It was alright.
It was nothing amazing or super interesting. But it was enjoyable nontheless. Plus the beautiful cover gave a plus in my book.

Hard book to get into and didn't get into it at all., maybe if the story was easier to follow then I would have loved it more. I had borrowed it and started reading it and it was going good for the first few chapters but then it lost my interest all together

This was a good being and end but I felt like it dragged in the middle I couldn't get into the story line or vibe with any of the charaters

Amethyst Pledge is the first book in a new series, I adored the author’s Frontier series and was worried that I might not love this new series as much. How wrong was I! This story just blew me away!

All the teens on the planet of Albatar are called to serve ‘The Lady.’ Our heroine, Kazari, has just turned fifteen and lines up to see where she will be placed. A clear crystal is hung around her neck and whatever colour it glows is where she will serve. She is hoping to be selected as a grower of medicinal herbs, or an administrator of justice - instead her crystal glows amethyst indicating she has been chosen to be a Hunter, the most dangerous job of all. She needs to learn to be a killer of the monsters that threaten to overrun the community every year.

Kazari is taken off to learn the ropes, utterly convinced ‘The Lady’ has made a mistake. But she is accepted into the Hunters who become a family to her, training is hard, very hard. But during an exercise Kazari’s special magic is discovered and at the edge of the world in a tiny community she finally meets one of the monsters.

Amethyst Pledge is the first in a trilogy, and like Leonie Rogers‘s first series I will be counting the days until the next one is released.


With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, Hague Publishing, for my copy to review

this was a great start to a young adult fantasy novel, the characters were great and I really enjoyed the plot. I look forward to more in the series,

The world building was amazing. My first time reading this author and it won't be my last. It is a well-written YA/Teen book and I will say that it is a nice story to sink into.

I love a bit of fantasy and this did not disappoint. I liked the characters & the setting. It was similar to the divergent series which I love. I can’t wait to see where this series is going to go.

What a book!
And what a cover!
This was an easy paced read that I plan to recommend to all.
Thank you NetGalley!

I loved it!!! It was a magical and truly thrilling, I read it in one sitting! It was a really quick read for me, and I hope that Leonie is planning a book two. I can't wait until this comes out! Kazari is a good strong character and it was a joy to follow her on her adventure.
The cover is beautiful too and it fits my image of Kazari perfectly.

This is the first book in a new series by this author. I really enjoyed the Frontier series so I was keen to pick this one up.

Amethyst Pledge is a fantasy novel, probably aimed at a young adult audience but just as easily read by any age group. I was immediately grabbed by the world of Albatar and its magic system and really enjoyed the whole book.

The main character, Kazari, is very likeable as indeed are all the other Hunters. It is apparent that she is going to be very strong in her magic gifts and that there is going to be plenty of opportunity for her to shine in future books.

For me this was a very enjoyable read which set down the basics for the rest of the series. I am looking forward to finding out what happens next.

I was pleasantly surprised by this title. The plot and characters were pretty well-developed, as was the worldbuilding. I'm looking forward to the next one.

On Albatar the Lady and those in her service protect the people who live in their villages going about their daily lives. In particular the Lady's Hunters keep watch for and kill the deadly gorgones who threaten to overrun Albatar. Every year the Abbott visits each village to collect those aged fifteen and over who have felt the call to serve the Lady. They are taken back to the Abbey where they are separated into the profession that best suits their skills and talents.

Kazari has just turned fifteen and has decided to answer the call to serve the Lady this year, despite her parents asking her to wait a few more years. She is hoping to be chosen to become a Grower, growing food and medicinal herbs or a Judicar, the administrators of justice. However she is shocked to be chosen to become a Hunter, the most dangerous job of all.

I enjoyed the world building in this novel with a fully formed society complete with a system of belief. I suspect there is more to learn in future about the system of magic on Albaran, where those who serve the Lady must find their own individual talent and then learn to develop it. The plot develops gradually with Kazari training with the Hunters who become her surrogate family with the tension and danger ramping up towards the end of the novel. The gorgones and their effects on humans are truly horrible monsters and it looks like we'll also be learning a lot more about them in the rest of this trilogy. I also liked the way Kazari grows and develops into her role as a Hunter. She is quite young and unsophisticated for a fifteen year old (compared to teenagers in our world) so this novel would have appeal to younger YA readers, as well as older teens.

Amethyst Pledge is the first book in The Albatar Chronicles series by Australian author, Leonie Rogers. When the Day of Declaration arrives, the day when the fifteen-year-olds in each village are asked to choose, Kazari is absolutely certain that she will not decline or abstain; even without her parents’ blessing or support, she has known from a young age that when the Abbot asks, she will choose to serve the Lady.

In what capacity Kazari does this will be for the Lady to determine. Kazari has shown aptitude that might be useful as a Grower or a Judicar, but after some days at the Abbey, no one is more surprised than she to be chosen to wear the amethyst pendant and the black garb of the Hunter sept.

Kazari is apprehensive: the Hunter’s role is to protect Albatar, to battle with the gorgones, and that will be dangerous. The gorgones are the enemies of the Lady and all she stands for: they destroy minds, souls and physical bodies. But Kazari trusts that the training she receives from the members of her sept, combined with whatever Gifts she is revealed to possess, and her faith in the Lady, will see her right.

However, while her training is still far from complete, the Abbey, and perhaps all of Albatar, faces an unexpected threat. And it seems that Kazari has an integral part to play, whether or not she feels prepared for it. Will she find the inner strength to meet the challenge, to do what is needed, to survive?

Rogers gives the reader a worthy yet relatable protagonist, with interesting, likeable support characters, and presents them in a fascinating arena. The villains are suitably nasty and imaginatively armed. The world-building is subtly done and the necessary history is seamlessly inserted into the story. Likely to appeal to readers of all ages, this is an excellent beginning to a what promises to be an intriguing series, and the second book will be eagerly anticipated. More, soon, please!
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Hague Publishing.

Wow! This was a solid 5/5 stars read for me!

In this fantasy YA novel, we follow the character of Kazari as she decides to give her life to serve the Lady. Kazari gets chosen as a Hunter, one of those who protect Albatar from gorgones. All her life, she dreamed of serving the Lady, but never like that. The young girl gets trained by the other Hunters, and discovers the powers that she was given. When a gorgone attack the Abbey, Kazari must protect Albatar with the rest of her family, but will the Hunters be strong enough against evil?

The premise of this book sounded promising to me. However, being pretty short for a fantasy novel (less than 300 pages), I was sceptical. I can now state that my concerns were wrong. From the beginning of the book, I was intrigued and before I knew it, I was hooked.

I felt a lot for the main character. I wanted her to succeed, to find answers, to not be hurt or lost. I connected with her in a way that I don’t always do. The same thing happened with the other characters. I wanted to keep knowing about them, to see them in every scene, to give them all my love as well. They all felt real, different, and important to me. There was a sense of family coming from the Hunters that made me very happy.

The writing was gripping, always wanting to make you read a bit more. The world building was well done, with informations given to you at the right moment. I didn’t feel lost, but more so on a journey to discover Albatar, and finding myself wanting it to be saved at all cost. The plot of this first book was solid. This first installment also set up the premise for the series very well.

Yes, this story contains similar elements to many other YA fantasy books out there. However, I was entertained and gripped in this one in a way that I didn’t in the other ones. This felt refreshing and rich.

I can already see myself getting even more attached and having too many emotions as the story progresses. This was such a fantastic read!


* My review will be available right away on Goodreads. I will share a link to my review on Twitter. When the book is released, my review will also be posted on Amazon.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars.
This book surprised me in all the best ways!
The worldbuilding was probably my favourite thing, it was so detailed and very unique, and I loved the idea of the different gifts and the magic system. I really liked that the reader learned about the world at the same pace as the protagonist and that not all details were immediately revealed.
I also really liked all of the characters, Kazari was so sweet and really likable and it was very refreshing to see that this book focused on friendship rather than romance. All her interactions with the other hunters were really well-developed and all the characters were likable.
The plot was well-developed and I really enjoyed the pacing, because even if not much action happened, it still didn't feel boring at all.
The ending has me waiting for more, and I can't wait for the second part now!

I really enjoyed this book, but there were aspects that I found questionable all the same.

The writing style is easy and simple, but it got a bit rambly and repetitive in places, which constantly broke the flow of the story and made it more difficult to get into at times, leaving me to get a bit bored and take breaks from reading. One part that I recall was a good three to four pages repeating the same sort of thought narrative about a scar the main character had found herself with - it could have been easily been better explained in one or two paragraphs rather than pages. Also, one minute words like 'Lady', 'changed', 'hunter', 'gifts', etc., weren't capitalised and then they were, and I blame both the US and JKR for this - italics are a wonderful thing, use them, especially if capitalisation is hit and miss on the words to emphasise them. Americans have this bad habit of throwing in random capitalisations incorrectly and for no apparent reason, and as much as I love the Harry Potter series, I'm not a fan of JKR herself or her immature writing style that has now spread far and wide due to the popularity, especially not when other authors are picking up the same bad habits. Italics are a beautiful thing.

There was no romance to speak of, however, the main character constantly 'blushes' and 'giggles' around a certain character, clearly indicating that the endgame for the two characters in later books is no doubt to have them together in a relationship. And, I mean, I have no problem with romance if there's a decent plot at the forefront that doesn't fall by the wayside the second the characters get together, so I'm pleased that there was no instant attraction and a ridiculously unbelievable relationship from the get-go, but making them constantly blush and giggle is a little childish to me, especially when they're supposed to be these serious hunters in training in a world where children clearly grow up much faster than the real world. This is a teenager, and the audience of the book is aimed at young adults, but still - I think there are better ways of weaving a future romance into things without it jumping off the page every time.

The magic system is questionable. In training, the hunters were told that their gifts will come more naturally to them on the spur of the moment, in the heat of battle, when they're not trying to force things to happen to practice rather than because they're needed. Yet, when battle came, suddenly the gifts didn't really prove themselves useful despite the fact that they did in and around battle and training. And the magic that does happen doesn't seem to have a balance system. These gifts come from an unseen force, The Lady, and happen at random, but never seem to have a system, and I find that really questionable for later books and how things are going to work with it - perhaps there's just not been enough brought forward in the plot so far to explain it further, but that should be the first thing that becomes obvious as the story plays out, the characters should learn to understand how their system of magic, whatever form it comes in, and how it works and when and why and how. Beyond their gifts being granted by The Lady, none of this is explained or shown to be a certain way, etc., and I think that's vital to how the series carries on whether or not it's just thrown in when it's useful without a balancing system or if it's properly been planned out. Magic comes from somewhere, and magic always needs to be paid back somehow, that's how these things work. For instance, if healing as a second gift works better on themselves rather than others, then why can the main character heal another character's leg outside of battle, but when in the midst of falling to the extreme exposure of the elements can she not heal her frostbite without the aid of someone when the threat and danger is over? It doesn't make sense. Or maybe it just wasn't explained clearly enough from the start, I don't know, it's possible we're not meant to know until it's revealed later on, but, again, it's something that should be set up from the start and that we learn as the characters themselves learn rather than info dumped somewhere down the line when it's too late.

I take personal issue with the fact that it's stated that the Mayor, who violently beat and abused his children, one daughter in particular, can only have done this because he's been 'changed' into a gorgone. In reality, a lot of parents abuse their children without 'evil' forces taking hold of them, and as someone who survived childhood abuse, this offends me deeply to suggest as much. It's the only real thing that I take objection to from this story, which is a lot less than a lot of other books that are 'YA' genre, but still. Although, to be fair, constantly referring to the main character as 'chunky' was a bit questionable, and if this was an attempt to suggest that even fat people can be awesome super heroes, then it might have been better executed because it kind of came off as being a disabling aspect of her being a hunter. And I'll leave the offensive aspects at that.

Honestly, though, if I can put aside the religious vibes and the slightly immature actions of characters that goes against what they're said to be in the world they live in, then I really enjoyed this book and the plot, and I'm looking forward to reading the following book in the series when it comes out. I like that there's this system of almost Druid-like people who train for years and are all better at one aspect of their training that becomes their main purpose or 'gift' as it's referred to in this story, because it's more refreshing, shows a bit more creativity by taking one or two things from our world and plotting them out into their own thing in this fictional world of Albatar. I'm really looking forward to see where this plot goes and how the characters grow and develop, and for all of its flaws, I think it's a really good book overall with a lot of potentially to be a really great series.

I loved this book! This book is the first in a series, so be prepared to end on a cliff-hanger.

This book was a fast read for me. I found myself invested in Kazari and what her journey was going to be. Multiple times a year people are given the chance to declare your services to The Lady or decline their services to The Lady. Kazari decides to declare her services. When you have declared, you will be given a gemstone that is blank. After that you have vivid dreams in colors and the colors are significant for what your job/task/serve is going to be. Ruby - healer, Amethyst - Hunter, Gold/Topaz - Advisor, Aquamarine - Navigator, White - Incessor, Emerald - Grower.

Kazari ends up being a Hunter. A Hunter is one of the most dangerous jobs that you can be given. Along with your assignment you also have gifts. These gifts expand your skills within the job that you were given. Kazari is very special, she has two gifts that she was given, and later on in the story it is discovered that she has a third gift that changes her path forever.

This story follows Kazari on her journey. It is one of friendship, discovery, mystery, and fantasy. Who/what are Gargons? Who/what are suckers? How does the group of Hunters band together to win a war against these creatures? Can anyone in the town be saved?

This book held my attention right from the beginning. I can not wait for book two to come out! I would give it 6 stars if I COULD!

First in the Albatar Chronicles fantasy series, Kazari, is a teen pledge who - against the wishes of her family - has committed herself in service to the Lady, The Lady,goddess of goodness, aids Albatar in the battle against the evil Gorgones, demonic soul-sucking monsters that have been encroaching on the borders. Kazari responds to her calling, expecting she will serve in a utilitarian capacity; she is stunned to be chosen as a Hunter, the elite frontline defense force battling the deadly Gorgones. Kazari must undergo rigorous and deadly training and sooner than anyone anticipated she must face the Gorgones. An exciting page turner!

ARC from NetGalley

3.5 stars

This was a decent read. The magic system is interesting. It reminds me a super tiny bit of Sanderson The Way of Kings a bit in the mechanics, obviously not the metallurgy part.

The author seemed to feel it was necessary to remind us that Kaz is chunky like a dozen times. I get it. She is chunky. She could have varied the vocabulary a bit. Perhaps Kaz could be rubenesque, full figured, chubby, etc. It felt a bit excessive because it didn't feel like there was a point to it. I still don't know what colour her eyes were, but I know she was chunky. She didn't seem to be self-conscious about it. It didn't seem to matter to anyone around her. I just don't get why it was mentioned so often.

Kaz spends a lot of time blushing and being unsure of herself. I hope she develops a bit more as a character as we move forward.

I started to find the whole "the Lady" situation to be a bit preachy. There is a bit too much of the characters relying on the Lady instead of having confidence in themselves and their own strengths. It was a touch eye-rolley at times. Kaz with tears in her eyes because of the Lady and her pious joy got old fast. I recognize it is a huge part of the premise, but it could have been approached slightly differently, not hammered home as hard.

My major complaint is that this book did not feel that it had a real plot. It suffered from that first book in a series affliction. I need each book to have a plot arc and the series itself to have an overarching arc. This book didn't have that. There was no resolved conflict really. I mean, there was, but eh. It felt like happenstance.

I'll still read the next one, because it's interesting and relatively well-written, but I'm hoping the next books have Leonie coming into her own a bit more. She has a lot of potential. This was an interesting book, and I read it quite fast. I enjoyed the read. Nothing made me cringe. It was a decent book. I look forward to the next one.

p.s. change the cover ASAP. It is awful.

p.p.s. change the title. What is the point of having the tension build up the first 4 chapters when everyone knows whats going to happen because of the title?

A different type of fantasy read from what I'm used to. I feel it's leaning towards teen read rather than YA.

It is well written and is an easy read with an interesting plot. I look forward to the rest of the series.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC.