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Book of One #1
A New Age
A young man, trained since birth in the arts of war; a princess whose powers are awakening; a regent who would be king; a queen who would be an empress; a dark priesthood of mages; and the mind of a god, revealed in the Book of One.
In this new epic fantasy series by Jordan Baker, a tale of magic unfolds for Aaron, a mysterious young man, who is plagued by terrible headaches that are somehow linked to magic. Raised in the middle of nowhere, where he was taught to be an expert swordsman, Aaron finds his life irreversibly changed by events that send him on a journey to discover his true destiny.
In this new epic fantasy series by Jordan Baker, a tale of magic unfolds for Aaron, a mysterious young man, who is plagued by terrible headaches that are somehow linked to magic. Raised in the middle of nowhere, where he was taught to be an expert swordsman, Aaron finds his life irreversibly changed by events that send him on a journey to discover his true destiny.
398 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 29, 2013
40 people are currently reading
1218 people want to read
About the author
Jordan Baker
9 books80 followersFantasy writer, author of the Bestselling 'Book of One' epic fantasy series, a 398.2 geek, a hopeful gardener and a lover of life and spirit in all its many forms.
Peace to all. :)
Peace to all. :)
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
July 6, 2016
Aaron, though trained by his uncle to be a swordsman, is only a simple farmer with hopes of maybe becoming a blacksmith. But when a trip to the local town for supplies goes terribly wrong Aaron’s life is changed forever.
One of the best fantasy novels I’ve read in a long time, A New Age, just wouldn’t let me put the book down. With magic, sword fighting, adventure, betrayal, what more could you ask for. I just didn’t want to stop reading and go back to my mundane life. I’d finish a chapter and go, “I really need to put this down and do something productive. Okay maybe after the next chapter.”Great book for young readers and adults that are young at heart.UPDATE! - I just finished A Shadow Flame, the seventh and final entry in the Book of One series. I have to admit this series was quite an exciting read. The cast of characters is rich and well rounded. Over the course of all seven books you learn to either love or hate them as they make choices both good and bad. I’m sure you’ll find your own favorites characters to cheer for like I did.
If you’re looking for an epic adventure with magic, swords, dragons, elves, and even the gods themselves than look no further. Each and every book in the series grabbed my attention and just would not let go. Definitely one of the best Fantasy series I’ve ever read.
October 8, 2015
A good solid fantasy/adventure story. I look forward to the rest of the series.
November 13, 2015
I expected more from reading the reviews, but I was disappointed.
The story is rather cliche and utterly predictable, which isn't bad in itself as long as something else can attract my interest : worlbuilding, characters, humor, prose, etc... which, sadly, isn't the case here.
First, this novel needs editing, I have become kind of used to poor grammar, and missing punctuation while reading indie authors but still it needs to be said : at least the author should let someone else proofread, this definitely wasn't done.
Second, the characters are boring, and the dialogues are weak. The interactions between various characters and their actions are very often not credible and unrealistic. At some point a rather sad event happens to the main protagonist, but the next day it's as if nothing happened and he engages in a budding romance/seduction game. During the same event, the same character displayed obvious magical abilities but he just forgets it... How convenient. The "good guys" also tend to be very dumb and passive : the villains are obvious but still no action is taken against them.
Third, the world is your classic pseudo medieval fantasy setting, nothing original as far as I see. Even worse, maybe because this first book is an introduction to the series, nothing really stands out or attracts attention : we hear about elves but don't see any of them, the three main cultures represented are rather bland, the few examples of magic shown are nothing special and the magic system itself isn't developped at all either.
1 star : I probably won't read the rest of the series.
The story is rather cliche and utterly predictable, which isn't bad in itself as long as something else can attract my interest : worlbuilding, characters, humor, prose, etc... which, sadly, isn't the case here.
First, this novel needs editing, I have become kind of used to poor grammar, and missing punctuation while reading indie authors but still it needs to be said : at least the author should let someone else proofread, this definitely wasn't done.
Second, the characters are boring, and the dialogues are weak. The interactions between various characters and their actions are very often not credible and unrealistic. At some point a rather sad event happens to the main protagonist, but the next day it's as if nothing happened and he engages in a budding romance/seduction game. During the same event, the same character displayed obvious magical abilities but he just forgets it... How convenient. The "good guys" also tend to be very dumb and passive : the villains are obvious but still no action is taken against them.
Third, the world is your classic pseudo medieval fantasy setting, nothing original as far as I see. Even worse, maybe because this first book is an introduction to the series, nothing really stands out or attracts attention : we hear about elves but don't see any of them, the three main cultures represented are rather bland, the few examples of magic shown are nothing special and the magic system itself isn't developped at all either.
1 star : I probably won't read the rest of the series.
October 18, 2013
Not bad. I've read many under the radar books lately, and they were really low low low quality. I was quite sure this one would be the same, but i'm pleasentely surprised. Sure, there isn't much good to the book, but there isn't anything too bad either. The main character need to grow a pair: he is too passive and subservient; i hope in the next books he will start acting on his own. The other characters are definetely too clichè, but not so much to hurt my reading.
The misteries are good and they pose the base for interesting new books. Actually what really miss is a decent conclusion to this book. Everything still needs to be resolved. I will start the next installment in the series right away hoping to see a little more action.
The misteries are good and they pose the base for interesting new books. Actually what really miss is a decent conclusion to this book. Everything still needs to be resolved. I will start the next installment in the series right away hoping to see a little more action.
October 11, 2013
Man...I love finding these lesser known books. Some end up being meh, others are gems...
This is a gem. Loved it - solid cast of characters, each with a little mystery behind them and the author gives you just enough info about them to keep you interested to find out more.
The whole magic system behind the Priests is interesting too - and I can't wait to read where it goes from there.
Aaron for me, is shaping up to be a Rand Al'Thor. Now that's not to say the 2 are similar, they both grew up on a Farm trained by a expert swordsman. But where I see the major difference between the 2 is the whole chosen one aspect - I never once saw "chosen one" mentioned in this book and thank god for that. I love me the chosen one stories, but this is a world that needs more then just one man to save the day.
Starting book 2 now - and the fact that book 3 is titled after Dragons. Sold.
This is a gem. Loved it - solid cast of characters, each with a little mystery behind them and the author gives you just enough info about them to keep you interested to find out more.
The whole magic system behind the Priests is interesting too - and I can't wait to read where it goes from there.
Aaron for me, is shaping up to be a Rand Al'Thor. Now that's not to say the 2 are similar, they both grew up on a Farm trained by a expert swordsman. But where I see the major difference between the 2 is the whole chosen one aspect - I never once saw "chosen one" mentioned in this book and thank god for that. I love me the chosen one stories, but this is a world that needs more then just one man to save the day.
Starting book 2 now - and the fact that book 3 is titled after Dragons. Sold.
January 31, 2014
Aaron has been raised by his uncle since he was a small child. Though his life has been sheltered because they live in the middle of nowhere, he has learned to defend himself because his uncle was a soldier for the king at one time.
When Aaron loses his uncle under rather weird circumstances he must help a young woman safely reach her aunt and then he becomes a soldier himself. Plagued by massive headaches all his life Aaron has learned to deal with them. He also learns there is magic hidden away somewhere in him and it wants to come out.
Befriended by the Princess Ariana he finds himself saving her life several times as her uncle, The Regent, wants to be King and is trying to get her out of the way.
Great characters, fast pace. I will read the next one in this series soon as there is a real cliffhanger at the end.
When Aaron loses his uncle under rather weird circumstances he must help a young woman safely reach her aunt and then he becomes a soldier himself. Plagued by massive headaches all his life Aaron has learned to deal with them. He also learns there is magic hidden away somewhere in him and it wants to come out.
Befriended by the Princess Ariana he finds himself saving her life several times as her uncle, The Regent, wants to be King and is trying to get her out of the way.
Great characters, fast pace. I will read the next one in this series soon as there is a real cliffhanger at the end.
July 21, 2015
I just finished the series today and I enjoyed it.
For me, I found similarities to Robert Jordan and Wot ...in a good way. It's not a copy of that series.
I liked the characters and the world set up. I noticed that there are a lot of bad reviews of book seven. Several people complained about grammar errors and blamed the author. Truthfully the author did not hand print every copy of the book and spellchecker them all... I don't feel you can blame her for that. Several were also unhappy with the ending. I liked the ending. I'm fine with it, it fit the main character and and there were hints of how it would work out throughout the series.
What it comes down to is try the book for yourself and give the series a try. Who cares what I think or what another review says. Try it yourself and I hope you like it .
For me, I found similarities to Robert Jordan and Wot ...in a good way. It's not a copy of that series.
I liked the characters and the world set up. I noticed that there are a lot of bad reviews of book seven. Several people complained about grammar errors and blamed the author. Truthfully the author did not hand print every copy of the book and spellchecker them all... I don't feel you can blame her for that. Several were also unhappy with the ending. I liked the ending. I'm fine with it, it fit the main character and and there were hints of how it would work out throughout the series.
What it comes down to is try the book for yourself and give the series a try. Who cares what I think or what another review says. Try it yourself and I hope you like it .
February 12, 2015
When you have hundreds of books in your ebook library, getting one to read is actually tough. I've been meaning to read this one for a while now. Got attracted to it due to its name. Didn't disappoint. It's fresh, undiluted epic fantasy. Reading it was fun, due to Baker's easy, flowing writing. Plot building was excellent. Magic not too complex. The best part was the characters. Well developed. Great story.
February 16, 2015
I liked the book and believe that it provoded a nice setting for what I hope to be an exciting fantasy story. The narrative in this first part was rather linear and predictable but it did provode a wide range of characters and hinted to many possible twists and surprises. I am diving right into the next installment
February 10, 2014
Great read
fun and enjoyable although there are quite a few typos throughout as though the digital version was put together rather hastily. aside from that I found the book great and can't wait to read the next in the series.
fun and enjoyable although there are quite a few typos throughout as though the digital version was put together rather hastily. aside from that I found the book great and can't wait to read the next in the series.
November 24, 2013
Awesome book, I hope it will keep being awesome.
February 21, 2015
A New Age
A Good book with likable characters and a good plot. The editing at first was lacking. Misspelling & missing words.
A Good book with likable characters and a good plot. The editing at first was lacking. Misspelling & missing words.
January 20, 2015
Okay, so this book and it's sequels have all the elements of epic fantasy- powerful magic, elves, dragons, shapeshifters, mages, priests etc...It is of course a cliche, but I've no problem with cliches. however the plot or story must be intriguing.Now here in this book it wasn't the case, not because of the plot(it was OK) but the dialogues between the characters was pathetic.Every major character is a legend in himself/herself but the moment he/she says anything, you will mentally curse yourself. The main character hadn't taken part in any major battle till book three.(I'm not going to further read this series. It's very tough for me to leave any series in between but this is just amateur writing.) All the characters(even the gods and yes it has gods in it too) talk like teenagers. I've given this book 2 stars just because i always fall for fantasy cliches. However I was very disappointed by this book. It could have been good if all above mentioned problems would have been taken care of....
January 11, 2014
I was pretty excited when I found this book on Kindle Amazon for $2.99; It's definitely a good read, and Ms. Baker is a skilled story teller. Most of the characters are believable, and she does a good job of developing them. It was nice to see how the characters grew; esp. the protagonist, Aaron, who grows from a country boy (albeit one who is intelligent, and taught swords from a very young age by a swordmaster, his uncle) - they aren't one dimensional characters; they have many strengths and weaknesses, and how they manage to overcome the challenges they face.
I think anyone who loves epic fantasies, swords, dragons, and magic would enjoy this book. I liked it so much that I've gone through the entire series (well, the story isn't complete yet, and I'll have to wait until she releases the next two books.
I think anyone who loves epic fantasies, swords, dragons, and magic would enjoy this book. I liked it so much that I've gone through the entire series (well, the story isn't complete yet, and I'll have to wait until she releases the next two books.
November 14, 2015
I loved this book!
Bought it on amazon.com for less that $1.00 - which is crazy for a full length novel such as this!
Great stories, great characters - I ran out of fantasy books that I enjoyed and so I thought I would give this a try. Not disappointed.
I look forward to the rest of the series! I recommend this book to any fantasy lover.
Edit: I'm not sure why everyone is harping about grammar and spelling? I noticed a lot of those reviews were from 2014 or earlier. I think the author must have done an edit because there isn't as many as people say or are complaining about. It's confusing to me.
Bought it on amazon.com for less that $1.00 - which is crazy for a full length novel such as this!
Great stories, great characters - I ran out of fantasy books that I enjoyed and so I thought I would give this a try. Not disappointed.
I look forward to the rest of the series! I recommend this book to any fantasy lover.
Edit: I'm not sure why everyone is harping about grammar and spelling? I noticed a lot of those reviews were from 2014 or earlier. I think the author must have done an edit because there isn't as many as people say or are complaining about. It's confusing to me.
October 26, 2015
Very interesting story, thus far. Really good, solid characters. Eager to see how everything unfolds, and what it all means. I have some guesses, but will find out soon.
December 7, 2020
i want to be friends with you girl ,because FRIENDSHIP
nothing sexual ,i know this is a sword fantasy ,but let's be friends anyway
nothing sexual i assure you .i just want to be friends
i will of course come and visit from time to time,because as i have said ,FRIENDSHIP and stuff
and i can't stress this enough,nothing sexual
nothing sexual ,i know this is a sword fantasy ,but let's be friends anyway
nothing sexual i assure you .i just want to be friends
i will of course come and visit from time to time,because as i have said ,FRIENDSHIP and stuff
and i can't stress this enough,nothing sexual
May 12, 2016
captivating, quite the page turner.
November 17, 2015
I was fairly disappointed by this book. It has a decent rating in Goodreads and because of it I was expecting to be a more well thought out book. Sadly it wasn't.
Where it fell short to me:
The storytelling doesn't follow a good arc. There are dramatic scenes that could have been betted if the author introduced the characters or circumstances earlier
Many of the descriptions and backstories are said after important events. This is almost the same as the previous point. The character keeps running into important people only to be explained afterwards who that person was and why is the meeting important.
Very little description. While these can slowdown books in this case I cannot even tell you if the main character is tall or short, if he walks with confidence, how other characters regard him...
Too much politics without importance. It's a given that most fantasy books will deal with regional politics. But it was very poorly done here. Without first letting us understand the place in time the character is in. The author immediately jumps into gossips of war with some kingdom that hasn't been mentioned. It just doesn't flow with the narrative
Pointless dialogues. At the beginning of the book there are probably 100 pages with dialogues like "well met Aaron", "well met so and so", "Fine morning"', "Fine morning indeed". Too much nonsense. I expect when a story is told that the author wants to bring you into the story. We all know how people greet each other the role of the author is to tell a story. Relate the important points in it so you might understand the implications of the characters actions. Keep you intrigued.
Almost porn. As soon as there is the first female character appears in the book she is naked. I don't understand what's the logic behind this. It's completely irrelevant to the events in the book.
However there was on one thing about the book, as Cervantes said "There is not a book so bad that it does not have something good in it." The action, once you get there, is not bad.
Had the author reordered the paragraphs he could have made a much better story.
Where it fell short to me:
The storytelling doesn't follow a good arc. There are dramatic scenes that could have been betted if the author introduced the characters or circumstances earlier
Many of the descriptions and backstories are said after important events. This is almost the same as the previous point. The character keeps running into important people only to be explained afterwards who that person was and why is the meeting important.
Very little description. While these can slowdown books in this case I cannot even tell you if the main character is tall or short, if he walks with confidence, how other characters regard him...
Too much politics without importance. It's a given that most fantasy books will deal with regional politics. But it was very poorly done here. Without first letting us understand the place in time the character is in. The author immediately jumps into gossips of war with some kingdom that hasn't been mentioned. It just doesn't flow with the narrative
Pointless dialogues. At the beginning of the book there are probably 100 pages with dialogues like "well met Aaron", "well met so and so", "Fine morning"', "Fine morning indeed". Too much nonsense. I expect when a story is told that the author wants to bring you into the story. We all know how people greet each other the role of the author is to tell a story. Relate the important points in it so you might understand the implications of the characters actions. Keep you intrigued.
Almost porn. As soon as there is the first female character appears in the book she is naked. I don't understand what's the logic behind this. It's completely irrelevant to the events in the book.
However there was on one thing about the book, as Cervantes said "There is not a book so bad that it does not have something good in it." The action, once you get there, is not bad.
Had the author reordered the paragraphs he could have made a much better story.
July 16, 2017
The different characters are well written and have depth to them. Over the course of the books they develop in a comprehensible manner and new characters are added to the cast.
The plot was very well executed and had me turn the pages one after another.
The writing was descriptive and concise with few info dumps. At first the world seemed to be a pretty standard fantasy world but Baker developed it layer by layer integrating new lore, races and attributes.
All in all, a very good and definite recommendation.
Characters 4/5
Plot 5/5
Suspense 5/5
Writing 4/5
World Building 4/5
The plot was very well executed and had me turn the pages one after another.
The writing was descriptive and concise with few info dumps. At first the world seemed to be a pretty standard fantasy world but Baker developed it layer by layer integrating new lore, races and attributes.
All in all, a very good and definite recommendation.
Characters 4/5
Plot 5/5
Suspense 5/5
Writing 4/5
World Building 4/5
May 20, 2014
Writing is a little loose. Continuity is off. At parts, things just show up unannounced that should have been stated up front (a scene is ending where a black cloth is removed, and the way it is written gives the expectation that the cloth was described and written about previously, yet does not appear anywhere). Very little character growth. Needs more work.
January 6, 2017
I do enjoy a good epic fantasy and Baker does the genre justice. An excellent read. Looking forward to entire series.
June 17, 2020
I got 1/4 of the way through before I gave up. It was all farmers talking about cheese harvests and winking at each other.
July 20, 2017
I've finally finished re-reading all seven books in this series. The author has a tremendous imagination, and used it to do very complex and detailed world building and character development. That's why I give the series as a whole three stars. But there are several things I really don't like.
1) "gods" in the story are basically people with more magic than wizards. This is too far from the reality of the Christian God for me.
2) All seven books are filled with bad writing: grammatical errors, some of the longest sentences I've ever seen, misused words, and just plain typos such as words repeated consecutively consecutively.
3) There are romantic relationships for several characters, but not for the main character. This and other factors mean that the ending is not satisfying at all after slogging through seven books waiting for it.
1) "gods" in the story are basically people with more magic than wizards. This is too far from the reality of the Christian God for me.
2) All seven books are filled with bad writing: grammatical errors, some of the longest sentences I've ever seen, misused words, and just plain typos such as words repeated consecutively consecutively.
3) There are romantic relationships for several characters, but not for the main character. This and other factors mean that the ending is not satisfying at all after slogging through seven books waiting for it.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews