The Foundling

The Hidden Realm #0.5

by A. Giannetti

The Foundling begins with a chance encounter between an old man named Balbus and a small boy named Elerian. They meet in the depths of a dangerous forest, and believing Elerian to be an orphan, Balbus decides to take him home, a decision that turns his quiet life upside down. Balbus discovers that Elerian is no ordinary child, and that he is being hunted by a number of enemies, all of whom are determined to kill him for reasons of their own. To keep Elerian alive, Balbus is forced to contend with shape shifters, Goblins, and other magical creatures. He is often aided by his good friend Tullius who possesses magical powers. And sometimes, Elerian, who possesses magical powers of his own, is forced to step in and rescue both of his protectors.
The Foundling is the first of six books about the life and the adventures of Elerian. It is an integral part of my Hidden Realm series because it reveals many details of Elerian's younger years and his introduction to magic, but the book itself is written for children and the young at heart. If you do not fall into one of these two categories then I would suggest that you move on to the The Mage, the second book in the series. The Mage and the four books which follow it are more suitable for young adults and adults.

Genres: Fantasy

373 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 15, 2007

Reviews

[Michael Conway · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very, very slow pace. The forward of the Kindle edition sums up the plot of this book in a paragraph, the book itself drags on for ages. The writing isn't bad but it is a little over descriptive for my taste. There is almost no action in the book, a few minor conflicts that are a bit similar at times.

The Protagonist is of course super gifted in both physical and magical talent. While at the same time being amazingly moral, well adjusted and kind. The supporting cast consists of a grumpy, old mage and a caring old soldier who is acting as an adoptive grandfather for our hero.

The lack of action could have been off set with some kind of character growth or a moral crisis of some kind. In the end I found the book both boring and shallow. Amazon lists this as the first of 6 book. I think trimming the fat could have condensed that to 3 solid books.

[Olivia]

Epic fantasy about a young boy who appears to be the only one strong enough to defeat an evil king determined to take over the entire kingdom.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A start to one of the best series I've read to date. I picked up this book and then put it back down about 30 minutes into reading it. I realize I wasn't sure what age range the target audience was but it seemed really young. Re-reading the description, I noticed the author clearly states that the first book is for children and the young at heart, and that the following books are YA/Adult (I'd say more adult than YA, but not because of "mature" themes).

This is true as The Foundling starts the series off with Elerain (who becomes the main character in the series) as a child around the age of five fleeing from danger in the woods and being adopted by Balbus. The first book's plot is mostly from Balbus's point of view as Elerain is too young to bring dialog in.

Balbus and his best friend, a country mage named Tullius basically foster Elerain providing protection as well as training in both melee and magic until at the end of the book #1 when Elerain is around 16-18 years old. You learn that Elerain is being hunted by goblins (who are the anti-elves) while Balbus and Tullius do everything they can to protect Elerain from them. The first book is the adventure Balbus and Tullius take raising a mischievous elf child.

Book #1 I'd say is more like a prequel to the series. Book #1 is mainly Elerain's life growing up and book #2+ is Elerain grown up and now on his own adventure. You could start from book #2 as you wouldn't miss the plot advancement, but I feel like you wouldn't really understand the world and character depth that is already established in book #1.

I've grown to really enjoy reading about Elerain as while he may be strong at combat and magic, he never uses brute strength to win battles. His real strength is that he is masterful at evasion and deception. This has made the series really enjoyable since his fights with the evil goblins aren't just him rushing into the fray swinging his sword wildly and shooting off spells killing them all.

Instead, like in one scene, he baits a group of goblins into chasing him, runs ahead to a herd of wild cattle, takes on the illusion of a goblin and agitates the cattle into a frenzy. Finally he runs back towards the approaching goblins with the cattle chasing him and hides. Soon the goblins following Elerain's trail run headfirst into the charging cattle. The cattle, furious at having their ears twisted and tails pulled, chase the fleeing goblins until they are eventually trampled/impaled.

He also has a humor that none can compete with and plays hilarious pranks on his traveling companion throughout the series.

I would definitely recommend this series to others and am eager for the next book to come out.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not going to lie, I quick read this one. I had read on other reviews that this one could be skipped and you can start on book 2 The Mage with no issue...But I don't like skipping books.

Anyways - it was an ok read, a different writing style then usual. A lot of "thinking" out loud in this. Once I was used to that it was an ok read, I liked the back-story for Elerian.

Also his use of deception and illusion was fun to see, as a young kid having powers like that could get you into all kinds of trouble! Light fun read after the halfway point.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good idea-poorly executed

Typos aside, this is a story where nothing much happens. There was a lack of clarity & frankly, I finished it just to see if indeed the author could write a book from start to finish that was completely uninteresting...