Academy Arcanist

Astra Academy Series, Book 1

By: Shami Stovall

Narrated by: Shaun Grindell

Hopes. Dreams. And literal nightmares out to kill a young boy.

Gray Lexly, son of a candlemaker, wants to escape his life of old-world technologies and study at the prestigious Astra Academy, a school for arcanists—those who can wield magic. But Gray has a major problem. Every night, as he sleeps, he's visited by monsters. When they injure Gray in his dreams, he wakes with the same wounds in real life . . .

On the night Gray might finally die in his nightmares, he is saved by the kind and mysterious Professor Helmith, a powerful arcanist. She offers to protect Gray and invites him to attend Astra Academy.

Before that can happen, Gray must bond with a mystical creature to become an arcanist himself. Will he bond with a unicorn? A pegasus? A kitsune? Whatever he bonds with will determine his magical abilities, so he must choose wisely.

And when trouble finds Professor Helmith, Gray must become powerful enough to help her and fend off the terrible nightmares, before it's too late . . .

©2022 Capital Station Books (P)2023 Tantor

Hidden Gem

Found author on tiktok. The book was amazing! I can't wait to start book 2!

Great story

I didn't know this was all part of a much larger story this was so good I have to go back and read all the rest of the story!

Great book!

If Harry Potter and Pokémon had a baby? Loving the series. Can’t wait to begin the second book.

Characters pull you along with the story

Likes: CHARACTERS!! The environments were diverse and well thought out. The mythology was well read and followed as much as possible for the animals. Story was good but you could tell it was setting up for many books ( not a bad thing).

Dislikes: Villains, I felt there needed to be more with the story for the villains. They were just there. The main characters had alot going on, villains on the other hand; not so much.

Overall: I would recommend

book one is okay. don't waste your time with the rest of the series.

The only impressive thing about this series is how accurate a 15 year Mc would is written . Just wow. Also how accurate the teachers ineptitude and vague sex pest energy is portrayed is breath taking. As if the author was trying to say "yea there magical teachers but are still bottom rung of their society "

like the story, hate the narrator

The narrator is absolutely terrible, and kills the story with their vocal cadence. Every sentence ends abruptly and like he is adding a question mark at the end. Extemely monotone and brings no life to the story at all. The story itself, drags a little, and I do wish the characters, creatures, and world itself were a bit better developed as it feels like a half-baked RPG game made for kids. Love the overall concept, but dragging out his search for a professor for the entire length of a book, with very little happening around it or adding much character arc development in the interim.. just made it come off as a weak plot. The narrator, however, needs a dang career change.. just.. terrible.

It was ok

I honestly don’t know how I feel about this one Mc is kinda dumb and I really enjoyed the character development in the previous series but I don’t think it really showed until a couple of books in I’ll probably get the next one but idk about after that

Not ground-breaking, but worth a credit

This series has some interesting aspects that, while not new, are not as overdone as other tropes. It's kinda like getting a Pokemon that you work with for the rest of your life. You only get one and obtaining one can be incredibly difficult or expensive, depending on which you go after. I recommend giving it a listen, its worth the credit.

the bloopers

I really love the little bit of bloopers at the end of the book curses this was the end of me had me laughing so hard I wasn't expecting it

Brilliant story

His Dark Materials meets Harry Potter in a story that's wonderfully original all its own. A brilliant cast of characters brought to life by the narrator, this is a really wonderful story. if youre on the fence, buy it!