4.5

Book source ~ Tour

Eight strangers are summoned to archmage Abernathy’s Tower. There they learn that a villain who was imprisoned 100s of years before is slowly making a break for it. The archmages who guard him are old and worn out. They need serious help. They need heroes. But the people they get are…interesting. It remains to be seen if they are heroes.

Holy shit! This epic fantasy is completely captivating! There’s an interesting collection of characters, magic, an evil villain, and an eccentric old wizard who sends them out on quests. Ok, maybe not quests per se, but more like fact-finding missions. While reading it I am reminded of Lord of the Rings, the tv show Supernatural, and every group project I was ever forced to endure. You know what I’m talking about, right? If you’ve read the book, see if you can match the character to my description.

The smart ass.
The know-it-all.
The one who makes you use all the proper citations and frowns upon plagiarism.
The one who isn’t the sharpest crayon in the box, but is enthusiastic.
The one who drops out suddenly.
The highly involved one who suddenly disappears for a while due to unforeseen circumstances leaving the group to flounder a bit.
The goth chick.
The quiet one who comes up with the brilliant project-saving idea.

These people have no idea why they’ve been summoned. On the surface only one has a true skill, the magic-wielding apprentice Aravia. But whether they believe it or not, they all have what is needed to save their world. They just have to trust that Abernathy’s spell picked them for a reason they haven’t figured out yet. And they need to dig deep within themselves, have faith, and trust each other. Yeah, that’s not as easy as it sounds.

I love this world so much. The one drawback is my confusion over how Emperor Naradawk is imprisoned and all the artifacts. I’m not sure I quite understand this bit. But that’s ok. This story has some awesome characters who grow over the course of their quests and I love the different chapters where I get to see this tale through their eyes. There’s a balance to the fantasy as well. It’s not all dark and gory, but it’s not sweet fluffy pancakes either. There’s danger and action, but humor and downtime, too. The characters are my absolute favorite. I love them. They are perfectly flawed. I want to bring them out of the pages to live with me. Do I need to state how much I’m looking forward to continuing this series? Because bring it! ( )

Published in 2016, but if you like the idea of classical 80s/90s High Fantasy with a varied group sent on (potentially world-saving) adventures this is a good one, though maybe not particularly memorable. ( )

This is an enjoyable story with interesting characters who are sent out to save the kingdom. They encounter a huge turtle - the ventifact colossus. ( )