This book did not read like I expected it to, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The story focuses around three young individuals looking to be..Show More »come Warrior Monks. Each have their own reasons for joining and these reasons are quite different from each other. Along the way their paths intertwine and they end up on a mission to save the very Order of Monks they wish to join.
As you start the book you are kinda just thrown into the lives of the characters without much explanation. In regards to the world itself, don't expect anything to Epic with flesh out worlds and histories like "Lord of the Rings" or the "Swords of Truth" Series. It is a bit more like the "Wizard of Earthsea" novels, but even those novels have more history given. This is a deduction for me because I prefer books where the world is explained like "Eragon" or " Wheel of Time".

Also the characters were a bit to eccentric for my taste. For example the character known as "Wildman" will regularly yell his phrases "Do you love me brothers, Do you love me?" and "Do you want me to slit your throat?". After a while this gets be quite annoying to listen to. On a separate note the Narrator does a great job playing out the eccentricities of the characters while spouting their lines.

In regards to story development, the solutions to many of the problems they face are a bit cookie-cutter. Its hard to explain this without giving away any spoilers. Let me just say that it feels like there is no depth to the issues they face and the solutions appear out of thin air.

All in all, I would say this book would be for younger readers, not young adults, but maybe audible kids. I mean no disrespect to the author but if you want to read a good fantasy novel, this is probably not for you. If you want to read a good fantasy novel to your eight year old child, this would probably work.



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