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Young Sorcerers Guild #1
The Dark Shadow of Spring
alternate cover edition is [ Dark Shadow of Spring|16083159]
A dragon that foretells destinies, streets suddenly cluttered with thousands of dead birds, a plague of malevolent insects, ghosts arising in the town cemetery, demons haunting the woods of the White Forest — these are only some of the dangers that thirteen-year-old Alex Ravenstar and his friends in The Young Sorcerers Guild must overcome in order save the secluded magical town of Runewood from an ancient, soul-enslaving evil in THE DARK SHADOW OF SPRING.
After a nearly-disastrous adventure to wake the local dragon from its hibernation in hopes that it will tell them their destinies, Alex and his friends accidentally encounter the dark force that was responsible for burning the magic out of the world beyond the Rune Valley thousands of years ago. Known as the Shadow Wraith, the evil force was cast from this world and imprisoned in another realm at the end of the war fought to stop it. Once again, the Shadow Wraith is trying to escape its prison to enslave the world, and Alex and the Young Sorcerers Guild are the only ones who can defeat it.
A dragon that foretells destinies, streets suddenly cluttered with thousands of dead birds, a plague of malevolent insects, ghosts arising in the town cemetery, demons haunting the woods of the White Forest — these are only some of the dangers that thirteen-year-old Alex Ravenstar and his friends in The Young Sorcerers Guild must overcome in order save the secluded magical town of Runewood from an ancient, soul-enslaving evil in THE DARK SHADOW OF SPRING.
After a nearly-disastrous adventure to wake the local dragon from its hibernation in hopes that it will tell them their destinies, Alex and his friends accidentally encounter the dark force that was responsible for burning the magic out of the world beyond the Rune Valley thousands of years ago. Known as the Shadow Wraith, the evil force was cast from this world and imprisoned in another realm at the end of the war fought to stop it. Once again, the Shadow Wraith is trying to escape its prison to enslave the world, and Alex and the Young Sorcerers Guild are the only ones who can defeat it.
239 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 6, 2011
44 people are currently reading
229 people want to read
About the author
G.L. Breedon
13 books60 followersAfter a childhood spent whizzing through the galaxy in super sleek starships and defeating treacherously evil monsters in long forgotten kingdoms, G.L. Breedon grew up to write science fiction and fantasy novels. He lives with his wife in Brooklyn, NY.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 8, 2011
‘The Dark Shadow of Spring’ proved a formidable successor from Breedon’s genius in his debut novel ‘The Wizard of Time’.
A fantastic read for people of all ages, this was a captivating, original and inspired story.
Breedon’s fantastically bold plot where dragons, shape shifters and giants were commonplace felt somehow highly believable, and I was completely drawn in right from the first page!
This exciting story was coupled with undertones of more serious issues, where a beautifully sensitive theme was executed within a fabulously exciting plot.
This is a compelling, impressive, perfect fantasy, which I would not hesitate to recommend to all.
A fantastic read for people of all ages, this was a captivating, original and inspired story.
Breedon’s fantastically bold plot where dragons, shape shifters and giants were commonplace felt somehow highly believable, and I was completely drawn in right from the first page!
This exciting story was coupled with undertones of more serious issues, where a beautifully sensitive theme was executed within a fabulously exciting plot.
This is a compelling, impressive, perfect fantasy, which I would not hesitate to recommend to all.
August 10, 2017
Standard Plot, Interesting Magic, Appealing Kid Heroes
This book struck me as a very solid, and well above average, contribution to the kid-sorcerer-adventure genre, and it seems to me there's always room on the shelf for more well written variations on that genre's themes.
Here, we have a plot that feels a lot like a streamlined version of Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series. The evil Shadow Wraith was imprisoned eons ago behind 12 magical seals, but one of them may be giving way, allowing the Wraith's dark influence to enter our world, (which feels vaguely medieval). The Young Sorcerers Guild must figure out what's going on and then use guile, magic, and derring do to reinforce the seal.
For this perfectly fine plot to work it seems to me you need appealing heroes, a decent magic system, a bit of humor, lots of action/adventure, a few good supporting characters, and maybe some side quests or incidental drama. Well, you get all of that here.
