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The Awakened #1
Awaken His Eyes
THE HISTORY: Over five thousand years ago, a renegade faction of angels abandoned the spiritual realm and began their inhabitation of earth. Worshiped as gods for their wisdom and power, they corrupted the realm of the physical and forever altered the course of history.
THE PROPHECY: Amidst the chaos of a dying world, a lone voice foretold the awakening of a warrior who would bring an end to this evil perpetrated against all of creation. But with the cataclysmic destruction of earth and rebirth of humanity, the prophecy went unfulfilled and eventually faded from the memory of our kind—until now!
THE AWAKENED: The physical dimension is fractured. What remain now are numerous fragmented worlds moving simultaneously through time, sharing a common history, connected only by a guarded portal. On a parallel earth, in the city of Bastul, Colonel Adair Lorus disappears while investigating the death of an informant, triggering a series of events which will tear his family apart and set in motion the resolution of an ancient struggle.
Kael, sentenced to death after rising up against the cruel leadership of his new step-father, is rescued from prison and trained in the arts of war by a mystical order of clerics. Excelling in every aspect of his training, Kael inwardly struggles to give himself fully to the methods of his new family, or the god they worship.
Maeryn, bitter over the disappearance of her husband and supposed execution of her son, fears for her life at the hands of her newly appointed husband. Finding comfort and purpose in her unborn child, she determines to undermine his authority by reaching out to an underground social movement known as the Resistance.
After being forced from his home, Kael’s former mentor, Saba, uncovers a clue to Adair’s disappearance. Sensing a connection to his own forgotten past, Saba begins an investigation which leads to the discovery of a secret military organization operating within the Orudan Empire.
In book one of his debut series, Jason Tesar delves into the heart of an ancient legend, embarking on an epic saga that will journey from earth’s mythological past to its post-apocalyptic future, blending the genres of fantasy, sci-fi, and military/political suspense.
THE PROPHECY: Amidst the chaos of a dying world, a lone voice foretold the awakening of a warrior who would bring an end to this evil perpetrated against all of creation. But with the cataclysmic destruction of earth and rebirth of humanity, the prophecy went unfulfilled and eventually faded from the memory of our kind—until now!
THE AWAKENED: The physical dimension is fractured. What remain now are numerous fragmented worlds moving simultaneously through time, sharing a common history, connected only by a guarded portal. On a parallel earth, in the city of Bastul, Colonel Adair Lorus disappears while investigating the death of an informant, triggering a series of events which will tear his family apart and set in motion the resolution of an ancient struggle.
Kael, sentenced to death after rising up against the cruel leadership of his new step-father, is rescued from prison and trained in the arts of war by a mystical order of clerics. Excelling in every aspect of his training, Kael inwardly struggles to give himself fully to the methods of his new family, or the god they worship.
Maeryn, bitter over the disappearance of her husband and supposed execution of her son, fears for her life at the hands of her newly appointed husband. Finding comfort and purpose in her unborn child, she determines to undermine his authority by reaching out to an underground social movement known as the Resistance.
After being forced from his home, Kael’s former mentor, Saba, uncovers a clue to Adair’s disappearance. Sensing a connection to his own forgotten past, Saba begins an investigation which leads to the discovery of a secret military organization operating within the Orudan Empire.
In book one of his debut series, Jason Tesar delves into the heart of an ancient legend, embarking on an epic saga that will journey from earth’s mythological past to its post-apocalyptic future, blending the genres of fantasy, sci-fi, and military/political suspense.
286 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 24, 2010
851 people are currently reading
3735 people want to read
About the author
Jason Tesar
24 books215 followersThe third of four children and an introvert from the start, Jason Tesar grew up as an imaginative “middle child” who enjoyed the make-believe world as much as the real one, possibly more. From adolescence to adulthood, his imagination continued to feed itself on a diet of books, movies, and art, all the while growing and maturing—waiting for its opportunity. Then, during a procession of monotonous, physically laborious day-jobs, his imagination leaped into motion, bringing together characters and locations of a world that would someday come to life on the pages of a book.
In late 1998, Jason made his first attempt at writing, managing to complete a whole scene before returning once again to reality. A year and a half later, a spontaneous night-time conversation with his wife encouraged him to take his writing seriously and to keep on dreaming. Over the next seven years, Jason carved time out of the real world to live in an imaginary one of epic fantasy, science-fiction, and military/political conflict. The fruits of this labor would later become the first three books of the bestselling AWAKENED series.
Due to the incredible support from readers around the world, Jason continued his trajectory into make-believe, jumping from stable employment in the micro-electronics industry into the mysterious abyss of full-time writing.
Living in Colorado with his beautiful wife and two children, Jason now spends the majority of his time fusing the best parts of his favorite genres into stories of internal struggle and triumph, friendship, betrayal, political alliances, and military conflict.
If you’d like to follow along on Jason’s journey or get behind the scenes info on the AWAKENED or WANDERING STARS series, you can find him on Facebook (jasontesar.com), Twitter (@jasontesar), on his blog (www.jasontesar.com), or send him an email at jasontesar@yahoo.com.
In late 1998, Jason made his first attempt at writing, managing to complete a whole scene before returning once again to reality. A year and a half later, a spontaneous night-time conversation with his wife encouraged him to take his writing seriously and to keep on dreaming. Over the next seven years, Jason carved time out of the real world to live in an imaginary one of epic fantasy, science-fiction, and military/political conflict. The fruits of this labor would later become the first three books of the bestselling AWAKENED series.
Due to the incredible support from readers around the world, Jason continued his trajectory into make-believe, jumping from stable employment in the micro-electronics industry into the mysterious abyss of full-time writing.
Living in Colorado with his beautiful wife and two children, Jason now spends the majority of his time fusing the best parts of his favorite genres into stories of internal struggle and triumph, friendship, betrayal, political alliances, and military conflict.
If you’d like to follow along on Jason’s journey or get behind the scenes info on the AWAKENED or WANDERING STARS series, you can find him on Facebook (jasontesar.com), Twitter (@jasontesar), on his blog (www.jasontesar.com), or send him an email at jasontesar@yahoo.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 311 reviews
June 20, 2012
As much as I wanted to like this book, and I did, nothing really happened at all. This book was like an extremely long introductory paragraph, setting up a fantastic story, the problem being that it takes up an entire book. I read maybe 3/4's of the way through this book before I stopped, and it was such a relief when I did. There are so many sections of this book that could have been amazing, but for some reason, Jason Tesar decided to prolong the reader's suffering. At least half of this book could have easily been skipped over, but he somehow felt that we should know every little detail of how their lives were passing, even though nothing was happening.
For instance, the son's training could have mostly been skipped over. I mean, it's not like much happens with training, and yet we are constantly dragged back into his story to find out that he's just different from all the other kids. Well, I'd hope so, considering he's a main character.
And then there's the mother, who is just being deceitful and stuff. Her part isn't too big, so there's not much to say about her. Finally, there's the old guy (I can't remember his name nor am bothered to look it up) who is apparently something ancient and powerful, much like the man who kidnapped him. But, everything is just hinted at, with nothing really important being stated.
For a novel series that claims to be an epic fantasy with angels and an apocalyptic future, there is a whole lot of none of those in this book. Here's a tip: if you want people to read all the books in a series, make them all INTERESTING.
For instance, the son's training could have mostly been skipped over. I mean, it's not like much happens with training, and yet we are constantly dragged back into his story to find out that he's just different from all the other kids. Well, I'd hope so, considering he's a main character.
And then there's the mother, who is just being deceitful and stuff. Her part isn't too big, so there's not much to say about her. Finally, there's the old guy (I can't remember his name nor am bothered to look it up) who is apparently something ancient and powerful, much like the man who kidnapped him. But, everything is just hinted at, with nothing really important being stated.
For a novel series that claims to be an epic fantasy with angels and an apocalyptic future, there is a whole lot of none of those in this book. Here's a tip: if you want people to read all the books in a series, make them all INTERESTING.
March 10, 2012
4.5 stars.
I just read the book summary for the first time, and it's a complete surprise. I'm interested to see how the gods and parallel worlds come into play. I did think it was PA from the prologue, but then it turned into something else. I really, really enjoyed this one!
I just read the book summary for the first time, and it's a complete surprise. I'm interested to see how the gods and parallel worlds come into play. I did think it was PA from the prologue, but then it turned into something else. I really, really enjoyed this one!
March 15, 2013
This story is simply wonderful. Tesar is a fantastic writer. You won't be disappointed if you read this book. The first book is free in the kindle store so check it out!!!
June 11, 2011
This is the author's debut work, published in three parts (called Part One, Part Two and Part Three, and isn't that better than inventing meaningless titles?). These are all cheap downloads, and even better value as a combined volume, which is how I read it. This review covers Part One.
The opening is intriguing - an apparently present-day encounter with someone from another time (or world), and then we are plunged into a standard fantasy scenario, a ruling family is a great city, which is fragmented by events. The father disappears, the son is essentially kidnapped to train as a follower of the All Powerful god, and the mother is left to survive a number of difficulties back home. We follow several characters initially, but not all of them are there for the long haul, so it is a little hard to know who the story is really about. There are obviously some strange things going on, and the action scenes are dramatic and very tense - I particularly enjoyed Adair's race through the strange structure beyond the reef.
World building is fairly sketchy. Certain locations are described in almost too much detail (we don't need actual measurements of rooms, or how one room connects to another, unless it's relevant to the plot), but others are hardly touched on at all. There is very little sense of what the city of Bastul is like, for instance, apart from a vague sense of a warm-climate Romanesque lifestyle with dark-skinned slaves, while the people of the monastery are almond-eyed eastern types with a disciplined, austere lifestyle. There are also some primitive people, with bones through their noses. This is all sadly stereotyped.
If there is overt magic in this created world, it is not obvious, although there is clearly some strangeness - a crossover from the fantasy world to what appears to be our own world. There are also gods somewhere in the background. I rather like this kind of subtlety.
The characters are a little difficult to believe in, being rather too black and white, evil or nice (Lemus is particularly overdrawn). I felt they all needed some more backstory and depth, especially Maeryn, Adair and Lemus, and with Kael I was not even sure how old he was, an important detail. Having so little background makes characters' motivations hard to understand, so sometimes major things just seemed to happen without rhyme or reason. A little more subtlety and greyness in the characters would have improved the book immensely.
The prose is a little clunky at times, but there are few typos and only occasional grammatical errors. There is perhaps too much descriptive writing, and the dialogue fails to bring the characters fully to life, but it is all very easy to read, and the reader is never left wondering exactly what is going on (sometimes why, but never what). One minor annoyance: my Kindle version had every mention of Bastul and a few other places hyperlinked to the maps at the back. This is useful the first time, and after that is just distracting.
The pacing is good at first, with racy passages interspersed with more introspective sections. However, once Kael begins his training, the descriptions become a little too long and detailed, and could be over-slow for some readers. Things pick up again just before the end, with a slightly melodramatic cliff-hanger.
