I was concerned at first with this book, because it reminded me a bit too much of Elantris and Harry Potter. I was annoyed that the runes (which are shown on the bookmark sent with this book) were not shown and named in an appendix or within the text. And I am a bit tired of the 'young boy who discovers he's special' epic fantasy stories. To be fair, the 'teenage girl who discovers she has special powers' stories are getting just as old. I won my copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway, so I only have book #1 of this series, but I was pleased to see that at least the love interest of the 'special boy' gets to have special powers too, even if hers aren't as strong. I would love it if she turns out to be 'special' too, and just as vital to the future of their world, but I did get the impression that this book mostly buys into stereotypical gender roles. Still, some girls do get to be great fighters in this one and there are some fairly decent female characters overall, even if they could have been better developed.
The writing in this book was not as smooth and polished as I would have hoped, especially with respect to dialogue bits. The chapters tend to be overly short, which works for page-turner type thrillers, but maybe not so much for epic fantasy. And the portion of the book where the 'special boy' and his loyal sidekick are on their journey to the academy where the special boy is to find his destiny gets awfully tedious, with too little description, awkward dialogue, and a general weakness to the storytelling. Once the special boy gets to the academy, though, the book reads much more smoothly, aside from the occasional awkward dialogue.
Still, I did enjoy this book. I consider the magic-school type fantasy novels to be pretty good if I find myself imagining which talents I would have if I was in the book's world, and I did find myself engaging with this book to that extent. And, if I had the rest of the series here I would probably finish reading the series before starting on a different fantasy book. If you liked Harry Potter, the Wheel of Time, the Percy Jackson books, or Elantris, you might like this book, and probably this series, so long as you are not too tired of reading about boys coming into their powers and preparing to save the world.
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I had this book on my kindle for a long time, and it wasn't until it became an SPFBO5 contestant that I was fully encouraged to read it. I always give top preference in my TBR to spiffo books, and so it was about time for me to read this.

Now, the first 30% of the book is really awesome. We first meet our hero Brock Tannerson during an incursion to an apothecary and watch him cleverly dodge all sorts of dangerous booby traps in order to locate a sack of gold. Now, before we start to think Brock is a professional thief (and I have read a handful of thief POV books that I have really loved), he locates sitting next to his loot a few bags of addictive drugs. We soon discover why Brock decided to be a Robin Hood of sorts. His sweet aunt Ellie who was born as an outcast of society such as himself is dying and as the last remaining trace of stability in his family life, he wants to save her at all costs. By the time a medic comes by with the money he stole in order to examine her, she has sadly passed away.

Not that Brock's father cared all that much. Ever since he became a widow, he became emotionally distant and while he feeds his son and encourages him to lead an honest life as a tanner, Brock wants something more in his life. It might be because Brock was born without being chosen into a profession by the city priest for some initially unmentioned reason, and the lack of a rune on his forehead has banned him from the right to get a stable job, own property, and be forced to work within the outskirts of the law, or worse, always facing the risk of being arrested for a crime he never committed and end up executed. Annoyed by his father's indifference, Brock stops by and locates another Unchosen such as himself, a scraggly teenager named Tipper who has been forced to beg for money while he lives in the streets.

The two teenagers are close friends, and after several mishaps, Brock locates a man who is willing to tattoo his forehead with any rune he wishes for a small fortune. Surprised with the revelation that not only will he be forced to leave his hometown and everyone he knows forever to avoid detection, he has been granted a one ticket out of poverty and the freedom to choose any profession. Without thinking things too much, he opts for the artist to ink him with a rune of a high social class who are destined to work in important government positions. He says goodbye to his father without revealing the truth about the bandage on his head and brings Tipper along who felt a pang of astonishment and respect for the crazy thing he did.

Both teenagers settle down in a city in the center of the country named Fallbrandt and Brock starts magic school, whereas Tipper finds an inn with friendly staff who hired him as a handyman in exchange for free food and board.

Now, this is the part of the novel that I found to be real slow. It almost feels like I was reading two very different books. Whereas Brock in the beginning was breaking the law left & right and always keeping his eyes open for enforcers and slavers, his behavior and demeanor change a tad bit way too much during his time in Magic School. For better or worse, Harry Potter has set the bar very high for magic school novels, and it is very difficult to really stand on your own feet without the undesirable comparisons. Most of the time, novels can't stand out from the tropes and this novel is one such example. We have a nasty teacher who hates Brock for apparently no reason whatsoever (at least Severus Snape has a reason why he disliked Harry Potter even if the motive may seem infantile), a school rival named Corbin (who is sadly left very unidimensional), and school friends breaking the rules so that they can locate information about secret (and dangerous) magic.

Don't get me wrong, I really liked Brock's two buddies Cam and Benny. Both guys are very likeable from the start and they didn't feel offended when they discovered Brock and Tipper's friendship. I do however think Brock's budding romance with female student Ashland to seen forced. It was like Brock went from being a guy huddling in the streets without drawing any attention to himself to being Mr. Popular and Mr. Ladies Studmuffin in one night. Give him some wine and the women flock to him like flies. It seemed kind of silly.

Now, the book about secret magic Brock and Benny discovered in the forbidden underground library is quite interesting, and I am sure more information will be revealed in the sequels. I like it how Brock starts using this magic mostly by accident a few times during the novel and freaking out because of the crazy effects that only seem to draw even more attention to himself.

