This had a lot of potential, but just didn't have the right execution. I wanted to like it, it has dragons a powerful girl wizard, and kids being badasses, but I feel I'd have liked this loads better as a teenager or preteen. I don't think I was the right target audience for this one, but it was a fun read. 2.5 ⭐ rounded up.

I love a goid magical world too take me away from real life and into a magical world with dragons and magic loved it thabkyou for sending me a copy

Bakari is a scholar wizard going on his first adventure in the fantasy world of Alaris. Tasked by the High Judge to figure out the problem with the barrier that protects them from the surrounding lands he finds more than he bargained for with the Dragon Orb.
I struggled with this book. It was a tad too predictable, not very interesting, and filled with characters who info dumped a lot. Also, the female characters felt like they were only there to give the male characters romantic interests rather than.. Be humans.
It could be a great read for someone just getting started with fantasy.

Great character and world building lead you into a story that leaves you wanting more.
A wonderful story for YA and older to enjoy.

I enjoyed this read and found it was fast paced and the character were well written.

I just loved this book!!!! I enjoyed the characters and can't wait to see what is going to happen in the next book of the series. Even though this is a YA book, adults into fantasy will also enjoy the book. This was a very easy read. This was my first Mike Shelton book but definitely not my last.

This was a wonderful book. I found myself immediately drawn in by the way the author described the characters and the POV switching between the 3 main characters. I really enjoyed that aspect the most because the author was able to really build those characters up and you relate more to them when you see things from their points of view.

The three main characters are all quite different too. Alli is a beautiful and powerful apprentice battle mage, Roland is a suave counsellor wizard's apprentice, and Bak is a scholar wizard who remembers everything he has ever read but lacks the easy confidence that Roland and Alli both exude. Together they travel with their mentors and each other in an effort to support their Chief Justice against the wicked plots for a Wizard King. They will have to figure out where their loyalties lie and do it while facing betrayal, deaths, and political power moves that could destroy their way of living as they know it.

I like how the author wrote this to have intrigue, but also to be an easy read. That's why I'm drawn to YA books and I appreciate that here. There is an obvious bad guy, but with all the politics happening between the Chief Justice system and the ones who want their own system in place, it gives the reader a chance to kind of decide for themselves what they like and through the characters the benefits of it all and why they are fighting to keep their Chief Justice in power. As if political intrigue wasn't enough, the barrier that has separated the Elvyn and human world for 150 years is weakening... what will happen? You have to read it!

The only thing I would say is I don't know if I would categorize this as YA. It felt a little mature to me in some instances with Alli killing without hesitation and Roland being with a different maid each night. They are young for that kind of thing. Maybe if Mike had made them to be more like 19? I liked their characters and these qualities in them made them interesting to me, but I remember thinking to myself if this was truly a YA book or maybe I'm just getting old and they aren't like they used to be.

Here we have two self-opinionated teen wizard apprentices, both full of themselves, but with good hearts, Roland is all about himself and for himself while Allison seeks to help others by trying to end the small pockets of fight the rebels were strategically starting. She wants to lessen the people's' sufferings, but with a rebellion fast approaching, such thoughts seem very elusive.
These young wizards needed to get their act together and focus on what was right and not just follow the way of the wizards blindly, even though their mentors were all in support of the fast approaching rebellion. Unknown to them things had escalated faster than they had thought, along with fellow wizard Bakari, they were thrust into an incoming war of which they had to choose sides. It was imperative that they save their homeland by protecting the barrier. They had never been outside of their realm, due to the protective shield that was surrounding their homeland but what was it protecting them from, was it from the other realms. There is that saying, that nothing lasts forever and it seems like their protective barrier which lasted for over one hundred years was going down. They were being pushed into the open forcefully by the masterminds of the fast escalating rebellion but was the rebellion a bad thing or was it the right way, is it best to allow the barrier to drop and allow themselves the freedom to explore other realms, or are they in danger from the other realms, so many questions unanswered. A great story filled with exciting action adventures, deceitfulness, greed, anger, hatred distrust all mixed in with a bit of young love.

The character is introduced gradually, yet at the end of the book I feel that there are too many characters that we need to keep up with. The only original plot is the introduction of politic to this teens fantasy book, other than that like the idea of magic, dragon rider, elves, battle wizards is what we usually found in other fantasy books.

As a first book in the series, the story itself ended with new systems of wizardry in Alaris, the battle of power and a quest for dragon knowledge.

Overall the book can be read by teens and young adult. The teens for the fantasy, and YA for the politics.


Thanks netgalley for providing the arc

I really enjoyed this book, character building was great and the fact that the younger people had the power was a nice change. I look forward to reading more in the series.

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There is something about this book that I really enjoyed. The writing was simple and yet effective and there was lots of description to help the world building along.

<b>The plot was well thought out and included everything that a good fantasy world needs - history, culture, politics, magic, adventure and intrigue.</b>

It is so refreshing to see such diversity in what I would class as a middle grade read. I think it's so important as a reader to be exposed to as much diversity as possible and our lead protagonist is a person of colour and as far from the stereotypical hero as you could get: More geek than gym class hero, Bak is a scholar wizard with the particular ability to recall anything he has seen or read.

All of the characters were interesting with their own back stories and struggles, and I think there is something for everyone to connect to and sympathise with. The main protagonists are all young apprentices and wizards but there is also a good deal of content including their mentors and the adult political leaders - there's treason and power plays happening all over the place. It's a kingdom on the brink of civil war and perhaps these young wizards possess the power to hold their country together.

In any book I very much dislike it when world building is flat and there is one version of history that everybody can absolutely agree on. Thankfully that is certainly not the case here. <b>I love that there are conflicting histories contained in the world building and it's also great to see the major social and cultural groups aren't monolithic.</b> It makes the world far more realistic and easier to relate to in that way.

Now obviously I only rated this book 3 stars (more like 3.5). So here's the negatives for me:

The writing didn't quite flow as I would have liked it and it definitely wasn't as... emotional? ... as I would usually prefer. It's narrated in a very matter-of-fact style which made it difficult for me to connect to and didn't elicit too much emotion from me as a reader. The dialouge came off as stilted at times and the actual <i>words</i> just weren't wielded as deftly as they could have been.

Even with the negatives there was just something about this book that kept me engaged and interested in reading more. The premise of the entire story, the interesting characters, the complexity and the plot carried it along for me.

<b>It's a great coming-of-age story for readers of all ages and is a solid and promising start to a new exciting fantasy series.</b>

<blockquote><b>"...in time, you learn it doesn’t matter what others think of you if you are acting in accordance with what you think is best."</b></blockquote>