Reviews

Maybe it's my weakness for pretty covers, but I keep giving Jeff Wheeler's books chances even after they ultimately disappoint me. To be fair, the first 50-60% of this book was pretty good. I enjoyed the glimpses of life at the Abbey and learning about the characters. I liked Lia for the most part. Her innocence and unfamiliarity with the world outside the Abbey made her a perfect catalyst for readers to learn what they needed to know as she progressed on her journey. The villain was intimidating and some of the tension surrounding him was done really well.

While I was initially interested in the magic system (known as the "Medium"), I became less enamored as I realized the Medium was essentially a reworking of the Force. Not only that but as the story went along, the amount of passages dedicated to characters discussing the Medium became lengthier and even preachy. It got to the point that I considered DNFing this book around the 88% mark. (But decided to at least see it through to the end since I had made it that far.) Beyond the magic/religion aspect, I was disappointed with the lack of other world-building features. Sure, there were mentions of things that hinted at some development but these were never as much of a focus as the Medium was.

By the last 20%, the villain had been Deus ex machina-ed out of the picture and Lia had transitioned into a Mary Sue. It was such a bummer that I skimmed the remaining chapters just to be done. I really wished this book had ended for me in the same way it started. Oh well. Onto the next one, I suppose.

itabar's review

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2.0

This books was "OK" mostly because I didn't care all that much about the characters. But I will give the second book a try and hope I will be more engaged.