There are some seriously unconvincing plot contrivances. Adair, for instance, is the ruler of a major city, yet he decides to take off on a secret mission of his own. And why exactly was Bahari so important to him anyway? Why was the Council so quick to replace him? Then there was Maeryn and Lemus - I really found the legal position unbelievable (I can't think of any real-world equivalent), so that needed some elaboration, to say the least. Some more detail of Maeryn's feelings would have helped here. The subplot dealing with the rebels, in fact almost all of Maeryn's story, feels as if it is setup for events in the later books, and it just never seems to get going.
But having said all that, I found the story extremely readable - I just kept on turning the pages to find out what happened next, and that, after all, is what everyone looks for in a story. Only some minor quibbles over plot and characterisation hold this back from being a very good debut work. It is a good 3.5 star effort, so on the assumption that things will fall into place in the later books in the series, I will give this 4 stars. And so on to Book Two...
The opening is intriguing - an apparently present-day encounter with someone from another time (or world), and then we are plunged into a standard fantasy scenario, a ruling family is a great city, which is fragmented by events. The father disappears, the son is essentially kidnapped to train as a follower of the All Powerful god, and the mother is left to survive a number of difficulties back home. We follow several characters initially, but not all of them are there for the long haul, so it is a little hard to know who the story is really about. There are obviously some strange things going on, and the action scenes are dramatic and very tense - I particularly enjoyed Adair's race through the strange structure beyond the reef.
World building is fairly sketchy. Certain locations are described in almost too much detail (we don't need actual measurements of rooms, or how one room connects to another, unless it's relevant to the plot), but others are hardly touched on at all. There is very little sense of what the city of Bastul is like, for instance, apart from a vague sense of a warm-climate Romanesque lifestyle with dark-skinned slaves, while the people of the monastery are almond-eyed eastern types with a disciplined, austere lifestyle. There are also some primitive people, with bones through their noses. This is all sadly stereotyped.
If there is overt magic in this created world, it is not obvious, although there is clearly some strangeness - a crossover from the fantasy world to what appears to be our own world. There are also gods somewhere in the background. I rather like this kind of subtlety.
The characters are a little difficult to believe in, being rather too black and white, evil or nice (Lemus is particularly overdrawn). I felt they all needed some more backstory and depth, especially Maeryn, Adair and Lemus, and with Kael I was not even sure how old he was, an important detail. Having so little background makes characters' motivations hard to understand, so sometimes major things just seemed to happen without rhyme or reason. A little more subtlety and greyness in the characters would have improved the book immensely.
The prose is a little clunky at times, but there are few typos and only occasional grammatical errors. There is perhaps too much descriptive writing, and the dialogue fails to bring the characters fully to life, but it is all very easy to read, and the reader is never left wondering exactly what is going on (sometimes why, but never what). One minor annoyance: my Kindle version had every mention of Bastul and a few other places hyperlinked to the maps at the back. This is useful the first time, and after that is just distracting.
The pacing is good at first, with racy passages interspersed with more introspective sections. However, once Kael begins his training, the descriptions become a little too long and detailed, and could be over-slow for some readers. Things pick up again just before the end, with a slightly melodramatic cliff-hanger.
There are some seriously unconvincing plot contrivances. Adair, for instance, is the ruler of a major city, yet he decides to take off on a secret mission of his own. And why exactly was Bahari so important to him anyway? Why was the Council so quick to replace him? Then there was Maeryn and Lemus - I really found the legal position unbelievable (I can't think of any real-world equivalent), so that needed some elaboration, to say the least. Some more detail of Maeryn's feelings would have helped here. The subplot dealing with the rebels, in fact almost all of Maeryn's story, feels as if it is setup for events in the later books, and it just never seems to get going.
But having said all that, I found the story extremely readable - I just kept on turning the pages to find out what happened next, and that, after all, is what everyone looks for in a story. Only some minor quibbles over plot and characterisation hold this back from being a very good debut work. It is a good 3.5 star effort, so on the assumption that things will fall into place in the later books in the series, I will give this 4 stars. And so on to Book Two...
October 21, 2013
In one word -- "childish"
Just in case you haven't, go and read this book's description. All set? Sounds pretty good, right? Well, too bad you're not going to read anything like that. Though the description of fallen angels and parallel worlds sounds intriguing, the actual content of this book has nothing to do with that. At all. Maybe the sequels do, but that's not the point. The point is to build on a theme and tell a story and the story this tells is, again, childish. I'm so glad I didn't pay for this. "You get what you pay for" is ever true.
The prologue is pretty good actually, but it has to do with observers in our world investigating floods caused by a winged form destroying a facility of some kind. Interesting. What's not interesting -- 300 pages of fragmented and poorly written characters that are incredibly stereotypical. They're just plain ridiculous, all of them. The helpless widow who's not really a widow. Her son (also thought dead) being trained by a Japanese-esque teacher who manages to sound like a five year old even though I think he was supposed to be a teenager by the end. The doddering old man who's not really an old man but who manages to do absolutely nothing the entire book. The abusive and idiotic governor who is dumber than any character deserves to be. Oh, and the black slaves of course. I was surprised the author didn't have them using racial slang from a 1950's movie, it would have fit right in. There was also a passing reference to "Brown skinned natives in loin cloths" too, sheesh.
The author didn't seem to understand how to write people. Instead they come off as cardboard cuts outs. There was no depth and no inspiration behind them. The book was written as if to a five year old, though it is not being presented as young adult (wouldn't even be good as a YA book either, though). I felt so dumb slogging through this, as every line insulted my intelligence. I really just had to see where this was going to go (or not go) just out of sadistic curiosity.
The plot itself could be summarized in three sentences. Husband goes missing and wife is forced to deal with newly appointed abusive and idiotic husband. Their son is thought dead but is really training to be a warrior monk. hmmm, didn't need three sentences.
There is so much better out there than this, please pick up something else so no more of this is produced.
Just in case you haven't, go and read this book's description. All set? Sounds pretty good, right? Well, too bad you're not going to read anything like that. Though the description of fallen angels and parallel worlds sounds intriguing, the actual content of this book has nothing to do with that. At all. Maybe the sequels do, but that's not the point. The point is to build on a theme and tell a story and the story this tells is, again, childish. I'm so glad I didn't pay for this. "You get what you pay for" is ever true.
The prologue is pretty good actually, but it has to do with observers in our world investigating floods caused by a winged form destroying a facility of some kind. Interesting. What's not interesting -- 300 pages of fragmented and poorly written characters that are incredibly stereotypical. They're just plain ridiculous, all of them. The helpless widow who's not really a widow. Her son (also thought dead) being trained by a Japanese-esque teacher who manages to sound like a five year old even though I think he was supposed to be a teenager by the end. The doddering old man who's not really an old man but who manages to do absolutely nothing the entire book. The abusive and idiotic governor who is dumber than any character deserves to be. Oh, and the black slaves of course. I was surprised the author didn't have them using racial slang from a 1950's movie, it would have fit right in. There was also a passing reference to "Brown skinned natives in loin cloths" too, sheesh.
The author didn't seem to understand how to write people. Instead they come off as cardboard cuts outs. There was no depth and no inspiration behind them. The book was written as if to a five year old, though it is not being presented as young adult (wouldn't even be good as a YA book either, though). I felt so dumb slogging through this, as every line insulted my intelligence. I really just had to see where this was going to go (or not go) just out of sadistic curiosity.
The plot itself could be summarized in three sentences. Husband goes missing and wife is forced to deal with newly appointed abusive and idiotic husband. Their son is thought dead but is really training to be a warrior monk. hmmm, didn't need three sentences.
There is so much better out there than this, please pick up something else so no more of this is produced.
July 26, 2019
Intriguing
Intriguing premise although it leaves you dangling with the events of the first chapter. Clearly the set up for a continuation of the series but still disappointing to have that scenario totally ignored for the rest of the book.
Intriguing premise although it leaves you dangling with the events of the first chapter. Clearly the set up for a continuation of the series but still disappointing to have that scenario totally ignored for the rest of the book.
February 12, 2012
Jason Tesar debut novel is intriguing as well as compelling. As it is with natural one seemingly insignificant event has a rippling effect that tears a family apart creating three distinct simultaneous narratives that drive this first book. Yet the catalyst event is always at the back of my mine. What happen to Adair.
This one event brings about great changes for Maeryn, Kael (my favorite), and Saba. Each character is complex and driving forces behind the overall narrative. Telling their story at the same time Tesar knows exactly when to switch between his characters and show that driving narrative that makes books like Harry Potter so compelling to read.
The religion in Tesar is as compelling as any found in our reality. It has many similarities that ground the story in a world that is totally relatable to ours. As the Muslin call their GOD, Allah, the people of this reality call theirs the All Powerful, not unsimilar to some of the names we call our GOD. It’s also gave me a feeling of eeriness at how Tesar brings his narrative together, the symmetry of nature.
This is a book that is will engage a reader that is a fan of fantasy/scifi. I’m always trying to figure out how the events a writer tells you will relate to the overall story and Mr. Tesar doesn’t disappoint. It was 2 in the morning and I was reading to fall asleep and it was coming. I was about to put it down when I realize the past, present, and future events were starting to converge... all those that have read will know. The anticipation of my questions being answered and my curiosity sated drove the sleep from my body.
Anyone that is a fan of fantasy will be a fan of Awakening: Book One. I look forward to reading the next chapter in this series.
This one event brings about great changes for Maeryn, Kael (my favorite), and Saba. Each character is complex and driving forces behind the overall narrative. Telling their story at the same time Tesar knows exactly when to switch between his characters and show that driving narrative that makes books like Harry Potter so compelling to read.
The religion in Tesar is as compelling as any found in our reality. It has many similarities that ground the story in a world that is totally relatable to ours. As the Muslin call their GOD, Allah, the people of this reality call theirs the All Powerful, not unsimilar to some of the names we call our GOD. It’s also gave me a feeling of eeriness at how Tesar brings his narrative together, the symmetry of nature.
This is a book that is will engage a reader that is a fan of fantasy/scifi. I’m always trying to figure out how the events a writer tells you will relate to the overall story and Mr. Tesar doesn’t disappoint. It was 2 in the morning and I was reading to fall asleep and it was coming. I was about to put it down when I realize the past, present, and future events were starting to converge... all those that have read will know. The anticipation of my questions being answered and my curiosity sated drove the sleep from my body.
Anyone that is a fan of fantasy will be a fan of Awakening: Book One. I look forward to reading the next chapter in this series.
February 21, 2013
First off, I enjoyed this book. It is well written and has a very engaging story. I find myself intrigued with Saba and Keal. The trials they go through on their path to where they are going has truly drawn me in.
That being said, I do have a few specific comments. First off, this is not a Novel. This is a 288 page Episodic Novella. There is no completion to the active storyline in any meaningful way. There are huge amounts of loose ends with no closure. In all honestly I don't think there is a single completed plotline in the entire book. Just introductions to tons of new plotlines.
If you aren't interested in having to puchase multiple books just to finish the story you are reading, you should keep this in mind when looking at this book.
Secondly,
Overall I did enjoy what there was in the book. However I'm not sure if I'll be able to bring myself to buy anymore of the books. I am not a fan of episodic novellas or really novellas in general. They often are missing large components of their storyline in some way or another. At least with episodic novellas there a is a chance to have the wholes filled. But you end up spending anywhere from twice to ten times as much money on the books as you would a novel for the same story.
That being said, I do have a few specific comments. First off, this is not a Novel. This is a 288 page Episodic Novella. There is no completion to the active storyline in any meaningful way. There are huge amounts of loose ends with no closure. In all honestly I don't think there is a single completed plotline in the entire book. Just introductions to tons of new plotlines.
If you aren't interested in having to puchase multiple books just to finish the story you are reading, you should keep this in mind when looking at this book.
Secondly,
Overall I did enjoy what there was in the book. However I'm not sure if I'll be able to bring myself to buy anymore of the books. I am not a fan of episodic novellas or really novellas in general. They often are missing large components of their storyline in some way or another. At least with episodic novellas there a is a chance to have the wholes filled. But you end up spending anywhere from twice to ten times as much money on the books as you would a novel for the same story.
May 17, 2019
The Awakened:Book One (Awaken His Eyes) By Jason Tesar
I Liked this book I liked the style of writing And I found the story engaging.
There are some few annoying elements that have more to do with editing decisions and this it the way Jason decided to put things together so there is no changing that.
This novel contains One good solid story if you ignore the other two unfinished ones.
Personally I found the first chapter to be more equivalent to a prologue.
I found the next five chapter belonging to perhaps a preface.
Or maybe those two go the other way. Anyway there is a reason I say this and in part it is because the first 6 chapters of this book did not add anything to the book for me. In fact they were a distraction because I expected to get back to either one of these stories all the way through the last two thirds of the novel.
For me the real story began at chapter 7 and it's not a bad story. There are rough elements that honestly were not as rough as some recent novels I have read. Yes there is a rape yes there are slaves. I'm not sure what people want but when you tell a story these things do happen. I think it might be more objectionable when the child? in prison resort to eating raw flesh like savages and one even eventually bites another prisoner.
But, back to the story, or in this case the three threads that run for the last two thirds of the novel.
Maeryn is left without her husband,Adair, who has for all intent and purposes vanished. The readers knows a little bit about this but really not enough to help this part of the story. She is interrogated about his disappearance and since he is the governor of Bastul it should be a big deal though we are led to believe its not so big a deal and that he is easily replace and that his replacement is on its way and that Maeryn and her family will become the new governor's family. In this culture this is the common practice and it helps that Maeryn is considered attractive. Beautiful enough that her beauty seems to be one of the deciding factors in the replacements decision to take this position.
To me the first pages of the seventh chapter read well enough to be the beginning of this novel. This book has a lot of mystery and the mystery of her husbands disappearance works well without the five chapters about him and it was annoying to have him just vanish from the story.
Lemus,the socially acceptable replacement husband, is a tall thin imposing and very cruel man. He beats his slaves and eventually rapes his new wife. It is the beating of Maeryn's son, Kael's, friend Ajani -a child slave- that sets the wheels of this story into motion. Kael responds by defending his friend Ajani and attacks Lemus with a pitchfork. Lemus responds by placing the child (Kael) under arrest to be executed. Orudan Empire law forbids any attack on it soldiers, an offense punishable by death. All of this occurs in front of Maeryn who is powerless to intercede.
Maeryn become pregnant with child and since this is after the rape she passes it off as Lemus lest she lose another child to her new cruel husband.(She assumes that Kael is dead.)
Along with sending Kael to his death, Lemus removes Kael's long time tutor, Saba, from the household and threatens him with death if he or his soldiers ever see Saba again.(As far as I know he also assumes that his student Kael is dead.)
This starts the three threads of the story which follow the lives of Maeryn, Kael, and Saba.
In her desperation Maeryn becomes a spy for the Empire's enemies as she tries to secretly thwart Lemus.
Saba goes on a journey to discover his own past. ( He seems to have amnesia pertaining to his life before coming to Bastul.)
Kael- the primary figure here endures some hardship to later be pressed into service with some monks to become a religious warrior. He will have to do a lot of self examination while trying to discern the truth of the things that are happening around him. This novel seems to be mostly about Kael's journey interwoven with the parallel tales of the lives of those people who are alive and most important to him.
This is a good tale of mystery and betrayal and self discovery that starts at chapter 7.
What comes before that may have much to do with later novels and my only objection to them is that they don't really add much to this story and I would guess that they would fit nicely into whichever place might continue their stories and since the author seems to dwell a lot on the mysteries interwoven into this tale I think their absence here would just be a part of the intriguing mystery that could be woven in later when he finishes telling those two stories.
But that is just my opinion. Apparently a lot of people like this novel the way it is.
Although I didn't find it all that helpful to have them only say so in a single line or paragraph.
Some more full description of how and why they liked it would really go a long way.
I also found the forward and history and prophecy to be just a bit unnecessary to this story along with the maps and links to maps. Some people like those things though and I'm sure they had some bearing in helping the author's world building.
I found the story of Kael to be complete enough as it is in this book despite the cliffhanger-ish ending. Unfortunately when you take the incomplete nature of the first chapter's story which perhaps takes place in some alternate future. Add to that the incomplete story of Kael's father, which unfortunately had nothing that I felt greatly impacted the tone of the rest of the story it leaves the reader with three cliffhanger-ish things to deal with which may not be necessary. I'm assuming Kael's is a past history of an alternate universe though from the Forward it could be a dystopic future and that element again adds to confusion.
The prophecy and history seemed also superfluous to this story though again I am sure for the whole series they have some value.
I have not yet read the next two books but perhaps if they had been drawn into one book this novel might make more sense. I'll be a better judge of that when I read those.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy and a bit of revisionist history or dystopia as it may be. I don't see much in the science fiction draw here because the bulk of the better part of this story reads like some far eastern monastic battle monk training and spiritual philosophy and it could take place in a wide range of historic settings almost up to the present time.
J.L. Dobias
I Liked this book I liked the style of writing And I found the story engaging.
There are some few annoying elements that have more to do with editing decisions and this it the way Jason decided to put things together so there is no changing that.
This novel contains One good solid story if you ignore the other two unfinished ones.
Personally I found the first chapter to be more equivalent to a prologue.
I found the next five chapter belonging to perhaps a preface.
Or maybe those two go the other way. Anyway there is a reason I say this and in part it is because the first 6 chapters of this book did not add anything to the book for me. In fact they were a distraction because I expected to get back to either one of these stories all the way through the last two thirds of the novel.
For me the real story began at chapter 7 and it's not a bad story. There are rough elements that honestly were not as rough as some recent novels I have read. Yes there is a rape yes there are slaves. I'm not sure what people want but when you tell a story these things do happen. I think it might be more objectionable when the child? in prison resort to eating raw flesh like savages and one even eventually bites another prisoner.
But, back to the story, or in this case the three threads that run for the last two thirds of the novel.
Maeryn is left without her husband,Adair, who has for all intent and purposes vanished. The readers knows a little bit about this but really not enough to help this part of the story. She is interrogated about his disappearance and since he is the governor of Bastul it should be a big deal though we are led to believe its not so big a deal and that he is easily replace and that his replacement is on its way and that Maeryn and her family will become the new governor's family. In this culture this is the common practice and it helps that Maeryn is considered attractive. Beautiful enough that her beauty seems to be one of the deciding factors in the replacements decision to take this position.
To me the first pages of the seventh chapter read well enough to be the beginning of this novel. This book has a lot of mystery and the mystery of her husbands disappearance works well without the five chapters about him and it was annoying to have him just vanish from the story.
Lemus,the socially acceptable replacement husband, is a tall thin imposing and very cruel man. He beats his slaves and eventually rapes his new wife. It is the beating of Maeryn's son, Kael's, friend Ajani -a child slave- that sets the wheels of this story into motion. Kael responds by defending his friend Ajani and attacks Lemus with a pitchfork. Lemus responds by placing the child (Kael) under arrest to be executed. Orudan Empire law forbids any attack on it soldiers, an offense punishable by death. All of this occurs in front of Maeryn who is powerless to intercede.
Maeryn become pregnant with child and since this is after the rape she passes it off as Lemus lest she lose another child to her new cruel husband.(She assumes that Kael is dead.)
Along with sending Kael to his death, Lemus removes Kael's long time tutor, Saba, from the household and threatens him with death if he or his soldiers ever see Saba again.(As far as I know he also assumes that his student Kael is dead.)
This starts the three threads of the story which follow the lives of Maeryn, Kael, and Saba.
In her desperation Maeryn becomes a spy for the Empire's enemies as she tries to secretly thwart Lemus.
Saba goes on a journey to discover his own past. ( He seems to have amnesia pertaining to his life before coming to Bastul.)
Kael- the primary figure here endures some hardship to later be pressed into service with some monks to become a religious warrior. He will have to do a lot of self examination while trying to discern the truth of the things that are happening around him. This novel seems to be mostly about Kael's journey interwoven with the parallel tales of the lives of those people who are alive and most important to him.
This is a good tale of mystery and betrayal and self discovery that starts at chapter 7.
What comes before that may have much to do with later novels and my only objection to them is that they don't really add much to this story and I would guess that they would fit nicely into whichever place might continue their stories and since the author seems to dwell a lot on the mysteries interwoven into this tale I think their absence here would just be a part of the intriguing mystery that could be woven in later when he finishes telling those two stories.
But that is just my opinion. Apparently a lot of people like this novel the way it is.
Although I didn't find it all that helpful to have them only say so in a single line or paragraph.
Some more full description of how and why they liked it would really go a long way.
I also found the forward and history and prophecy to be just a bit unnecessary to this story along with the maps and links to maps. Some people like those things though and I'm sure they had some bearing in helping the author's world building.
I found the story of Kael to be complete enough as it is in this book despite the cliffhanger-ish ending. Unfortunately when you take the incomplete nature of the first chapter's story which perhaps takes place in some alternate future. Add to that the incomplete story of Kael's father, which unfortunately had nothing that I felt greatly impacted the tone of the rest of the story it leaves the reader with three cliffhanger-ish things to deal with which may not be necessary. I'm assuming Kael's is a past history of an alternate universe though from the Forward it could be a dystopic future and that element again adds to confusion.
The prophecy and history seemed also superfluous to this story though again I am sure for the whole series they have some value.
I have not yet read the next two books but perhaps if they had been drawn into one book this novel might make more sense. I'll be a better judge of that when I read those.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy and a bit of revisionist history or dystopia as it may be. I don't see much in the science fiction draw here because the bulk of the better part of this story reads like some far eastern monastic battle monk training and spiritual philosophy and it could take place in a wide range of historic settings almost up to the present time.
J.L. Dobias
July 26, 2012
This novel mostly rotates around a separated family. The father gets kidnapped while on an investigation and is declared a deserter (since he is missing in action). His replacement legally inherits his wife and son. The son attempts to stop his step-father from beating and possibly killing a child/teen and is sentenced to death for fighting back. Unknown to his mother, he is not executed but instead exiled into a far off prison and then taken from the prison by religious clerics. The clerics then raise him as a warrior for their mysterious god who is "coming back". The mother is "married" to the step-father (not that she was given a choice). She decides he is stupid (especially after executing her son) and decides to be clever by subtly undermine him.
My biggest problem with this book is that there is very little tying the different stories together. Once the family is separated the stories are all pretty much independent. Not to mention I am not sure where this story is going in the slightest (even by the end of the novel). I assume the family will try and get back together but will they also take down the government? Save it? Settle new lives instead? Other than that, the book plot was pretty engaging and I was interested through most of it.
I would probably read the rest of the series, but wouldn't recommend it based on this book. I liked it, but I think people would think "it was okay".
My biggest problem with this book is that there is very little tying the different stories together. Once the family is separated the stories are all pretty much independent. Not to mention I am not sure where this story is going in the slightest (even by the end of the novel). I assume the family will try and get back together but will they also take down the government? Save it? Settle new lives instead? Other than that, the book plot was pretty engaging and I was interested through most of it.
I would probably read the rest of the series, but wouldn't recommend it based on this book. I liked it, but I think people would think "it was okay".
March 31, 2014
Up until about the 30% point of this book, the story seemed a bit interesting. But, suddenly, just at the crux of the story, where it looked like things were going to take off, everything changed. Now, instead of following a man through *something*, the author decided to throw pages and pages of misery, sorrow, pain, and torture of the man's family at us. Why? I don't know. I'm sorry to say that after a few score pages of that horror, I gave up. If the author had just stuck with the main character and story instead of flying off with what appears to be irrelevant garbage, this might have been an OK book. But, since the book was making me physically ill (as well as going nowhere), I had to quit. I rate it at a Horrible 1 star out of 5.
December 6, 2011
I really, REALLY liked this book, enough so that I bought the other two books (as a very inexpensive 3-ebook set) within minutes of finishing the first one. These book is along the lines of Ted Dekker's Circle Trilogy, with parallel worlds, a battle over the future of humanity, and a prophecy that could turn an unlikely hero into one world's savior. I stayed a little confused (I like that) with the plot, not knowing which direction this would play out. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters, and felt the author did a great job of developing them for their epic journey. A few open story lines make for more books to come, I hope.
July 2, 2013
this book could have used a good editor. the dialogue, especially, was clunky, not in keeping with the setting, and just generally bad. i also think it tried too hard to make the beginning mysterious - a strange man, in strange garb, speaking an unknown language suddenly appears in the ocean. then we get nothing on that for chapter after chapter after chapter. if i had been hooked by the mystery stranger angle in the beginning, i would have quickly entered the "who cares" territory as the book drops that plot completely to focus on other characters with other subplots.
if i remember, i'll have to copy some of that awful dialogue between the wife and the servant.
if i remember, i'll have to copy some of that awful dialogue between the wife and the servant.
September 18, 2012
The beginning and the end were interesting but there's just a long portion in the middle that's spent mostly on world building and it was really boring with nothing significant happening that I found myself skipping about 2-3 whole chapters. I also don't like the fact that there was no sense of any resolution at the end of Part I. Adair's story was left hanging in one of the earlier chapters and was just left there with no further mention of his fate on the rest of the book. I do want to see what happens to Maeryn and Kael and to find out who Saba really is but I'm reluctant to buy the next book only to have to skim through what is pertinent to the storyline.
July 21, 2012
Jason Tesar, FREE **** Not usually a fantasy fan, but as soon as I finished this first (free on Kindle) book of the series, I downloaded book two (it's only $2.99). This is a real page-turner. Five thousand years ago, rebels are causing turmoil in the Empire and strange things are happening at sea. Lots going on in this well-written book. Good characters and plenty of mystery.
Do yourself a favor and discover Jason Tesar.
Do yourself a favor and discover Jason Tesar.
November 30, 2012
Kindle freebie that sat around for a bit. When I finally got around to it, I read 20 pages or so, then read a few other books. I went back to this book and didn't put it down. Immediately upon finishing it, I downloaded the second and third in the series and read everything back to back. I enjoyed the story, the style, and the characters. I'm not sold on the yet-to-be-written four book series prequel yet, but would like to see Kael's story continue.
August 17, 2013
Overall, I liked it. It was a good read although I was expecting more angels/gods as the blurb implies the story is about. What I read felt a little more like a cross between Game of Thrones and The Night Angel series.
This was more like a very long prequel novella rather than a stand alone novel. There were a lot of loose ends, which I assume will be taken care of in the next book, but I'm not sure I'll be reading them in a hurry.
This was more like a very long prequel novella rather than a stand alone novel. There were a lot of loose ends, which I assume will be taken care of in the next book, but I'm not sure I'll be reading them in a hurry.
November 4, 2013
This is NOT a bad book! I however am not a fan of too much detail unless said detail becomes invaluable later.
I do understand that fantasy is often synonymous with detail, however it usually becomes necessary later in the series!
And in this lies my conundrum. Some of the detail in this book seems near impossible to come into play later.
If I am wrong I apologize. For now however, I must say that this book did not excite me.
WaAr
I do understand that fantasy is often synonymous with detail, however it usually becomes necessary later in the series!
And in this lies my conundrum. Some of the detail in this book seems near impossible to come into play later.
If I am wrong I apologize. For now however, I must say that this book did not excite me.
WaAr
August 15, 2012
so found myself unable to put this book down until around the 10th chapter. it was full of action suspense and drama. boy did I want to beat the crap out of Lumus! but after that it dragged and was full of fluff and fillers. not done yet but I hope it picks up. then again, the author may be dragging it out for the next two books that follow.
November 3, 2016
I enjoyed this book. The writing is solid. The story is interesting. The characters are interesting. It does suffer from a lot of POV changes and it covered a period of several years. These two things made it a little difficult to follow at times. I would recommend it to others, but be warned, it is not a page turner.
March 6, 2013
Alright, I understand this book is a teaser (Tesar) for the series, but I'm totally bullshit that there were 18 chapters of character development, leading up to 2 chapters of semi-good reading, and then a lame cliffhanger. Not enough to keep me interested to buy the next book. Pffffft (bookfart)
January 22, 2012
this book was awful. after finishing it I still have no idea what the point of the story was.
June 15, 2019
Book Review- Awakened by Jason Tesar
This book was hard for me to get into. The beginning throws me. You start with a merchant sailing on a ship that gets a bit lost. His ship ends up being attacked and he survives. Later a different end befalls him. The governor of the city ends up on the case. He encounters the group who attacked him. The governor disappears. His family goes through a hell of their own. His wife is given to the next governor. Her son is taken away and thought killed. The tutor, Saba, is exiled. Their lives are completely changed and none of them know how the others fair.
Something else is going on as the author leaves hints throughout the story. Some of the twists and turns are surprising. In fact, I’m a bit confused in some instances. I would wonder why that happened. Throughout the whole book you wonder where Adaire went. He just disappears. Years pass as the story evolves. It is interesting to see how each character’s life changes as they try to figure out what is truly happening. It was an ok read for me. I give it a 3 out of 5.
This book was hard for me to get into. The beginning throws me. You start with a merchant sailing on a ship that gets a bit lost. His ship ends up being attacked and he survives. Later a different end befalls him. The governor of the city ends up on the case. He encounters the group who attacked him. The governor disappears. His family goes through a hell of their own. His wife is given to the next governor. Her son is taken away and thought killed. The tutor, Saba, is exiled. Their lives are completely changed and none of them know how the others fair.
Something else is going on as the author leaves hints throughout the story. Some of the twists and turns are surprising. In fact, I’m a bit confused in some instances. I would wonder why that happened. Throughout the whole book you wonder where Adaire went. He just disappears. Years pass as the story evolves. It is interesting to see how each character’s life changes as they try to figure out what is truly happening. It was an ok read for me. I give it a 3 out of 5.
April 27, 2020
2 star
The biggest problem with this book is the complete lack of a proper ending. It's a total cliffhanger.
But the fact is that I had to buckle down hard to get that far. The writing was prone to being too telly in key sections. And I just didn't feel that attached to the characters.
I'd actually started this book once before and given up because the opening scene really didn't appeal to me. 99 percent of the book wasn't in world of opener... That's part of why it didn't come together. It's running several different threads then all of them are snipped when the book ends. No resolution, no conclusion, no moment of rest.
The biggest problem with this book is the complete lack of a proper ending. It's a total cliffhanger.
But the fact is that I had to buckle down hard to get that far. The writing was prone to being too telly in key sections. And I just didn't feel that attached to the characters.
I'd actually started this book once before and given up because the opening scene really didn't appeal to me. 99 percent of the book wasn't in world of opener... That's part of why it didn't come together. It's running several different threads then all of them are snipped when the book ends. No resolution, no conclusion, no moment of rest.
December 13, 2017
The story was ok, but very slow for most of the book. I don't think it works very well as a standalone book, but probably good for setting up for the rest of the series. However, it didn't capture me and I don't expect to read any other books in the series, at least not purchasing any. I got this first volume free and it was worth what I paid for it.
The character development seemed pretty good; there was just not much action throughout much of the book.
The character development seemed pretty good; there was just not much action throughout much of the book.
February 4, 2021
This was an interesting book with many differing cultures. The story line made me want to keep reading, but it seemed too jumpy. It went from one character to the next with almost no continuity of the entire story and it ended without any conclusion for any of the characters. It left me with a feeling of ...... oh well. It just left you hanging.
February 12, 2018
Great read!
Book 7 is out and I decided to go back and read all the previous books prior to reading it. I'm really excited about the journey, can't wait to catch up. That's my third or fourth times doing this.
Book 7 is out and I decided to go back and read all the previous books prior to reading it. I'm really excited about the journey, can't wait to catch up. That's my third or fourth times doing this.
August 19, 2020
Please I need the next book...
There's not much I can say I have an intense urge to read the entire series. I started with incarnation and then jumped to the awakened I definitely need the next book...
There's not much I can say I have an intense urge to read the entire series. I started with incarnation and then jumped to the awakened I definitely need the next book...
March 4, 2023
Pretty interesting read, it urks me that the main character you start to follow, suddenly disappears out of all chapters for half the book, only for him to get mentioned at end of book as a sort of cliff hanger when the better cliff hanger would have been few chapters before.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 25, 2023
Pulled into the book
The book pulled me in from the get go! The characters are very well developed. I found that I was emotionally involved when the main characters suffered at the hands of others. I would definitely recommend this book!!!
The book pulled me in from the get go! The characters are very well developed. I found that I was emotionally involved when the main characters suffered at the hands of others. I would definitely recommend this book!!!
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