Intended audience may be too young for me to like

I subscribe to Pixel of Ink and I get an email daily with Daily Deals and Free Books that I almost always collect. This is one of the titles that I sent to my Kindle for Free. So I had no idea what to expect. I like Fire Mages and I liked the cover so I went for it!

Talis is a young Fire Mage who is still learning to use and control his magic. If he should happen to use it and lose control he could not only be engulfed by it, killing himself, but also anyone who happens to be around at the time. This is probably the reason why Talis hasn't been successful at using his magic.

His best friend, Mara, has always been there for him even though her parents are none to fond of their friendship. But when the Jiserian Empire attacks their city it is Mara's prayers that are heard and the gods bring her and Talis a legendary map with instructions stating that they must go to where the map leads them.

But where does the map lead? And how will they survive a trek across the desert to see the coast? And what kinds of evil lay in their path?

I thought that this story was very interesting and had great potential. It was a quick read, but I think that was because there was a lot of descriptions that were lacking and weird time jumps. Like I have said before in reviews I know that I am one who like verbose descriptions in their stories so that I feel like I am right there with the author, but when it is lacking I feel like it is distracting as I spend more time wondering what these people look like than I do on what is happening.

As for the time jumps, it seemed at times that there was no indication how much time had passed. What seemed to be a few hours ended up in fact being a few days and vice versa.

But really those are my only complaints. The story itself was engaging and I liked the start of the character development. I just wish that I had a little back story on them. Which reminds me of one thing that I disliked (but this is really a personal quark). When something is happening in the story and the Character acts a certain way, I hate it when the author cuts away to give the back story as to why they are doing that. I should clarify this further by saying sometimes this is necessary however I think it should be used sparingly. I much prefer the little historical tidbits about the character to happen throughout the story so that way later in the story when the author describes something happening that is explained by something that happened previously, it makes it feel like the reader is discovering something for themselves instead of being fed the reason.

Again, that is just a personal quark. The book had great bones but maybe needs just a bit more fleshing out in places.

I think the thing that most bothered me however was the lack of ending. It just stopped. I know it is a series, but it is kind of irritating to start a book only to have it stop on you before it reaches any form of conclusion. But I got the book for free so I shouldn't really complain. I would like to read the next in the series to learn what happens but I am afraid that will with just randomly end as well before they accomplish anything. It just left me with the feeling/idea that the author had written a full novel but split it up to sell it off in pieces to make more money... But c'est la vie. Like I said I got it for free. I might consider purchasing the next one, but then again I might not. I do have over 1000 books on my To Be Read shelf.

I would most likely recommend this book to a friend. ( )

Fire Mage is written by John Forrester and is the first book in the Blacklight Chronicles. Fire Mage is about the attack on Naru, the city in which Talis Storm and his best friend Mara Lei; and their journey to find a way to save their city from destruction. When attacked and chased into the tombs of the dead, Talis comes face to face with one of the dead Champions of Naru- who gives him a powerful, sacred map that will show him where to go to help save his beloved city.
Set out on their quest, along with soldiers, friends and anatgonistic peers; Talis and Maral face dangers, near death and so much more.

I found Fire Mage by John Forrester to be an exciting and fast-paced fantasy adventure. The author gives great details of each event as it happens, and made it easy for me to imagine what was occurring in the story as I was reading along. I definitely think younger readers, ages 12 and up, will really enjoy this book as much as older teens and young adults.
The characters are amazing, and quite well-developed. The two main characters are 13 years of age, and their friends and antagonists are similar in age; yet they all perform tasks and magic usually reserved for adults in most books. The ending leaves the reader wondering what will happen next, which is a great way to keep the reader coming back for more. I did enjoy this book, though there were a few parts that I had to reread to fully understand all that was going on with the story.
I look forward to reading book 2 in this series: Sun Mage, to continue the journey with Talis, Mara, and their companions. Fire Mage is a great book for middle grade to young adults. ( )