Fantasy – Page 7 – Write – Read

Series: Abiassa’s Fire #1

Publisher: Gilead Publishing

Release Date: October 16, 2015

Rating: 4 1/2 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

An epic fantasy tale that has a difficult start, but is worth sticking with till the end.

Haegan and Kaelyria Celahar may be brother and sister but are vastly different from one another. As royal heirs to the Nine Kingdoms they have grown up under the eyes of the empire. Haegan, poisoned as a young boy, lays crippled in the top of a tower. His only company for the past decade has been his tutor and his sister. His father refuses to see him as his guilt for his sons position keeps him at bay. Kaelyria comes to her bother with a plan to cure him. She will transfer her fire-harnessing abilities to Haegan, but the price is that she will then take on his disability, a fact withheld from her by the enemy who is supposedly helping her. This act will unleash their father’s wrath and let their enemy, Poired Dyrth come closer to taking all they hold dear. Haegan must leave his home and try to find a cure for his sister and stop the war Dyrth who is determined to bring to their front door.

When writing a fantasy novel, many things have to be taken into account. First of all, you are building this entirely new world and having to bring your reader into it without losing them in the buildup. That’s not an easy task. The other difficult part is with Fantasy you can go all out and be crazy with the names of your characters, places, and objects. With Embers I thought the world was set up well. I had and still have a few things that are a bit confusing to me, but am hoping they will be cleared up with the next book. The names bothered me. They were so difficult that I often glanced at who was talking without trying to say the names in order to save myself some time with sounding it all out every single time. Luckily, one of our main characters, Haegan, isn’t too difficult to say and was smack in the center of almost everything that was going on. He grew throughout the story beautifully. His transformation is still happening and I foresee great things for him in the following book. I really thought Kaelyria would play a more prominent role. They went back and forth a smidge at the beginning and then she basically dropped from the story till the end. I would have liked to see her story play out more. There is a very prolific theme of good vs. evil throughout. While this isn’t the usual for Ronie Kendig, straying from her military thrillers, I think she did an excellent job. The end tied up many of the holes but left several to lead into book two with ease. I think lovers of fantasy will really enjoy this book.

bad-magic Author: Pseudonymous Bosch

Publisher: Little Brown

Release Date: September 16, 2014

Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

The author of The Secret Series is back with a new series that will make you believe what you thought unbelievable.

Clay used to believe in magic, but now to him it is BAD, fake, as unreal as it gets. He has a journal he keeps and when words from his journal appear on the school wall tagged as graffiti, he is blamed. He is kicked out of school and his only hope of returning is to attend Earth Ranch, a camp for troubled young kids on a remote volcanic island. He isn’t happy about it but he goes. The longer he is there the less he can deny that the island has some interesting features. He doesn’t want to call it a magical island, but that is all he can think of to call it. Nothing is as it seems and he becomes more determined to find out the truth about the island than to find a way home.

When I read The Secret Series I was quickly intrigued by this new series for young readers. It was fun, witty, and totally out of the ordinary. I wasn’t very pleased with the way that series ended, which made me a little hesitant, only a little, to start this new series. I wanted to see what Bosch had in store for readers. At the beginning, it didn’t seem to be related to The Secret Series. (Small Spoiler, there is a connection to the secret series, Clay, the main character here, is the younger brother of Max-Earnest, one of the main characters of The Secret Series.) With that being said, I’m pleased to say that Bad Magic exceeded my expectations. The story goes in an entirely different direction than the previous series and didn’t lose me for a second. I read this very quickly and didn’t have any trouble keeping up with the characters or what was going on. There are other connections to a few YA/Children’s books here, such as Holes by Louis Sachar, kids being sent to a delinquent camp and Peter Pan, a group of lost boys/girls working together with types of magic. All that rolled into one make for a very interesting new series. I can’t wait to see what happens next!