The Hidden Masters of Marandur

The second novel of Campbell's Pillars of Reality series, The Hidden Masters of Marandur is a well written epic fantasy perfect for all ages of reader. The story continues where The Dragons of Dorcastle ends. Master Mechanic Mari and Mage Alain have each returned to their guilds, but the guilds are clearly suspicious of their divided loyalties.

After being banned from speaking the truth and given a mission that is a certain suicide, Mari realizes that her own Mechanics guild wishes her dead as much as the mages do. She fears that the mage Alain, who she has come to care for, is in as much danger as she. Alain has come to the same conclusion after being sent on an assignment where only Mari's timely intervention prevents him and the troops he is aiding from being killed by a dragon. With both of their guilds clearly intent on their destruction, Mari feels it is time to seek out answers. Why is she perceived as so much of a threat? There is a prophecy that says the daughter of Jules will come and unite the mages, mechanics and commons, and in doing so change the world. This only creates more questions. How will she and Alain manage to change the world, when so many forces are against them. Hope lies in the dead city of Marandur, within the vaults of the ruined mechanics guild. Within the vaults are ancient plans for advanced technology, long forbidden by the leaders of the mechanics guild. But getting into the city will be a challenge..

The novel is well done, with a fascinating world and interesting young protagonists. The action scenes are creative and fast paced. The main weakness of the novel is in its romantic meanderings. Too many pages are filled with Mari's thoughts of love and romance, jealousies and doubts. Mari and Alain come from two very different backgrounds, with Alain being brought up to show as little emotion as possible. Yet at times, he comes across as the more natural of the two.

4/5

I received a copy of The Hidden Masters of Marandur from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

This book came about in an interesting way. It was written for Audible as an audiobook. After publication it is now available as a Kindle Edition and book one, The Dragons of Dorcastle, comes as both an Audible audiobook, a Kindle edition and a paperback edition.

I got a copy from Netgalley in return for an honest review. I got it because Jack Campbell was the author. I have followed his adult series and really liked them all so I wondered how he would do writing for the YA audience.

He did fine. The Hidden Master of Marandur is book two in the series and I have not read book one. I was worried I would feel lost but that was not the case. The back story and world building is worked into the dialog in the story. While it is apparent that some of the character building was done in book one I still had a very good handle on Mari and Alain. The plot is still be developed in book two so that was also easy to pick up.

Since this is book two in what appears to be a trilogy don’t expect anything to be solved. The Hidden Masters of Marandur expands the back story, character development, world building and the plot as it sets everything up for the next book.

The YA focus is provided by the ages of Mari and Alain. Both are 18. The story and the plot would work with any age so don’t let the fact that it is YA stop you from reading the book. Campbell is telling a good tale with lots of danger, tension and some romance. This is one any age can enjoy.

This is fantasy and Campbell usually writes SciFi. I think there may be a small SciFi element in the future.