Our primary hero, and the sort of "chosen one", is Alex, who is resourceful, good-humored, reliable, and the natural leader of the Young Sorcerer's Guild. Then we get Alex's little sister, the youngest and newest member of this unofficial gang, who has a bit of younger-sister attitude and is very funny without introducing any of that tired sibling rivalry stuff into the tale. She's more of a snarky sidekick. We get a number of other young sorcerers whose backstories I didn't find all that compelling. But, the good part is that when they are all together their cross-talk is amusing and full of inside jokes and needling. As a gang they work well as an ensemble and I didn't really care who was who since they all fit together so well. (There is one scene at an Inn in which they eat french fries off of each other plates as they discuss their next move against the Shadow Wraith, and it is a wonderful example of careful story structure, and subtly humorous dialogue writing.)
With that, everything falls into place. The nature of magic in this world is elemental and idiosyncratic. Powers and abilities arise in somewhat haphazard fashion, and always just in the nick of time plot-wise, but that's fine in a middle grade tale. At least it's not just a bunch of wand waving. There's an elegant grumpy dragon, and astral projection, and lots of other diverting goodies. The least necessary element is the Guild's conflict with a sneaky bunch of opposing young sorcerer bullies, but I suppose bullies of some sort are required in all middle grade books. There's also a touch of Alex and Victoria the Centaur puppy crushing, which was welcome and nicely and lightly done.
So, all in all this was a satisfying and entertaining read with clever twists, engaging characters, and a consistent tone and atmosphere. A nice find.
(Please note that I found this book a while ago while browsing Amazon Kindle freebies. It is currently a kindleunlimited choice. I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
This book struck me as a very solid, and well above average, contribution to the kid-sorcerer-adventure genre, and it seems to me there's always room on the shelf for more well written variations on that genre's themes.
Here, we have a plot that feels a lot like a streamlined version of Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series. The evil Shadow Wraith was imprisoned eons ago behind 12 magical seals, but one of them may be giving way, allowing the Wraith's dark influence to enter our world, (which feels vaguely medieval). The Young Sorcerers Guild must figure out what's going on and then use guile, magic, and derring do to reinforce the seal.
For this perfectly fine plot to work it seems to me you need appealing heroes, a decent magic system, a bit of humor, lots of action/adventure, a few good supporting characters, and maybe some side quests or incidental drama. Well, you get all of that here.
Our primary hero, and the sort of "chosen one", is Alex, who is resourceful, good-humored, reliable, and the natural leader of the Young Sorcerer's Guild. Then we get Alex's little sister, the youngest and newest member of this unofficial gang, who has a bit of younger-sister attitude and is very funny without introducing any of that tired sibling rivalry stuff into the tale. She's more of a snarky sidekick. We get a number of other young sorcerers whose backstories I didn't find all that compelling. But, the good part is that when they are all together their cross-talk is amusing and full of inside jokes and needling. As a gang they work well as an ensemble and I didn't really care who was who since they all fit together so well. (There is one scene at an Inn in which they eat french fries off of each other plates as they discuss their next move against the Shadow Wraith, and it is a wonderful example of careful story structure, and subtly humorous dialogue writing.)
With that, everything falls into place. The nature of magic in this world is elemental and idiosyncratic. Powers and abilities arise in somewhat haphazard fashion, and always just in the nick of time plot-wise, but that's fine in a middle grade tale. At least it's not just a bunch of wand waving. There's an elegant grumpy dragon, and astral projection, and lots of other diverting goodies. The least necessary element is the Guild's conflict with a sneaky bunch of opposing young sorcerer bullies, but I suppose bullies of some sort are required in all middle grade books. There's also a touch of Alex and Victoria the Centaur puppy crushing, which was welcome and nicely and lightly done.
So, all in all this was a satisfying and entertaining read with clever twists, engaging characters, and a consistent tone and atmosphere. A nice find.
(Please note that I found this book a while ago while browsing Amazon Kindle freebies. It is currently a kindleunlimited choice. I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
May 29, 2017
I didn't think I'd like this book when I started reading it. The opening scene nearly put me off the book completely. Daphne grated on my nerves every step of the way. After the first few chapters, though, the story settled down, and started actually building the plot.
The plot itself was nothing new (boy is reincarnated hero who is doomed to fight the same battle for all eternity), but the characters were interesting enough to keep the story entertaining. Aside from Daphne's constant "creative" cursing, the other characters were all pretty fun. Even the villains. Well, Anna, at least. All of the others were stereotypical bullies. Anna was awesome, though - cold and calculating, and playing everything to her advantage.
Victoria was one of the best parts of the book. The other characters were fun, but Victoria was definitely one of the stronger ones. She had fun dialogue, her back story (or what is given of it) is interesting, and I swear her father has to be related to Foaly from Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books. British centaurs...good times.
