flip from where I was reading to the front where there was a list of glossary terms and people in the stories. There is a lot of characters so for me this was useful. For me, I love being able to learn new foreign terms, even if they are made up, and you definitely get that with this book. You might want to know that this book isn't for a quick weekend read. It is an epic read and definitely took me at least a week to read thorough it.
The characters are rich and actionable. They are full of raw and pure emotions so it was easy for me to get into the minds of the characters and to understand their reactions. I found that they are passionate, clever, and interesting which are definitely traits I like in my characters. Through out the story there are three characters that we follow and each are different with unique personalities. It was easy for me to distinguish between each one. Sometimes I didn't enjoy the multiple switching of characters, I found that it sometimes distracted me and took me out of the story.
I did find the writing well written and eloquent. The only issue I have was the pacing. It wasn't bad but I like my plot points to emphasize a situation and move the story along while doing so. Although, some points did, it wasn't always meaningful enough for me to keep reading on the edge of my seat. I like plot points that are meaningful and also move the story along with me realizing. It is definitely more of a journey and traveling along with the characters and learning from their experiences.
I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't as much use of the magic in the story as I had expected. That was what first drew me in about the story. The unique magic sounded fascinating and I was hoping that they would use it in their every day lives. Unfortunately, the reader doesn't get much until more towards the middle/end of the story. The magic we did get to see was well executed.
While this story intrigued me, I'm not sure this story was for me, but if you enjoy a slower paced but extremely well written story with multiple main characters then this book is the one for you.
3.4 out of 5 rating for me!
(An ARC was provided for a Novel Publicity tour in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any other way.)
The characters are rich and actionable. They are full of raw and pure emotions so it was easy for me to get into the minds of the characters and to understand their reactions. I found that they are passionate, clever, and interesting which are definitely traits I like in my characters. Through out the story there are three characters that we follow and each are different with unique personalities. It was easy for me to distinguish between each one. Sometimes I didn't enjoy the multiple switching of characters, I found that it sometimes distracted me and took me out of the story.
I did find the writing well written and eloquent. The only issue I have was the pacing. It wasn't bad but I like my plot points to emphasize a situation and move the story along while doing so. Although, some points did, it wasn't always meaningful enough for me to keep reading on the edge of my seat. I like plot points that are meaningful and also move the story along with me realizing. It is definitely more of a journey and traveling along with the characters and learning from their experiences.
I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't as much use of the magic in the story as I had expected. That was what first drew me in about the story. The unique magic sounded fascinating and I was hoping that they would use it in their every day lives. Unfortunately, the reader doesn't get much until more towards the middle/end of the story. The magic we did get to see was well executed.
While this story intrigued me, I'm not sure this story was for me, but if you enjoy a slower paced but extremely well written story with multiple main characters then this book is the one for you.
3.4 out of 5 rating for me!
(An ARC was provided for a Novel Publicity tour in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any other way.)
readandfindout's review
3.0
This series has a lot of potential (which I don't think it quite lived up to in the first book). The ending was solid and interesting, but I had a hard time getting through the middle. This mostly felt like the setup for a (potentially) great series.
More...