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The Hard Edge of Magic
Hungry and desperate, Kylen knows what it’s like to be an outcast. Plucked from the streets by a tight-lipped stranger, he begins to dream of a better life. But his rescuer turns out to be a renegade mage. In an instant Kylen finds himself transformed from a person of no account to a dangerous fugitive.
But much more than his life might be at stake. Dark forces are stirring, and an ancient evil is poised, ready to be unleashed on an unsuspecting kingdom. Comfortable and arrogant, the kingdom's mages are bent on destroying the one person capable of saving them.
On the run with his mentor, Kylen tries to ignore the voices whispering about his destiny. Of what use is a fabled destiny when you’re struggling to survive?
If you enjoy epic fantasy with gripping action and relatable characters in a compelling coming of age saga, then try the novels of The Ruptured Kingdom now!
But much more than his life might be at stake. Dark forces are stirring, and an ancient evil is poised, ready to be unleashed on an unsuspecting kingdom. Comfortable and arrogant, the kingdom's mages are bent on destroying the one person capable of saving them.
On the run with his mentor, Kylen tries to ignore the voices whispering about his destiny. Of what use is a fabled destiny when you’re struggling to survive?
If you enjoy epic fantasy with gripping action and relatable characters in a compelling coming of age saga, then try the novels of The Ruptured Kingdom now!
322 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 28, 2024
8 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Allan N. Packer
29 books28 followersAllan Packer writes epic fantasy. The Ruptured Kingdom is his second published series, following The Stone of Knowing and the other novels of The Stone Cycle series.
Allan grew up surrounded by books and became an avid reader during his childhood. In his university years fantasy displaced science fiction as his favorite genre, thanks primarily to J. R. R. Tolkien. He later shared this love with his four children by reading The Lord of the Rings to them aloud - a three-month marathon he completed twice during their formative years.
Born in Australia, Allan has lived and worked on three continents, and spent one quarter of his working years abroad. Having worked as an IT professional throughout his career, he was first published as a technical author.
Today he lives with his wife in Adelaide, South Australia, at the heart of a growing and geographically distributed extended family.
Allan is currently working on the final instalment in his series The Ruptured Kingdom. For news and information about Allan's books, visit his website.
Allan grew up surrounded by books and became an avid reader during his childhood. In his university years fantasy displaced science fiction as his favorite genre, thanks primarily to J. R. R. Tolkien. He later shared this love with his four children by reading The Lord of the Rings to them aloud - a three-month marathon he completed twice during their formative years.
Born in Australia, Allan has lived and worked on three continents, and spent one quarter of his working years abroad. Having worked as an IT professional throughout his career, he was first published as a technical author.
Today he lives with his wife in Adelaide, South Australia, at the heart of a growing and geographically distributed extended family.
Allan is currently working on the final instalment in his series The Ruptured Kingdom. For news and information about Allan's books, visit his website.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 4, 2024
Fantasy is a favorite genre. The Hard Edge of Magic did not disappoint! It kept me reading. The story is about a boy, Kylen, who is an orfan. He steals food to feed him and others like him. He gets caught, and the punishment is to cut off his hand. Somehow, he only loses a finger. A stranger, Dilthinir, befriends him. Dilthinir is a renegade. A mage that has left the Compact, a group of mages that oversee the land. As a renegade, Dilthinir is ontye run. He has evaded capture for 10 years. If caught, he will be killed.
Kylen goes with Dilthinir. However, he insists on taking Bella and Jonno, twin orphans he helps, with them. Along the way, Kylen learns he is a mage as well. His powers have somehow been released. Dithinir doesn't know how. Usually, the Compact does it and trains new mages. Since they didn't do it, Kylen is also considered a renegade and will be killed if caught.
Dilthinir trains Kylen. They also learn of some mages in the Compact that are up to no good and try to find out what they are doing. Can Kylen learn to control his magic and help save himself? Will he destroy the kingdom when his full magic is released?
Kylen goes with Dilthinir. However, he insists on taking Bella and Jonno, twin orphans he helps, with them. Along the way, Kylen learns he is a mage as well. His powers have somehow been released. Dithinir doesn't know how. Usually, the Compact does it and trains new mages. Since they didn't do it, Kylen is also considered a renegade and will be killed if caught.
Dilthinir trains Kylen. They also learn of some mages in the Compact that are up to no good and try to find out what they are doing. Can Kylen learn to control his magic and help save himself? Will he destroy the kingdom when his full magic is released?
September 24, 2025
Such a refreshing first read!!
I need to check for other works by Allan Packer, because this one was such a refreshing experience to read. (1) The book used well-established ideas from fantasy with regard to magical abilities, but still gave new concepts of relating those ideas to normal senses. I will leave you to read those on your own, so as to avoid any spoilers. (2) All too often I read books that appear to have had no proofreaders or editors. Poor grammar and misspelling grates on me and detracts from my enjoyment of the story. I may be too grumpy in my old age, but my conclusion is that if the story includes those kinds of errors, it isn't well told. This one is! (3) Ending a story, but leaving room for a sequel, is a hard task; but Mr. Packer did it well. I'm going to immediately go and download Book 2. I hope you will read this and choose to acquire Book 1!
I need to check for other works by Allan Packer, because this one was such a refreshing experience to read. (1) The book used well-established ideas from fantasy with regard to magical abilities, but still gave new concepts of relating those ideas to normal senses. I will leave you to read those on your own, so as to avoid any spoilers. (2) All too often I read books that appear to have had no proofreaders or editors. Poor grammar and misspelling grates on me and detracts from my enjoyment of the story. I may be too grumpy in my old age, but my conclusion is that if the story includes those kinds of errors, it isn't well told. This one is! (3) Ending a story, but leaving room for a sequel, is a hard task; but Mr. Packer did it well. I'm going to immediately go and download Book 2. I hope you will read this and choose to acquire Book 1!
March 9, 2024
I really wanted to like the story. It starts strong, but then it drags along. There are several chapters where we learn that the other mages hunt Dal. I got it after one chapter; I didn't need 3 or 4 of them to prove that point.
There are so many details where I asked myself: Why are you telling me this? This isn't driving the plot forward. Is it really important what the twins did on the farm in such detail?
The writing is good; it could be more engaging at times, but I could have lived with that.
It was too slow-paced for me. I gave up after 30% (Chapter 11) as the book couldn't keep me interested.
There are so many details where I asked myself: Why are you telling me this? This isn't driving the plot forward. Is it really important what the twins did on the farm in such detail?
The writing is good; it could be more engaging at times, but I could have lived with that.
It was too slow-paced for me. I gave up after 30% (Chapter 11) as the book couldn't keep me interested.
February 28, 2024
He is in the streets and things are about to change when he is helped by a man who remains silent. He begins to dream of a better life but he is about to learn it is not going to go as well as he expected. Danger is coming and he will soon be on the run. What is going on? How will he get on? Can he stop the evil? See where he will take you
I received an advance copy from hidden gems and I want to review
I received an advance copy from hidden gems and I want to review
April 29, 2025
A fun magical fantasy story with an interesting take on how to divide/sort magical abilities, basing them on magic "senses" similar to the 5 basic physical senses.
Minor spoiler below if you care about that.
The old woman basically walking up to the protagonist on the street then pointing and shouting "chosen one! Dooooom!" was the funniest possible way to reveal a prophecy
Minor spoiler below if you care about that.
The old woman basically walking up to the protagonist on the street then pointing and shouting "chosen one! Dooooom!" was the funniest possible way to reveal a prophecy
February 28, 2024
This was a bit of a slow burn but it keeps you interested. I got a bit confused with the back and forth between places and time but i am definitely still very intrigued by the characters and magic system and world building that i am down to see where this series is going.
March 9, 2024
Great start to a new series
Fast paced story that kept my interest from start to finish.
Interesting plot and a whole new way of looking at magic. The smell of magic made me smile every time I read the line.
Fast paced story that kept my interest from start to finish.
Interesting plot and a whole new way of looking at magic. The smell of magic made me smile every time I read the line.
May 4, 2025
Excellent fantasy story by an author with whom I was unfamiliar. I'm glad I gave it a try. I had borrowed all I could from my library Hoopla account in April and this was offered as a bonus audiobook. It was engaging and well read. I'll be moving on to the next in the series now.
March 5, 2024
starts slow but picks up the place quickly enough has fantasy magic that simple to understand i will read book 2
May 10, 2025
I loved how GOOD these characters behaved! What a breath of fresh air!
May 14, 2025
I like the strong characters, especially chaotic ones like the twins. The plot is a bit convoluted compared to the ending. The ending felt like it was specifically designed to set up the next book.
May 14, 2025
I did enjoy this book. I had a hard time at times following it. Because we had several POVs. They did come together so it made it easier to follow. I liked the magical system and it had action.
May 15, 2025
Not a bad coming of age and golden chosen book but nothing special for me.
June 17, 2025
A really good plot but it’s written too simply and it felt like the author thought us readers were dumb and couldn’t make inferences on our own.
July 25, 2025
I found this as an audiobook through a free borrow from Hoopla, so I figured I’d give this fantasy book with a cool title from an unknown author a chance. Ultimately, thoroughly disappointed. I skeptically started this, hesitantly continued with the audiobook on 1.15 speed and then 1.5 and then 2.0, and then decided to pull the plug at the 50% mark. Skipping to the 90% mark for half a chapter, I just grew more and more irritated.
Maybe it’s the narrator or maybe it’s the straightforward, blunt, telling-not-showing method. Sure, the writing is fine. Fine in the sense that is grammatically correct and there aren’t any non sequiturs. The fact that I can only describe this as a book with coherent sentences shows just how bored I was listening to this.
The magic system isn’t unique, and while I was curious to know more as I went, nothing I learned about the magic and those who wield it became anything more than bland. The only thing worth noting was the difference in methodology and approach to teaching people with magic: experiential where a master takes on an apprentice vs young mages learning all the same thing in a school. If only there was even a second more diving into this, that could’ve been interesting. A clash of ideals, a fight for what it truly means to be a mage. (Spoiler: the renegade mage and the main character are obviously in the right. No worries, there’s no gray area whatsoever, so don’t be afraid you’ll break your feeble mind trying to figure that out.)
The main character was so flat I almost mistook him for a cardboard cutout. He had no defining feature, trait, characteristic, or flaw. Want a main character that has the standard good moral compass but is also a thief to survive in this harsh world who then discovers he has magic and wants to do good in the world because he always had a golden heart? Well, find a different one because this one will bore you to sleep. Oh, he’s unprecedentedly powerful and an orphan without knowledge of his family as he learns how to control magic that just suddenly awakes in him? Great… that should be interesting, and yet, it wasn’t.
Really all the characters had nothing that made them truly distinct or worth remembering. Sure, they were all fine, inoffensive even. But that’s surely not the aim.
The renegade mage? He’s apparently so powerful and unprecedented that he frightens the council or whatever of mages, so I’d assume he could’ve solved half of his problems with magic. (That’s also a great sign that your magic system, or at least your explanation on the magic system, is flawed. Why can’t your characters in a magical world solve all their issues with magic? No good answer other than they just don’t? You need to rethink the system or its explanation or both.) The twins who were companions with the main character before joining this pointless travel? Plucky siblings who love mischief but also are good at spying and yet came from being raised on a farm while failing to survive in the city on their own, so they needed the help of our Gary Sue main character.
Where was the actual conflict and tension throughout the book? Nowhere. Sure, the author tries to establish that, but with at least four perspectives that added nothing other than shoving the plot forward like a crowd of people trying to move a car that died on the side of the road in a whole bunch of mud, there was no sense of urgency or real importance; there was a verifiable slog to get from one point to another. Or maybe I can better describe it as the author finding a way to do the equivalent of inelegantly shoving a square block through a circular hole and hoping that something other than the characters, the plot, or the magic system would compel readers to finish.
For instance, the conflict between the renegade mage and the council (or conclave or whatever the established group of mages were called) was so underdeveloped and underwhelming that the renegade felt totally fine walking around the forest for a few days to get the enemy mages off his trail, take shelter in a town near the dangerous city and put the commoners at risk for punishment if he’s discovered there, and then idly teach his apprentice magic on a one-hour-max-a-day basis, while also asking two non-mages to go spy on some mages while he is kicking it in the village… make that make sense to me. He’s supposed to be a powerful mage. I’m sure he could’ve put a little more thought into things to solve his issues, or the author should’ve made the boundaries of the magic clearer.
Maybe it’s the narrator or maybe it’s the straightforward, blunt, telling-not-showing method. Sure, the writing is fine. Fine in the sense that is grammatically correct and there aren’t any non sequiturs. The fact that I can only describe this as a book with coherent sentences shows just how bored I was listening to this.
The magic system isn’t unique, and while I was curious to know more as I went, nothing I learned about the magic and those who wield it became anything more than bland. The only thing worth noting was the difference in methodology and approach to teaching people with magic: experiential where a master takes on an apprentice vs young mages learning all the same thing in a school. If only there was even a second more diving into this, that could’ve been interesting. A clash of ideals, a fight for what it truly means to be a mage. (Spoiler: the renegade mage and the main character are obviously in the right. No worries, there’s no gray area whatsoever, so don’t be afraid you’ll break your feeble mind trying to figure that out.)
The main character was so flat I almost mistook him for a cardboard cutout. He had no defining feature, trait, characteristic, or flaw. Want a main character that has the standard good moral compass but is also a thief to survive in this harsh world who then discovers he has magic and wants to do good in the world because he always had a golden heart? Well, find a different one because this one will bore you to sleep. Oh, he’s unprecedentedly powerful and an orphan without knowledge of his family as he learns how to control magic that just suddenly awakes in him? Great… that should be interesting, and yet, it wasn’t.
Really all the characters had nothing that made them truly distinct or worth remembering. Sure, they were all fine, inoffensive even. But that’s surely not the aim.
The renegade mage? He’s apparently so powerful and unprecedented that he frightens the council or whatever of mages, so I’d assume he could’ve solved half of his problems with magic. (That’s also a great sign that your magic system, or at least your explanation on the magic system, is flawed. Why can’t your characters in a magical world solve all their issues with magic? No good answer other than they just don’t? You need to rethink the system or its explanation or both.) The twins who were companions with the main character before joining this pointless travel? Plucky siblings who love mischief but also are good at spying and yet came from being raised on a farm while failing to survive in the city on their own, so they needed the help of our Gary Sue main character.
Where was the actual conflict and tension throughout the book? Nowhere. Sure, the author tries to establish that, but with at least four perspectives that added nothing other than shoving the plot forward like a crowd of people trying to move a car that died on the side of the road in a whole bunch of mud, there was no sense of urgency or real importance; there was a verifiable slog to get from one point to another. Or maybe I can better describe it as the author finding a way to do the equivalent of inelegantly shoving a square block through a circular hole and hoping that something other than the characters, the plot, or the magic system would compel readers to finish.
For instance, the conflict between the renegade mage and the council (or conclave or whatever the established group of mages were called) was so underdeveloped and underwhelming that the renegade felt totally fine walking around the forest for a few days to get the enemy mages off his trail, take shelter in a town near the dangerous city and put the commoners at risk for punishment if he’s discovered there, and then idly teach his apprentice magic on a one-hour-max-a-day basis, while also asking two non-mages to go spy on some mages while he is kicking it in the village… make that make sense to me. He’s supposed to be a powerful mage. I’m sure he could’ve put a little more thought into things to solve his issues, or the author should’ve made the boundaries of the magic clearer.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews