I enjoyed this book. It describes the journey of two mages, Elden and Brillar, after Brillar rescues Elden from the Dimlock that sapped his magical strength. As they journey through the land, we get to see the world and magic for the first time through Brillar's eyes, as Elden explains to and trains Brillar.

This is the first in a series, and I can't wait to read the next installment, "Honor".

An interesting story concerning a captured mage and the archer/healer who rescues him. There are slow spots in which not much happens, or descriptions of scenes as they travel take up the pages. There were 2 things that bothered me about this book 1) they had no purpose except exploring and 2) the lack of proofreading all through the book. They were rich, they met a lot of people both good and bad and they traveled a lot. It ended at a reasonable place, no cliffhanger. How can you tell if they have achieved their purpose when they don't really have one.
I received this book from NetGalley and thank all involved.

A fantasy quest novel which meanders away too much from the central plot. It has the expected elements: mage master, apprentice, faux-medieval magical settings and fantasy monsters. There are lots of very good ideas and I wish that the author had spent more time developing those instead of describing what is essentially a long road trip with many descriptions of hunting animals and camping. The interesting 'bits' ie the dimlock subplot, Elden's past history and even the rescue of the elf child feel almost secondary but could have been developed alot more. I was surprised at the end to discover that this is merely part 1 of a longer series - it just felt as though the story was being spun out. I also didn't think the archaic style of language was needed either, it just felt artificial..

Okayyy so this was a strange read for me since the whole time I wanted to like the book but it just kept falling flat. I couldn't understand any of the characters motivations or choices and that caused a big disconnect. Furthermore there wasn't a solid plot, (I couldn't see were the story was going in a bad way). On the upside I did really enjoy the banter between the protagonists but it unfortunately wasn't enough to save the book.