2.5 stars total.

I had an extremely hard time rating this book. I knew that it fell at 2.5 I just couldn't figure out whether to give it the extra bump to 3, or demote it down to 2.

This book floated on some kind of weird little edge for me. It definitely wasn't bad (little reminder that even 2* is "OK" according to goodreads) it had a bunch of things that I just couldn't get down with.

First: Baytel leaves his messed up father and brother because they are corrupted by dark magic and he thinks that if he becomes a Druid he might be able to save them. So he does this at The Citadel. My problem is this: He trained so fast to become so awesome that I can't believe it is possible. Gazoul tried to explain himself out of the fast turned around from bumpkin to stud muffin, but it didn't fly with me.

Second: Every character in the book felt like a cookie cut out. Nobody really stood out to me, and everyone seemed so similar I found myself going back and looking at the sentence I just read to see who it was that said it. Was it Telek? Or Areus? I couldn't figure it out. Usually I can follow that very easily, but because everyone was so similar it was hard to tell. Until the end of the book when I met Dalphinade, she was awesome. Tough, strong, doesn't take crap from anyone. Yeah, I like her. To bad she was the only one kind of fleshed out.

Third: How in the crap did Baytel meet so many people for 2-3 days that he just somehow knew he was going to "have a lifetime friendship with"? Like, really dude, come one. Don't BS me. You ain't ever calling them again! I know it, you know it, don't try and fool me. I wish it was that easy to make lifetime friendships.

Those are just some of the flaws. And while it may sound like I'm ripping on this pretty bad, for all the flaws it was still a fun book. This is an old school fantasy reminiscent of Tolkein or C. S. Lewis. And I love that kind of stuff. Sure it can fall into tropes at times, but I like it regardless. And to give Gazoul some credit; even though it felt like that type of fantasy this was a world all his own. At least how I had imagined it in my head.

I think that Gazoul has a lot of potential as an author and I hope that he continues writing, because he is close to great and he is writing in the genre I love. Work out a few kinks and deliver us a beautiful new book. I don't know when I will start, but I most likely will be reading the sequel because...this just wasn't bad.

This is one of the most conflicted I've been on giving a review to a book ever. It does have lots of problems, but I just couldn't find myself not enjoying the book quite a bit in some moments. I hope book 2 sees a big improvement. I know it's possible.