A Leaf and Pebble

The Learner Trilogy, Book 1

By: Andrew Monroe

Narrated by: Andrew Pond

Two friends. A few airships. One shadowy group. A phenomenal ride through a new world rich in action and adventure.

In a land of elemental magic and Learner Skill, a gripping tale of two friends who narrowly avoid death while attending the school under the mountain takes place. As both are forced to flee before finishing their studies, they must unravel and attempt to thwart a plot to plunge their homeland into war after ages of peace.

Balteris is an enormous peninsula with an impassable causeway leading to an unknown land. The seas around it are filled with mysterious and deadly creatures keeping the inhabitants penned into the region. Naturals, people who have an inborn talent for elemental manipulation make up a portion of the otherwise regular population. But an even smaller percent of the people study Skill, and are therefore called Learners. This study allows the Learner to manipulate raw willpower into a powerful energy force.

Two of these people, Nil, a Learner, and Volant, a Natural, are forced to abandon their respective studies to save their own lives and uncover a mysterious group that has been slowly plotting to turn Balteris' five city-states into war-mongering kingdoms. Along the way, they must learn to survive, grow in their powers, and fight back against the government who thinks they helped murder their classmates.

©2019 Andrew Monroe (P)2020 Andrew Monroe

A great escape

This book was a wonderful way to distract myself from a stressful time I’d been going through. It was a great mix of adventure, friendships and sarcasm.

Great book

I find myself lost in the detail of this book. Driving in the middle of no where I imagine being right there with the characters, wanting to have a conversation with them.

A very, very good writer.

I'm 64. I like reading youth adventure books to help me get to sleep. Andrew does such a good job it's difficult to put it down.

First book from Author

I have no complaints which means it moves at a steady, even breakneck pace. Perfect narrator for the intriguing and likeable protagonist.

Started Good Ended Bad

In the beginning you have the two witty characters who are just joking and stealing it's wonderful then they go on the run after their friends are slaughtered in a bar for a shiny magical crystal. The part I really loved about the beginning to the middle of this book is there was not a lot of explanation we just rolled into explanations as you saw the characters developed. Once you get to the middle of the book the beginning of the war it starts to get stupid and the end of the book it's a fever dream makes no sense at all.