Paul Gaskill

***This review and more can be found at my blog Love at First Write***

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for honest review.

For readers who love Fantasy lands, this is a book I’d recommend to you. The beginning reminded me strongly of Eragon (which I love), to the point were I was describing the first couple of chapters to my co-worker and they thought I was talking about Eragon, BUT then the book really came into its own. Unlike many fantasy lands, there are no dwarves or elves. Instead, the Oracus Trilogy has all brand-new races (and you can even see drawings at his website HERE). While the world-building is present, the new races can be a little confusing and I would definitely recommend browsing the images while starting. For those who love maps- ME, I love book maps- you can also find a map of Pharia and some more lore about the Lavorian Riders at the link mentioned above!

The book is about a Kingdom ruled by Jowra. I’m not too sure if Pharia is the continent or the Kingdom (or both?) because you are thrown into this world with the main character. You learn everything as Oracus learns it, so I guess he hasn’t thought to ask yet. It’s tough asking the world-building questions when you’re busy being thrown into being bonded with a magical creature and being trained to save the kingdom from Jowra’s evils. It was really cool learning through the characters’ instead of getting a huge inner monologue from the MC to get the reader up to date.

Ok so there’s a kingdom. Check. There’s an evil king to defeat. Check. Now explain the magical creatures Nikki! That's where it's complicated and a bit contradictory. Ok so there are Lavorians, creatures born out of Obulars (basically eggs from what I can tell) and they bond with the first being to touch them (this seems to be regardless of race with is pretty cool). They themselves seem to be any animal, but covered in metal that cannot be removed or pierced by weapons, they never stop growing, and no two are the same. I’m not quite sure how that works because there seems to be a bunch of Lavorians and they’ve existed for a long time so there’s no way there haven’t been repeats. So maybe just no two species that are the same are living at the same time? Again, the lore is a little contradictory in the first book, but I’m assuming the reader learns more in the sequels as Oracus learns more!

Being bonded comes with a bunch of cool abilities like mind links, have a cool metal partner, and gaining a rider power (no two are alike). Additionally, the Lavorian and its rider will never die of old age. They can be killed, but not by natural causes. Again this is where the lore gets fuzzy for me: should a mortal kill a rider, the mortal will then possess the rider’s power, the rider's Lavorian will lose its’ metal coating as punishment for failing its' partner, and the Lavorian now belongs to the mortal. It seems like only the evil king (Jowra) can kill other riders and still repossess the killed rider’s powers but honestly I'm not too sure. It was also fuzzy as to if he can use other rider’s powers in his vicinity his power. Or of his power is only to claim the powers of riders he has killed.

Our MC Oracus is one such rider who bonds to a lion Lavorian; discovers the world outside his small farming village; actually has a good, nontoxic relationship with people; spends months upon months training to help the rebellion; has both positive and negative experiences with others finding out who he is; and gets a taste of battle all before the end of book one.

Is the book perfect? No, I clearly have some questions about Lore, but I hope that gets clarified for me in the future. There were only three grammatical errors that I noticed, but that did not hinder my reading experience in the slightest (I'm just used to editing as I read and notice these things). The plot is interesting, and (after the first couple chapters) surprisingly unexpected- the book was hard to put down after I started getting into it! I grew fond of Oracus and Bandor, and found their relationship sweet and amusing. I was even pleasantly surprised with how this book’s ending paused the story line. Additionally, I'm happy to report that were were characters that got screen time and that got to speak that were *not* teenagers for a change. And they weren’t the crazy old people too stuck in their ways to see the necessary change trope either. They were realistic middle-aged characters- thank goodness.

I currently have a large queue of to-read books, but I am definitely adding the rest of the trilogy to my list!… (plus d'informations)