I'm doing this review, courtesy of Booktasters.
The way to Dawn. This was an intriguing read for me. 2.5 stars. I genuinely enjoyed the plot of the story, the originality in the fantasy and magic of the land. And the names. Lord, I loved the names. They were beautiful and sexy and now I'm thinking of naming my kids those names. Derexen. Wonderful name for an evil lord.
Anyway! This story begins by reminding us of our position on this Earth, and how it can be manipulated by the teller of our story. I was gripped. And we go into the young mind of a one Derexen where he chooses a blade. Apparently, this is what all World Guardians go through when chosen. What I get from this is that Derexen isn't a normal young man, and I have so much hope for the future in him.
Onto the next island, we meet our other heroes. Greyshio and Demeseus. Love them. My only concern was that I didn't really feel their characters then. It's like the story was dragging and felt... unrefined.
The tournament was a good way to introduce the big players of the game together. And killing Brad was a good motivation.
We follow Greyshio to Yock, and he meets Dean. I'd like to say this was a bland meeting in my opinion and could have some work done on it. They train and fight Derexen and his loyal sidekick. But Dean dies. He just dies when I'd started to like him!
Lex had a major glow up, and maybe it suits him, the little bastard.
There's a world skip and we link up with Demeseus. Amnesiac, beaten up and has no clue who he is. Fancy that he's being looked after by a very beautiful woman. He's the envy of Greenwood's men. Their... relationship jumps at me so fast, I don't even see it. But when her eyes turn from blue to yellow, I know she's not to be trusted. And I knew the man leading Demeseus to his memories was Aquarius! Sly old man. I knew it. I feel good knowing I knew it.
Next we see Demeseus appear in another place, and he's been killing monsters and Demi's and shit. But...how? I read nowhere that he'd trained on even how to call his blade. But for the sword fighting, maybe he was better than Greyshio. Also where did he get those gauntlets??? Is it some metalbending kinda move? I like it, but it would've been nice for a bit of insight on it.
The Righteous Kiras is a great villainy name. But it...didn't come at me the way a villain name should have. Like the way it was introduced. And the fact that world guardians have been fighting them for a while, it would have been nice to know of it thru a bystander or a seasoned world guardian.
We rejoin Demeseus in a town and he is getting ready for a ball, when he reunites with his love. That takes a terrible turn for the worse when his love beats him up and leaves him to near death, until a random stranger finds him and takes him to hospital, saves him by sacrificing his(stranger's) life force while in league with Derexen on how to find a hidden paradise so full of light, no darkness is there.
We climax with Balthazar the offbrand RK paired with a mad scientist woman fighting Greyshio. He manages to hit Balthazar to unconsciousness, but they escape and so does he, in his cute Uniship that I am yet to know how the inside looks.
All in all, this book had a very good plot, and interesting characters, but it was a little difficult for me to read. It seemed like a kind of first draft, or maybe second draft kind of story. I honestly felt like I was beta reading, and kept calling out comments. There wasn't a character I felt had...depth, dare I say. And there wasn't much of character growth, or development. The only growth was probably Demeseus getting over Michelle, but that too seemed kind of forced and not for real. There was also telling, but not enough showing. The world building wasn't done enough justice too, and I believe there's a lot that can be explored there. This book has so much potential. I felt like I was reading an anime.