I enjoyed Runebinder, the first book in Alex Kahler’s apocalyptic, magical series. Tenn has been fighting to save what’s left of the world, but he has a choice to make when it comes to two individuals he meets. Will he make the right choice?

Great fantasy for YA crowd!

The world has been destroyed by magic and necromancers. There are very few people left that stand in the way of absolute dominance. Among those is Tenn and the target of their obsession. Tenn is gradually understanding his powers and the relevance he plays in this twisted tale of cat and mouse. He and his group of sphere/ element wielding friends may not make it through this game alive.

This fast paced elemental post apocalyptic book didn't take long to read and kept my attention until the last page. The characters were diverse and multidimensional and the plot was easy to follow. Its a good introduction for the Runebinder Chronicles.

I got this book based on the cover, which often pans out well. In this case, it did not. I had so many unanswered questions reading this book. I felt like the author lost opportunites to explain key things, like why was Tenn the chosen one, but instead focused on things that were uninportant. Main character, although adorable, was not chosen one material. I will be more careful choosing books based on the cover after my experience with this one.

I enjoyed Runebinder. It reminded me alot of the Summoner series. Including the cover art was very similar to The Novice.

I really tried to get into this one, and I just couldn't. I wanted to like it very much, but it was slow going and hadn't grabbed me 100 pages in. I can't say I'd recommend it to others, though I'm sure that some people would probably enjoy it. The description had a lot of promise and I was excited to see LGBTQ characters in a fantasy novel.

While it had some moments, this book was mostly typical genre tropes. From fantasy: young person inexplicably is chosen and through no merit of his own recognizes he needs to let the power flow through him to accomplish some ill-defined task in order to bring about a partial resolution. From YA literature: love triangle (we may even get a quad out of this in the next book), although in theory since one of the trio is a succubus and since they're all of the same sexual orientation they may resolve this without rancor. From fantasy: someone is dead, but they actually aren't. From YA literature: adults/teachers/organizational authority figures are either the enemy or a group of misguided people to work around if anything is to be accomplished. Shall I continue? I think there were a few more, but these were the big ones.

Nonetheless, there were a couple of very poignant scenes (and a whole of lot just gory ones) and this wasn't the worst book I read today ;-)

If these genres are in your wheelhouse, you might like it...just don't expect too much. I will not be reading the sequel.

This book was so good! I love that it's LGBT without being "LBGT". Never once is Tenn's sexuality questioned or commented on. It just is the way it is no questions. Which is something that's lacking in LGBT books.
I really liked the magic system in this book. Though some parts were glazed over. If I'm not mistaken both the twins have the ability to control more than 2 elements at once. Which I thought was unheard of, but there is 2 of them right in the main cast. There also wasn't any rules, per se, that this magic followed. Obviously elemental, earth is healing , you can fly with air. But it seemed that whenever they needed a fix for something there was an sphere just waiting to be used.
It also frustrated me how many times the author mentioned certain plot driving elements. Like that fact that all Tenn wants is a husband and a house and a family to invite to dinner. I lost count at how many times it was mentioned. Same with Tenn not trusting his water sphere because it's been acting up. Mentioned too many times.
But it did LOVE Thomás. He definitely was my favourite the couple of times he was around, starting from Tenn's first encounter with him. I wish we saw more of him but I'm sure it added to his elusive element.
Jarrett was quite a bit lack luster for me. I wasn't heart broken when he "died". His and Tenn's relationship seemed a little insta love for me, although there seems to be some history between them, I found it unbelievable and forced.
That being said. I LOVED the ending. The plot twist, what happens with Jarrett, the ending with Thomás. So good! I can't wait for the next instalment.

I really love that cover! Unfortunately that is all I really loved about the book. Don’t get me wrong, I did like it, I just was hoping to love it with such an awesome cover and premiss. I got the feeling that in the publisher’s rush to get out a diverse fantasy book, some of the editing was left by the wayside. At it’s core this is a good book, but it could be so much better.

The world the author has created is interesting, but it left me feeling very confused. I needed a prologue I think that explained how the world got where it is when the book starts. The magic is interesting, but not well explained either. It is based on the elements, but there are spheres in the magic wielders that help them control it? I really didn’t get that aspect at all and it was never well explained, nor were the runes that also helped them use the magic, but eventually become very important to the story. Also, not everyone had the ability to use magic, and I kind of got the feeling that only kids and maybe even just gays could use the magic, but it was never stated that way. Otherwise why would there be protests against magic and gays when the world is falling apart? I don’t know, like I said very confusing.

The main character Tenn was interesting. I think the main reason most people don’t finish this book is because of his inner dialogue at the start of the book. He is a bit too whiney and young sounding. Not the typical strong main character. I’m actually kind of surprised that he has lasted as long as he has without just giving up. He does get better though, especially towards the end of the book. His thoughts and feelings about his love interests were a bit over the top as well, a little too much use of bad romance novel imagery.

The supporting cast of characters is solid and for the most part I really liked them. Jarret and the twins are the best, although I am not sure why they put up with Tenn. I also like the evil characters, they were deliciously wicked. There are also some monsters called howlers that sound like a cross between zombies and werewolves. Lots of other evil crap both magical and human for our heroes to contend with as well.

Once you get around the confusing world building, the plot is quite good and is what saves the book in the end. Although the underlying plot is somewhat cliched, Tenn is the chosen one that both the goods guys and the bad guys want to use for their own purposes, how we get there and why he is the chosen one is the interesting part. It is pretty fast paced overall and kept me interested in finishing it.

Overall an interesting story with some solid characters that could have been better executed. I’m not sure if I will read the sequel, although I am curious to see how things turn out and maybe for a better explanation of this very interesting world that the author has created.

DNF 30% I just could not barrel through it. I loved the idea of the book but I don't know if it was the writing style or the general plot but I just couldn't get into it.

Starting this book, I had high hopes and thought I was going to love it. The book description was great and a book right up what I normally would devour. But, the main character was pretty whiny, his thoughts and speech were just disjointed and not well spoken. The story could have been great, but ended up being maybe just fine.
There wasn't a lot of(if any) character development with any of the main characters, and the world building was weak. There were many overused cliches with the characters and such, and overall, it made it hard to read and get through. The book was poorly written and I had higher hopes for it.