Rating: 3 stars

Don’t let this average rating fool you. Kaylen’s Rising is an excellent story. It is fast-paced and full of action. There is always something happening, forcing the reader to keep flipping the pages to see what happens next.

What this book needs is a little more depth. The characters are a little flat and their relationships do not evolve much, save for a small few. There is a budding love story, but it goes no further than its inception. Future books will most likely elaborate on these romances (I will clarify nothing so as not to spoil the story), but this novel left me disappointed. Kaylen’s family history is revealed nicely throughout the book, however, so I was quite satisfied with his development.

The final confrontation is a little anticlimactic for me. The tension builds beautifully until the final moment, then it just deflates. The problem is resolved too easily in my view, so I was disappointed.

All in all, though, this novel was a good read. It is meant for an audience of children between ten and fourteen, and I believe most of them would enjoy this story