I do think this book has its ups and downs, but despite the middle portion that paled in comparison to the really strong beginning, the last third of the book kept things moving and while I found the finale to be really rushed, the book ends with a lot of mysteries left to be discovered that will taunt me to want to read them sometime.

Oh, one last huge qualm, while the book offers a great map of Issalia (we also discover the entire country is barely the size of the state of Illinois), the book urgently needs an appendix stating the 21 different profession runes. While some of them were very obvious (medicus or mercator), some of them have obscure ancient Latin words that not even bilingual language speakers such as myself could decipher. The official book website doesn’t offer this information either. It would be hugely appreciative if the author offered this in the future. ( )

This is my NEW Favourite sci fi series!!!!

Strictly speaking it is more of a Fantasy series but not high fantasy. It is about Brock, a teenag boy of the Unchosen cast - the lowest cast - who steals gold in order to buy himself a mark that will get him into one of the higher casts. brock then decides to attend the academy to learn how to fit in with those higher cast people. He also learns why he was left as an Unchosen despite clearly having the right skills and powers to belong to the upper casts.

Turns out that Brocks girlfriend from the Academy was also of the unchosen as well.

Excellent storytelling. Every one seems to be humans.

So far there are no creatures. NO elves, orcs, trolls, goblins, centaurs, unicorns, dwarves, dragons werewolves etc that I am aware of.

I loved the way that a bicycle was described as a new invention.

One major nit-pick is that the names of the characters are ordinary American names - nothing out of a fantasy game generator. i think the author got a little lazy in choosing character names.

The Map is very well drawn and the world building is also very nicely done!! The Journey that brock was making to the academy could easily be followed on the map.

NO info dumping that I was aware of. But then again, I dont mind reading info dumps so I probably may not have seen it.

There are several books in this series and several series about the world of Issalia as well, and I cannot wait to read more!!
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Magic-school story in an interesting world

The Buried Symbol is the first book in The Runes of Issalia series. It serves primarily to set up the characters and world. It slowly introduces the overarching storyline as the characters research and discover more about the history of the Empire. The writing style is straightforward and simple, and the book is polished and free of typos or errors. The tone of the story certainly matches with the young protagonist and his journey to and attendance at magic school - it has a fairly young feel to it. The characters and their interactions are really my only complaint with this book, often seeming a little too idealistic. The world is interesting: a mix of magic and science is taught at the prestigious Academy and an influential body of Academy-taught officials known as the Ministry seems to pull the political strings of the Empire.

Once consisting of several nations and the Ministry, the nations that make up the Empire of Issalia were forced into war when a foreign force of beasts appeared, called The Horde, and began wiping out each nation it faced. After the crushing defeat of the Eastern nations, the Ministry brokered an alliance between the remaining Western nations, and mounted a desperate fight for humanity’s survival. According to history, humanity prevailed and the Empire was formed. Now, a Ministry member performs divination on each child that is born in the Empire, and marks them with a rune on their forehead based on their foreseen potential. This rune determines what career they will be trained for. People not bestowed with a rune are known as Unchosen, have no rights to property, and few human rights within the laws of the Empire. Most Unchosen are left homeless to beg or steal their way through life, mostly shunned by those with runes. Magic, combat, history, and sciences are taught to those marked with the rune of Issalia at the prestigious Academy. Those students who are successful at the Academy go on to join the Ministry in various capacities.

Brock is a young Unchosen man, son of a tanner. He is fairly privileged compared to most Unchosen since his father provides for him. He and his father have a very distant relationship, so after his beloved aunt dies, Brock decides he’s going to leave his home city to make something of his life, and finds a way to get marked with a fake rune in an attempt to get in to the Academy. As stated above, my only issue with this story was how over-idealised the characters were, Brock especially. He is very good at pretty much everything he tries, and excels in every class, except the one where the teacher has it out for him. He’s attractive to every girl his age, he is immediately befriended by other boys his age, and nearly all of his teachers find him exceptional. Everyone he meets loves him, including his rivals’ cronies, and his only rival is the son of a high-level politician and is entitled, cruel, and a rapist.

-Suggested Audience-
People who enjoy magic-school stories would enjoy this, especially fans of the Harry Potter-style group of friends fighting against evil and injustice. ( )

Very good writer with a story to tell. Free book - thanks to the author, Black Rose writing and Netgalley. Always a pleasure to find a good new author.
All children born are screened by a Ministry Adept to determine their place in society. Whatever Rune is most prominent in them sets their course with one exception. 1 out of every 100 is declared Unchosen. This is assumed by the people to mean they possess no rune and are worthless, receiving no rights or benefits of citizenship. They receive no education and are given the most menial of jobs.
Brock is Unchosen but ambitious.He can read and wants more from life. He pays an artist to tattoo a rune on his forehead. With his Unchosen friend Tipper, he sets out to enter the Academy where Chosen of the highest ranks are trained. On the journey he discovers a strange and frightening power.
He finds a place in the Academy, makes friends and enemies, and learns the truth about Unchosen.
There is a lot of fun in this book, adventures and mishaps. Great characters, well described world, and plenty of action. (Though I'd like to know how and when the rune got on their forehead.) A few errors with missing words or oddly used words. The only major problem was flow. There are 99 chapters because transition from scene to scene didn't happen any other way. Each chapter is only a few pages so needs help.
Good story for young or old. Will keep this author on my reading list. ( )