Blurb:
As Edwyrd Eska approaches his two-hundredth year as Guardian of the Core, he must find an apprentice to train under him. His title and role compel him to safeguard and govern his universe, Gladonus, as each Guardian before him has done and those after him shall continue to do until relieved of such duties by will of the Ancients. Prince Hydro Paen, Eriek Mourse, and Zain Berrese - amongst other contestants - receive invitations to compete in a quest of Trials intended to determine who will become Eska's apprentice. An old adage goes: "The toughest trials test you truest" - and these events challenge their fortitude through tenuous partnerships, intellectual rivalries, and battles of weapons' mastery. Along the way, each contestant must attempt to overcome personal demons that haunt them. In this tale of ideal dreams and lucid aspirations, these competitors find their threatened by deceit, betrayal, sabotage - and even flesh - as all become vital to success.
Review:
I want to start this
review by saying that the copy I had was an Advance Readers Copy (ARC) which had
no chapter headings. It was clunky and
repetitive in places, which was possibly due to poor copy editing and or
proofing. It is this reader’s hope that
these issues were rectified before final copy was passed for press.
That said the read
was very compelling, and I was up until 6am a couple of night reading just to find
out what happened next. However, the use
of names, especially the best friends, was confusing as they were so similar
(why to authors have to do that?).
The novel is rather
loquacious about a group of young flawed people and their trials and
tribulations through an intensive course of trials that tests their character, perseverance, courage, friendships and
ambitions. Along with the trails these
characters also have to deal with feuds and intrigues that test their integrity
and morals. Along with these main
characters there is a plethora of secondary characters that help shape and move
the story along, and each has their own agenda with regards to who they want to
win.
There is obviously a
great deal of action but there are also slower passages where the characters
are developed following the trial recently experienced. So as to not muddy the waters with all these
characters, each is written with a distinctive voice so after a while it was
quite easy to identify who was who.
There are some twists and
turns along the way and two of the reveals were not too far a stretch and this
reader managed to work them out. We still
really do not know the purpose of the Guardian and it is hoped this will be
revealed in later books in the serial.
Although initially slow, due
to the world building and the introduction to the numerous characters and their
various points of view; this was a pleasant read with an interesting
ending. This reader was invested enough
in these characters to want to know what happens next in this series.
Although initially slow, due
to the world building and the introduction to the numerous characters and their
various points of view; this was a pleasant read with an interesting
ending. This reader was invested enough
in these characters to want to know what happens next in this series.
Full
Disclosure: ARC received from Netgalley for an honest review.
I rated this 4 stars on Netgalley and 'I really liked it' on Goodreads (4 stars) and Amazon (4 stars).
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