Jarren Heartwood

Quadrant of Balance Book 1

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Pub Date 01 Oct 2021 | Archive Date 15 Apr 2022

Description

Betrayed. Orphaned. Consumed by vengeance.

One broken boy joins the Shadow Academy elites, the enemy of his enemy, to destroy the fire mages known as the flares.

A darkness is creeping across Elonia, destroying hope and creating a malevolent society where the weakest are guaranteed a miserable existence, and the factions that are supposed to defend and protect only create more despair while searching out ways to become more powerful.

Jarren Heartwood’s single, secretive mother raised him on fear of the Academy and the flares, but infused his life with love and fanciful tales as they scraped by in their brutal city of Nirwood. At the tender age of ten, he suddenly has his mother ripped away, leaving him fending for himself. To survive and avenge his mother, he turns to the Shadow Academy assassins.

After seven years of brutality and callousness, Jarren has become the vengeful killer needed to take out his enemies.

When an assignment comes along that should rocket him through the Academy ranks, he jumps at it. However, not all is as it seems, and the very magical forest that haunts him unveils a world he knew nothing about but is very much entangled with. Jarren must reevaluate everything he thought he knew, for magic and myths are very much alive, and revelations about his childhood and family rock him to the core.

Quadrant of Balance is a four-book epic fantasy odyssey. Inspired by the environmental changes that affect our world today, the series follows the monumental challenges faced by Jarren and his companions to save Elonia from the dark curse.

Betrayed. Orphaned. Consumed by vengeance.

One broken boy joins the Shadow Academy elites, the enemy of his enemy, to destroy the fire mages known as the flares.

A darkness is creeping across...


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ISBN 9788797330906
PRICE $5.99 (USD)

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Average rating from 11 members


Featured Reviews

I've never read anything by Hansen before, but the summary caught my eye. This is the first book in a four-part series, and it's a great way to kick things off. The book is well detailed, and fantasy lovers will likely enjoy the mix of magic and mystery. The characters are well-crafted, and it's easy to connect with Jarren. The author has a way with words that pulls the reader in to his world.

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Jarren Heartwood is left as a orphan on the streets at age 10 after watching his mother murdered.

He struggles to keep himself alive and finally enters Shadow Academy training as an assassins seeking revenge for his mother's murder.

When he returns home his eyes are opened and he learns things aren't always as they seem.

A great cast of characters full of life lessons.

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This is the first book in a new series by new and upcoming author, D.K. Hansen. Being a new author, I was not sure what to expect. However, Hansen did not disappoint with his debut book. Hansen is a master at weaving the characters into the tale in such a way that you cannot wait to know what happens next. I have definitely added Hansen to my follow list on both GoodReads and Amazon to make sure I do not miss out on the next chapter of this series.

From the first chapter of the book, the storyline was very fast paced. I do feel that there could have been some more character development during Jarren's "training" period. There were large chunks of time skipped in order to ensure the story could be finished in a reasonable amount of pages. The training phase probably could be a book in and of itself.

Quadrant of Balance follows the life of Jaren from the time he was born in Nirwood, until his first few years of graduating from the Academy. He must overcome, at a young age, trials that would break most adults. Before her death, his mother introduces him to "the rot", which represents the evil and corruption which lives in our world today. Witnessing things which would harden the hearts of lesser people. During his time in the academy, he is subjected to every form of training and torture to ensure that he will be able to best benefit the Academy once he graduates.

Upon graduation, Jaren must continue on his quest to figure out why his life is the way it currently is and to seek revenge against those who took away what was most precious to him. During this time, Jaren is able to make friends. He also realizes that when he removes himself from "the rot" he can become a happier, better person and there is a better way to live.

Recommend for fantasy lovers who love a little magic!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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ARC provided by publisher-Nirwood Publishing-in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, I just want to thank the publisher of this book who gave me an opportunity to review this book. I really appreciate it. Thank you once again.

Jarren Heartwood is the first book in the Quadrant Of Balance book series by the author D.K. Hansen.


On Natgalley website, I was looking for an ARC to read and review. There, I saw this book. The cover attracted me, and as I read its blurb, it piqued my interest. That is how I laid my hands upon this book. I requested for it, and the publisher gave me an opportunity to read and review it.

Let's talk about the cover of this book. The cover is very beautiful. I think, the cover is the only reason I am reviewing this book. And look there in the cover, a boy has a dagger in his left hand and a curved knife in his right. That's quite the thing to notice, because the appearance of Jarren Heartwood in the cover really matches with the description in the book. In the past, I have read some books which have different images on covers from the descriptions in the books, but here is nothing like that.

This book has all the intresting things. There are assassins, wizards that are called flares and holy worriors. It is the story of a very young man named Jarren Heartwood, main character of the book, who decides to take his revenge of her mother's death from her killers. His mother is killed when he is just 10 years old and he becomes an orphan who roams around the city in search of food and shelter because his home is no more his, now. And from there the story picks its pacing of how he decides to take revenge and what he should do to kill the murders of his mother. Along the way, we learn many things about the factions, the Rot and the dryads.

The language of this book is very simple. World-building is quite good, but I hope it will improve in the future. Characterization of main character, Jarren Heartwood, is impressive. Plot of the book is simple, and yet intresting.
There are two more characters, Ameida and Sepheus. I just want to know about them a little more. I hope, in the next book in this series, I will be reading more about them.

“I understand your unhappiness, but allow me to give you a piece of advice. Never waste a moment of your life. That is the most important thing this old man has learnt. You might die tomorrow. Don’t regret something you could have done today.” ......Quote from the book.

Overall, this book is worth reading. The only problem that seems to me in the book is that there is too much jumping and skipping in time. Other than that, I really enjoyed reading this book. It is debut book of this author, and it is amazing.

The quote in this review was taken from an ARC and is subject to change upon publication.

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Thanks, Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review.
This is the first novel I read from the author and it was a fantastic read. You share Jarren's life from his birth to his time when he's a young man. It's true that his coming of age and training period in the Shadow Academy is skipped and I pretty much wanted to see at least a few chapters of his time in there, but I guess that would've made the book bigger, which isn't a bad thing. Jay Kristoff's Empire of the Vampire is a real proof for that, but as the author's first novel, I guess it's fine the way it is. Jarren is the kind of protag that you learn to love, respect, partially criticize, simply because he's not a stranger to darker thoughts and motives born from suffering, and in the same time his longing to see the light for himself and live a better life, thorough the noble wish to do the right thing not only for himself, but for everyone else. A fantastic read I really recommend and can't wait to read the other books in the series.

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I'd like to thank Netgalley and Nirwood Publishing for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Great book and I can't wait to see where it goes from here. This book has an interesting plot and characters who stick with you and leave you wanting to know more about them. The details in the story are thorough and you can see yourself in Jarren's world. The book has a great flow to it and the action helps to move it alone and keeps it interesting.

This book does end in a cliffhanger which is always frustrating so I can't wait for the next book to come out. If you are a fantasy lover this would be a great book to pick up.

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