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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
***contains some spoilers***
Three students, Boyd, Isaac, and Rebekah, live on an island where young dragons are sacrificed because their soul provides power to people. They are fast approaching a test that will determine if they become an apostle under Lord Jericho. Rebekah is a dedicated student and loyal to Jericho. She was blessed before her test and passes it with ease to become one of the most blessed there has ever been. Isaac loves dragons. He believes they serve a higher purpose and shouldn't be killed, and he wants to create change from inside the church. He is eager to do whatever he can to pass the test so he can do that, and while he passes it, he isn't blessed, and he doesn't understand why. Boyd is Isaac's best friend and also fond of dragons. He was among those blessed before the test but he refuses to take it and decides to run way instead.
Each chapter is told from a different point of view among Boyd, Isaac, Rebekah, and later, Jericho. The character development is well done, and I enjoyed seeing the different points of view. I found myself rooting for all three of them. I loved the world building, especially the scenes about the Dyra, spirits that live in the forest. You could tell the author loved this story, these characters, and took a lot of care in writing it.
There were some things that stood out to me that needed work. There were a lot of misspellings in the book. I noticed Rebekah was misspelled twice, and each time in a different way. An extra -s was added onto the end of words where it didn't belong. And more. While these misspellings weren't too annoying, they were enough to notice and take me out of the story.
Another thing I noticed is some parts were poorly written. For example, when I got to read from Jericho's point of view for the first time at 51%, it wasn't immediately clear who was speaking to him. I found myself stopping after every few paragraphs to process what I read and see if I could puzzle out what was going on. I decided to continue reading to see if it started to make sense, and it did, but it was clunky.
The book jumps back and forth from third person and first person quite a bit. I first noticed this happening around 45%, and it happened consistently throughout the remainder of the novel. There was even a sentence at 55% where it went from third person to first person in a single sentence! Along with this, italics are frequently used when people are thinking or when telepathy is being used, but this also isn't consistent. There were many times when italics weren't used at all, even after they were used in the previous paragraphs, and it caused some confusion before I figured out what was happening.
Around 61%, the description of the scenery became confusing. The author describes a firepit in the middle of the room, then says there is a stairwell in the center of the room. I was having a hard time picturing what it looked like, and eventually settled on putting the firepit further away from the center in my mind's eye. The description did not seem intentional.
If you're a Christian, you're going to notice a LOT of influence from Bible stories in this book. Isaac, his parents, Abraham and Sarah, and the sacrifice Abraham had to make towards the end of the book are all clearly inspired from the Bible. There were other religious elements as well, such as the description of Jericho's followers after they changed. They were supposed to be part draconic, but it was clear the author was inspired by the description of demons from popular media.
Overall, it was a great story. As I mentioned, the author clearly cared about it a great deal, and that showed in his writing. I really enjoyed reading it. Thank you for a great novel!
Three students, Boyd, Isaac, and Rebekah, live on an island where young dragons are sacrificed because their soul provides power to people. They are fast approaching a test that will determine if they become an apostle under Lord Jericho. Rebekah is a dedicated student and loyal to Jericho. She was blessed before her test and passes it with ease to become one of the most blessed there has ever been. Isaac loves dragons. He believes they serve a higher purpose and shouldn't be killed, and he wants to create change from inside the church. He is eager to do whatever he can to pass the test so he can do that, and while he passes it, he isn't blessed, and he doesn't understand why. Boyd is Isaac's best friend and also fond of dragons. He was among those blessed before the test but he refuses to take it and decides to run way instead.
Each chapter is told from a different point of view among Boyd, Isaac, Rebekah, and later, Jericho. The character development is well done, and I enjoyed seeing the different points of view. I found myself rooting for all three of them. I loved the world building, especially the scenes about the Dyra, spirits that live in the forest. You could tell the author loved this story, these characters, and took a lot of care in writing it.
There were some things that stood out to me that needed work. There were a lot of misspellings in the book. I noticed Rebekah was misspelled twice, and each time in a different way. An extra -s was added onto the end of words where it didn't belong. And more. While these misspellings weren't too annoying, they were enough to notice and take me out of the story.
Another thing I noticed is some parts were poorly written. For example, when I got to read from Jericho's point of view for the first time at 51%, it wasn't immediately clear who was speaking to him. I found myself stopping after every few paragraphs to process what I read and see if I could puzzle out what was going on. I decided to continue reading to see if it started to make sense, and it did, but it was clunky.
The book jumps back and forth from third person and first person quite a bit. I first noticed this happening around 45%, and it happened consistently throughout the remainder of the novel. There was even a sentence at 55% where it went from third person to first person in a single sentence! Along with this, italics are frequently used when people are thinking or when telepathy is being used, but this also isn't consistent. There were many times when italics weren't used at all, even after they were used in the previous paragraphs, and it caused some confusion before I figured out what was happening.
Around 61%, the description of the scenery became confusing. The author describes a firepit in the middle of the room, then says there is a stairwell in the center of the room. I was having a hard time picturing what it looked like, and eventually settled on putting the firepit further away from the center in my mind's eye. The description did not seem intentional.
If you're a Christian, you're going to notice a LOT of influence from Bible stories in this book. Isaac, his parents, Abraham and Sarah, and the sacrifice Abraham had to make towards the end of the book are all clearly inspired from the Bible. There were other religious elements as well, such as the description of Jericho's followers after they changed. They were supposed to be part draconic, but it was clear the author was inspired by the description of demons from popular media.
Overall, it was a great story. As I mentioned, the author clearly cared about it a great deal, and that showed in his writing. I really enjoyed reading it. Thank you for a great novel!
***contains some spoilers***
Three students, Boyd, Isaac, and Rebekah, live on an island where young dragons are sacrificed because their soul provides power to people. They are fast approaching a test that will determine if they become an apostle under Lord Jericho. Rebekah is a dedicated student and loyal to Jericho. She was blessed before her test and passes it with ease to become one of the most blessed there has ever been. Isaac loves dragons. He believes they serve a higher purpose and shouldn't be killed, and he wants to create change from inside the church. He is eager to do whatever he can to pass the test so he can do that, and while he passes it, he isn't blessed, and he doesn't understand why. Boyd is Isaac's best friend and also fond of dragons. He was among those blessed before the test but he refuses to take it and decides to run way instead.
Each chapter is told from a different point of view among Boyd, Isaac, Rebekah, and later, Jericho. The character development is well done, and I enjoyed seeing the different points of view. I found myself rooting for all three of them. I loved the world building, especially the scenes about the Dyra, spirits that live in the forest. You could tell the author loved this story, these characters, and took a lot of care in writing it.
There were some things that stood out to me that needed work. There were a lot of misspellings in the book. I noticed Rebekah was misspelled twice, and each time in a different way. An extra -s was added onto the end of words where it didn't belong. And more. While these misspellings weren't too annoying, they were enough to notice and take me out of the story.
Another thing I noticed is some parts were poorly written. For example, when I got to read from Jericho's point of view for the first time at 51%, it wasn't immediately clear who was speaking to him. I found myself stopping after every few paragraphs to process what I read and see if I could puzzle out what was going on. I decided to continue reading to see if it started to make sense, and it did, but it was clunky.
The book jumps back and forth from third person and first person quite a bit. I first noticed this happening around 45%, and it happened consistently throughout the remainder of the novel. There was even a sentence at 55% where it went from third person to first person in a single sentence! Along with this, italics are frequently used when people are thinking or when telepathy is being used, but this also isn't consistent. There were many times when italics weren't used at all, even after they were used in the previous paragraphs, and it caused some confusion before I figured out what was happening.
Around 61%, the description of the scenery became confusing. The author describes a firepit in the middle of the room, then says there is a stairwell in the center of the room. I was having a hard time picturing what it looked like, and eventually settled on putting the firepit further away from the center in my mind's eye. The description did not seem intentional.
If you're a Christian, you're going to notice a LOT of influence from Bible stories in this book. Isaac, his parents, Abraham and Sarah, and the sacrifice Abraham had to make towards the end of the book are all clearly inspired from the Bible. There were other religious elements as well, such as the description of Jericho's followers after they changed. They were supposed to be part draconic, but it was clear the author was inspired by the description of demons from popular media.
Overall, it was a great story. As I mentioned, the author clearly cared about it a great deal, and that showed in his writing. I really enjoyed reading it. Thank you for a great novel!
Three students, Boyd, Isaac, and Rebekah, live on an island where young dragons are sacrificed because their soul provides power to people. They are fast approaching a test that will determine if they become an apostle under Lord Jericho. Rebekah is a dedicated student and loyal to Jericho. She was blessed before her test and passes it with ease to become one of the most blessed there has ever been. Isaac loves dragons. He believes they serve a higher purpose and shouldn't be killed, and he wants to create change from inside the church. He is eager to do whatever he can to pass the test so he can do that, and while he passes it, he isn't blessed, and he doesn't understand why. Boyd is Isaac's best friend and also fond of dragons. He was among those blessed before the test but he refuses to take it and decides to run way instead.
Each chapter is told from a different point of view among Boyd, Isaac, Rebekah, and later, Jericho. The character development is well done, and I enjoyed seeing the different points of view. I found myself rooting for all three of them. I loved the world building, especially the scenes about the Dyra, spirits that live in the forest. You could tell the author loved this story, these characters, and took a lot of care in writing it.
There were some things that stood out to me that needed work. There were a lot of misspellings in the book. I noticed Rebekah was misspelled twice, and each time in a different way. An extra -s was added onto the end of words where it didn't belong. And more. While these misspellings weren't too annoying, they were enough to notice and take me out of the story.
Another thing I noticed is some parts were poorly written. For example, when I got to read from Jericho's point of view for the first time at 51%, it wasn't immediately clear who was speaking to him. I found myself stopping after every few paragraphs to process what I read and see if I could puzzle out what was going on. I decided to continue reading to see if it started to make sense, and it did, but it was clunky.
The book jumps back and forth from third person and first person quite a bit. I first noticed this happening around 45%, and it happened consistently throughout the remainder of the novel. There was even a sentence at 55% where it went from third person to first person in a single sentence! Along with this, italics are frequently used when people are thinking or when telepathy is being used, but this also isn't consistent. There were many times when italics weren't used at all, even after they were used in the previous paragraphs, and it caused some confusion before I figured out what was happening.
Around 61%, the description of the scenery became confusing. The author describes a firepit in the middle of the room, then says there is a stairwell in the center of the room. I was having a hard time picturing what it looked like, and eventually settled on putting the firepit further away from the center in my mind's eye. The description did not seem intentional.
If you're a Christian, you're going to notice a LOT of influence from Bible stories in this book. Isaac, his parents, Abraham and Sarah, and the sacrifice Abraham had to make towards the end of the book are all clearly inspired from the Bible. There were other religious elements as well, such as the description of Jericho's followers after they changed. They were supposed to be part draconic, but it was clear the author was inspired by the description of demons from popular media.
Overall, it was a great story. As I mentioned, the author clearly cared about it a great deal, and that showed in his writing. I really enjoyed reading it. Thank you for a great novel!
Isaac’s Blessing is the story of three students; Boyd, Isaac and Rebekah, who live in a place where dragons are sacrificed as their soul provides power. These students are heading towards a test to determine if they will become an apostle to the Lord Jericho. Each chapter is told from a different point of view and encapsulates how well-done and ever-changing these characters can be.
I wasn’t able to fully connect with the writing here. There was a lot that was hard to process and whilst it was incredibly detailed there were a lot of puzzling scenarios that felt clunky and consuming. We also jump between first and third person perspectives and this was not handled well at all. I felt that these inconsistencies should have been picked up on fairly early in the writing process and did not help the story that the author was trying to tell.
The story was great however the writing itself did not do this justice.
I wasn’t able to fully connect with the writing here. There was a lot that was hard to process and whilst it was incredibly detailed there were a lot of puzzling scenarios that felt clunky and consuming. We also jump between first and third person perspectives and this was not handled well at all. I felt that these inconsistencies should have been picked up on fairly early in the writing process and did not help the story that the author was trying to tell.
The story was great however the writing itself did not do this justice.
This is a book for every fantasy lover. Austin's writing will take you back to the feelings you felt while reading Eragon. You'll be surprised by how dark the story really is and you'll enjoy every single moment of it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I received this book, from the author exchange for an honest review.
So, first thing I will say; fantasy is not my forte. It’s not for me. With that said, this story comes off as a YA fantasy that’s a little darker than expected. It was interesting I feel, to see dragons as the victims of sacrifice and cruel religion when they are usually so massive. I’ve always struggled with multiple POV and this one sadly was no different and it left characters like Boyd feeling way under developed. He was an interesting character but he should’ve perhaps been the focus of the story. Over all, I give this book 3.5 out of 5.
Thank you Austin, for the review copy!
So, first thing I will say; fantasy is not my forte. It’s not for me. With that said, this story comes off as a YA fantasy that’s a little darker than expected. It was interesting I feel, to see dragons as the victims of sacrifice and cruel religion when they are usually so massive. I’ve always struggled with multiple POV and this one sadly was no different and it left characters like Boyd feeling way under developed. He was an interesting character but he should’ve perhaps been the focus of the story. Over all, I give this book 3.5 out of 5.
Thank you Austin, for the review copy!
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced