A Great YA Read

A great story of magical creatures. It keeps you entertained with wondering what is gonna happen next. Hoping there's going to be a 2nd book
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Originally on my blog

This book is such a wonderful start to a great trilogy. From the very beginning, I was sucked into this world and completely invested in its fate. The only thing “bad” I will say, is that I wish this book started the way fantasy books do. With an old wise mentor in search of The One to save the world. But here, there is a prologue with Aleric telling the king he has to find the Solus and then chapter one, boom! Aleric is training Kiora, who happens to be The One. The Solus. But other than that preference of mine, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The characters that Wells has created are wonderful. Kiora is such a sweet, innocent girl thrust into this Solus position and has to become a badass. She is incredibly talented and strong in the ways of magic and I loved seeing her come into herself. Emane, her Protector, is pretty great. He starts off as being a bit of an ass, but once he sees the strength in Kiora he becomes very dedicated to her. As well he should.

This book has so much going for it. It has all the signs of a fantasy novel with just the right amount of YA sweetness and romance. I really enjoyed reading this book. The action and history were layered perfectly and I never found myself bored.

The ending of this book sets up brilliantly for the next. Just as one battle is over, Kiora learns that Dralazar is no where near done. His thirst for power and want for evil to rule has just begun and she is the only one who can stop it. ( )

Given to me by the author.
Will be reviewing when complete.

I had not heard of this series before this tour and was given a chance to review. I chose to review the first book in the series (because who would ever start at the end and work their way backwards, right? =P ). Also, I'm one to judge a book by its cover (as in, should I read this? Should I sign up for the tour? Should I buy it?) and this cover has "READ ME, TIFFANY" all over it! Luckily...it lives up to its cover!

This is a WONDERFUL start to a sword and sorcery YA fantasy series that winds its way into your subconscious and has you thinking about it when you have to step away for daily life, you know like making dinner, washing your hands, etc. :) I was smiling while thinking of the snark behind some of the characters, like Arturo!

I wasn't sure that I was going to like Kiora as she seemed so insecure about her being the Solus. She quickly wins me over with her great empathy, tender heart, honesty, loyalty, and desire to do no harm. Her self-doubt can start to get annoying at times, but she IS only 16 and she has the weight of the WORLD on her shoulders.

Prince Emane, I thought for sure he and Kiora would fight the ENTIRE book when we first met him in the beginning, but I was pleasantly surprised at how mature they both were rather quickly as they grasped what lies ahead of them. And then of course it develops into more.

There are magic-users, shape-shifters, pegasus, dragons, fairies (well, Guardians, I wouldn't want to upset them!), ancient evil, a magical book, and a journey that is amazing as both Emane and Kiora train and learn their abilities and prepare to take on the dark evil. I found the premise that the kingdom and its people have no idea what evil is, no lying, no fear of thievery, abuse, murder, rape, etc. A wonderful utopia, no? Of course...until evil awakens again.

I liked the cast of characters, especially the dragon and the pegasus. I don't want to go into the plot more as I don't want to ruin it for you, but I am itching to get to book 2 and 3 as soon as I can! If you like fantasy of the sword and sorcery kind, that includes dragons and pegasus and magic, with a touch of sweet romance, pick this up! ( )

Plot: Kiora is a young girl born into a completely innocent existence, free of any evil. Neither she nor any of her people have ever encountered evil until Aleric, an adviser to the King of Meros, claims the Prophecy is about to come to pass and evil will be reintroduced into their land. They need a being of magic to protect them called the Solus and the Solus is the unwitting Kiora. She must train in magic—something none of her people ever knew existed before—in order to prepare to fight the evil Dralazar from taking over Meros.

Characters: Kiora is just a pure innocent and she's very relatable. She may be the heroine of the story, but she lives with doubt on a daily basis. She's not sure she's good enough to be the Solus and is afraid of failure. Prince Emane is her Protector, called to be by her side at all times, although he is the first Protector to be non-magical. His self-esteem, too, is put to the test as he tries to protect Kiora from the nearly constant threat of harm to her, even though he has very little ability to succeed at doing so. I like that they struggle so much like real people do. They have their own natural talents, but that doesn't stop them from struggling to believe in themselves.

Story: I liked the story, although it spends a lot of time showing Kiora and Emane's training, which is less than exciting. It makes up for it with a lot of character development and the development of their relationship. Thankfully, they don't suffer from the 'insta-love' trope because they take the entire book to fall truly “in love” with each other. Even being physically close doesn't qualify as love, which is good. It feels more real-world to me that way. Not everybody declares their undying love for you right before or after they kiss you for the first time. Or, even after many times. In fact, when does it ever happen like that in real life? The story starts to really get cooking by the end, before the climax and throughout the climactic battle scene, which is extremely well done. Definitely the best part. Instead of being small and squirmy, it's grand and epic. Real fighting with real bloodshed and wounds. Characters actually die and it even causes the main character incredible grief. This book raises the stakes when truly needed.

Writing: It's decent, though not stellar. It could use some work on the technical side. Plotting-wise, I think it needed the crucial plot points to stand out, and the resolution took a very long time to wrap up. After such an epic climax, I just wanted the story to quickly end, but it started another almost-arc right afterward for quite a bit beyond that. A lot of questions were answered in that second almost-arc, but most of them could have been saved for the beginning of Book 2.

Overall Quality: Good. This is a pure fantasy novel with no paranormal elements. Just high fantasy, so people who enjoy this kind of literature might like it. I say give it a try. Here be some characters that actually dare to go beyond being one-dimensional.

Favorite Scene/Moment: Any scene where Kiora has to deal with hate in her face from either Emane's fiancee or her own older sister. She handles herself so wonderfully, despite being emotionally hurt by these horrible people. I always admire characters like this and only wish I could react like her under that sort of duress.

*I received this ebook as a complementary copy from the author in exchange for my honest review. ( )