Another thing that I liked about the story was that there wasn't a heavy-handed moral thrown in there. There was no "the power of friendship overcomes all odds" message tacked on. True, Alex couldn't have resealed the evil without his friends' help, but he was also helped by people who weren't his friends, who played just as big of a role in things as his group did.
While the ending could be considered a cliffhanger, I think it did a fine job of ending the book. It could easily stand alone as its own story, although there are more books in the series. The ending ties up the first book nicely, but also provides a segue into the second one.
The plot itself was nothing new (boy is reincarnated hero who is doomed to fight the same battle for all eternity), but the characters were interesting enough to keep the story entertaining. Aside from Daphne's constant "creative" cursing, the other characters were all pretty fun. Even the villains. Well, Anna, at least. All of the others were stereotypical bullies. Anna was awesome, though - cold and calculating, and playing everything to her advantage.
Victoria was one of the best parts of the book. The other characters were fun, but Victoria was definitely one of the stronger ones. She had fun dialogue, her back story (or what is given of it) is interesting, and I swear her father has to be related to Foaly from Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books. British centaurs...good times.
Another thing that I liked about the story was that there wasn't a heavy-handed moral thrown in there. There was no "the power of friendship overcomes all odds" message tacked on. True, Alex couldn't have resealed the evil without his friends' help, but he was also helped by people who weren't his friends, who played just as big of a role in things as his group did.
While the ending could be considered a cliffhanger, I think it did a fine job of ending the book. It could easily stand alone as its own story, although there are more books in the series. The ending ties up the first book nicely, but also provides a segue into the second one.
June 10, 2018
A great romp through the forest
Something that I have noticed with the advent of technology, more and more authors selfpublish through Amazon or Barnes & Noble. My complaint is that the majority of these selfpublished books are poorly written and extremely poorly editted. GL Breedon's "The Dark Shadow of Spring" is a refreshing break from this trend. Alex Ravenstar and his Young Sorcerers Guild will remind you a little of Harry Potter. Mischievous, adventure loving, and with a tendancy to ignore the rules. From the opening race through townñ to the final battle with the Shadow Wraith, this story is fast paced, fun loving, and very entertaining! The editting mistakes are few; Breedon writes in a style that is easy to immerse yourself into.
I highly recommend adding this book to your library.
Something that I have noticed with the advent of technology, more and more authors selfpublish through Amazon or Barnes & Noble. My complaint is that the majority of these selfpublished books are poorly written and extremely poorly editted. GL Breedon's "The Dark Shadow of Spring" is a refreshing break from this trend. Alex Ravenstar and his Young Sorcerers Guild will remind you a little of Harry Potter. Mischievous, adventure loving, and with a tendancy to ignore the rules. From the opening race through townñ to the final battle with the Shadow Wraith, this story is fast paced, fun loving, and very entertaining! The editting mistakes are few; Breedon writes in a style that is easy to immerse yourself into.
I highly recommend adding this book to your library.
July 15, 2012
I really enjoyed The Dark Shadow of Spring, it reminded me of the Percy Jackson series. I loved the action and suspense throughout the story it was used in all the right spots. I enjoyed the characters they were all relatable and interesting. G.L. Breedon’s writing kept me intrigued with the story; I couldn’t put the book down. I laughed lots throughout the novel the characters interaction with each other was great. Alex is so oblivious to certain things that as a girl you just roll your eyes for the poor kid. I am looking forward to see what adventures Summer’s Cauldron will bring for the Guild.
October 4, 2015
More something like 4.3 or 4.4 but Im not inclined to give it 5 stars because Dafne drew me insane with her way of talking in the first chapters and later when ever I read some of the curses it was going on my nerves. And it was EVER SO ANNOYING! (I mean really!) It would have been better it there had been fewer in the beginning. But a nice book. I recommend it.
August 21, 2021
Awesome Indies Book Awards is pleased to include THE DARK SHADOW OF SPRING (The Young Sorcerers Guild #1) by G.L. BREEDON in the library of Awesome Indies'
Badge of Approval
recipients.
November 16, 2011
Review to follow...
September 21, 2012
The basic story is very enjoyable. I wish that the characters and plot had been better developed.
August 29, 2013
I very much enjoy well-written fantasy, no matter what age group it is written for. This book is an enjoyable romp through modern day magic.
May 24, 2015
This story just wasn't my cup of tea. I couldn't get interested in the characters at all.
July 8, 2018
Great read
I was easily captured by the storyline and also by the characters. A nice smooth read and often on the humorous side. Will definitely read more of this author
I was easily captured by the storyline and also by the characters. A nice smooth read and often on the humorous side. Will definitely read more of this author
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews