The Realmwalker Chronicles: The Pillars of Natura, Volume 1: Maior

by Lee Aarons, Stephanie Mitchell (Editor), Spenn (Illustrator)

For over 3000 years, the Goddess Erta empowered a succession of mortals to champion and protect The Balance of Her world. These were the Realmwalkers.
Wielding all 17 Lani powers as well as the legendary Sword of Angios, each Realmwalker was the absolute guardian of Erta’s will. For centuries, the infinite line of these heroes remained unbroken and peace reigned.
But 100 years ago, when the last Realmwalker died, there was no Successor to take up the Sword. Erta had no protector, no one to shelter and defend The Balance against those wishing to offset it. For the first time since the abominable Realm Wars, those seeking control over the Four Realms were able to push for an advantage, throwing the Realms into chaos and conflict. Meanwhile, the mysterious and powerful Seraph continued their frantic and seemingly futile search for Erta’s missing guardian.
Living in an isolated community of outcasts, Rennick and his twin sister Raine struggle daily with decisions regarding their lives and what awaits them as they leave their childhood behind. After discovering the heartbreaking truth that their past is the key to Erta’s future, the Seraph Kanias imparts a new reality to Raine, that she is the next Realmwalker. He convinces the twins to journey with him to the Temple of Erta, located on the slopes of the mountains called The Pillars of Natura. There, within the ancient strong hold, the Sword of Angios awaits the return of Erta’s defender.
As Raine begins the training that will prepare her to carry the burdens of a world on the brink of war, Rennick struggles with his own burden—protecting the life of the sister he loves. Feeling that even Raine’s most loyal allies are desperate to control her, Rennick must learn to master his own powerful abilities to ensure her safety.
In this new epic fantasy series, Lee Aarons tells the story of Raine and Rennick Sherrill, twins bound to the fate of their world by destiny, bound to each other by more than blood. Only when they uncover the truth about their past can they truly begin to harness the power of the Realmwalker and save Erta from those who seek to destroy it.

Genres: Fantasy

157 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 17, 2014

About the author

At an early age, Lee was influenced by the classics Moby Dick, Treasure Island, Gulliver’s Travels, and Robinson Crusoe, when his grandfather gave to him illustrated versions of these books for his 10th birthday. While he loved the new worlds and adventure that each of those novels provided, he also loved the full page illustrations that were placed periodically throughout the book. It opened these worlds of adventure for him, and ultimately become the images that form in his mind when he thinks of those novels to this day.

It was reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time at the age of twelve which led him to discover his love for epic fantasy, including the works of Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson, Terry Brooks, and Stephen Donaldson. He also continued to read and become influenced by a wide variety of other writers of different genres such as Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Chuck Palahniuk, and Edgar Allen Poe.

Lee Aarons first conceived his ideas about The Realmwalker Chronicles in 2004 while drawing a map of a world consisting of four nearly identical continents. He remembered that a cartography professor once told him: “Maps tell a story.” Looking at the map he drew, he asked himself: “What story does this map tell?” The Realmwalker Chronicles was the answer to that question.

As it was his desire to make illustrations and art an important part of the reader experience within adult fiction again, he teamed up with artist Spenn to develop and create the visual elements of the series. Additionally, they, along with Lee’s wife, English Instructor and writer Stephanie Mitchell, form the creative management team for Realmwalker Publishing Group. Working to not only bring their own various properties to market, they also provide creative consulting, marketing and editing services to emerging authors and artists desiring to self publish their own work.

Lee Aarons currently lives in Malcolm, Nebraska.

Reviews

[Gonzalo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good book I think it will be a good series. At first I thought it was headed towards a Divergent type story but I was wrong. Easy read and a nice change from 1000 page malazan books!

[Joel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recived this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.


*Review comming soon*
*Edit: 4 stars*

[James Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was contacted by the author of this book and sent a review copy in exchange for a honest review.

I must say I was a little apprehensive about this book. I had never heard anything about this author or the book. As I started reading I thought I may have made a mistake in agreeing to do a review. It started kinda slow and I was having a hard time getting into the book. Before long that all changed and I was totally enthralled and wanting more. This book starts the story of Raine and Rennick Sherrill, twins that find out they have some great powers and maybe even a greater destiny than they could ever imagine. I found The world created by the author fascinating. The world building and the magic system (Lani powers) touched on in this volume seem to be just the tip of the iceberg, and even greater things are yet to come. I found the story, after starting slow, demanded my attention and I was left wanting more. The Characters in this book were fantastic. I was able to sympathize with the twins and Kanias, and become invested in their adventure. Overall a wonderful beginning to what looks to be one of the next great epic fantasy series. I am on to Volume 2 now, review coming soon!

Check out all my reviews at https://mightythorjrs.wordpress.com/

[Brandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lee Aarons' "The Realmwalker Chronicles: The Pillars of Natura, Volume 1" is an interesting and rather unique story. I like that the two primary protagonists, Raine and Rennick, are twins. When my brother's twins get a little older, I'll probably loan the book to them.
At first, when I read the summary, I was a bit confused, which isn't saying much since I'm kind of a ditz. The book itself is not confusing, though. I think I was just confused by the names in the summary...
The Pillars of Natura Series takes place on a fantasy world where Realmwalkers, mortal champions, protect The Balance of the world of the Goddess Erta. Some of the plotlines are similar to some in other fantasy series, but are handled in a totally unique fashion.
Overall, a nice, light story for fans of the fantasy genre. The writing was clear and easy to followand makes for a quick read, making this an ideal book to take on roadtrips, to appointments, to enjoy between classes, etc.
I would definitely purchase more of Mr. Aaron's works in the future.
This book was won from the Goodreads.com website.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read. The author did an excellent job of integrating the magic system into the religions and cultures represented within the setting. It reminded me of an expanded version of Avatar: The Last Air Bender, with a little bit of a more Western bent to some of the cultural elements we've seen so far (but with the implication of a much broader world around the characters).

There have already been several twists that managed to catch me off my guard. Some of the plot elements look very much like your typical fantasy story introduction, only to be subverted in fun ways shortly thereafter. Definitely worth a read.

I'll look forward to reading part 2.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realmwalker 1

This is an interesting read. There were moments I found it easy to put down and other moments that were not. All in all, I now would like to read the next in this series as it holds much promise.

[L.K. Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit I’m drawn to books that feature a sibling relationship. I’ve said in the past that I’d be hard pressed not to like a book with a strong sibling bond. So for me, that part kept my interest where it otherwise might have waned.

As the blurb states, this is basically about the twins coming into their destinies. Not quite a full-fledged coming of age, but you get that sense, nonetheless.

First off, the world was nicely touched upon. For this being centered in one small town where mixed races are outcast, the world was developed nicely. There were a few paragraphs that bordered on info dumping, but they were short enough not to bother me. There’s mention of religions and cultures, and though we only got a small taste, I’m sure more is to come in the other books as the characters travel. This one was short, so I’m happy Aarons didn’t try to shove more down my throat than what was relevant to the story.

There’s some magic that I think could prove quite fun to read about in future books. Again, since this is a very short beginning, the characters weren’t given tons of opportunity to use magic. But what we’re shown has a nice range, hinting that so much more is available for the characters to use. It ranged from slowing time to manipulating plants to communicating with animals.

The story is focused mainly on Kanias, a Seraph that happens upon the outcast village, and of the twins, Raine and Rennick, both of whom are chosen. Trope it is, but I didn’t mind. As I’ve mentioned, this book is short, so character development was ... how should I say ... abrupt? One minute the twins are run of the mill, the next Raine is powerful and seemingly adjusting well to her new role. Sure there’s some struggles, but it all felt rushed. Rennick processed things much more realistically. That being said, I did enjoy the twins and their relationship. I’m hoping it’s explored more in future books, perhaps showing me their closeness with situations rather than stating it. Which brings me to how much I loved the beginning. It might have started out slow, but the first action scene was done brilliantly, in my opinion. It showed me the concern Rennick had for his sister embedded in some great pacing and a tense scene. If not for that, I wouldn’t have enjoyed the story as much as I did. Without it, I wouldn’t have grasped the closeness Rennick and Raine shared.

Kanias, however, felt very stationary throughout the story. Granted, it’s short, he’s older and more adjusted to his role, and obviously the twins are our main protagonist. That said, I still wish he would have been fleshed out a bit more.

Speaking of pacing, this reads quickly. There were some slow spots, but nothing so boring that I didn’t plow through them. I have to mention, as I do every time I encounter it, there are some errors in this book. I’ve said in the past that I don’t have the best eye for proofreading errors, so if I saw some, there’s probably more. There were a few awkward paragraphs that switched to present tense, forgoing the past tense of the rest of the novel. Obviously those sections stuck out. Also, I felt the writing was strong in the first half of the book, however, later on it seemed to move faster, giving less sensory input and an abundance of duplicated words. It wasn’t enough to turn me off from the story, but I missed the feel of the first part of the book.

So overall, it was a great way to pass some time. Because of the twins, I’ll definitely pick up the second book. I’ve read that it’s better than the first, so it’s got my curiosity. If you like fantasy and don’t mind the “chosen one” trope, I’d recommend giving this a whirl.

[Fraslund · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was interesting as it is the first installment of Four so it’s really like part 1 of 4 of the first book in a sense from what I understand.

First off the art in this book was fantastic and really provided a great visual and context to what I was reading. As far as writing style and world building, Lee Aarons did something similar to Brandon Sanderson in The Way of Kings in that he had a really strange/unfamiliar world structure that while at first was confusing as names were thrown out, helped distinguish it and made it a unique setting once the story picked up. The actual writing I thought was fantastic and Lee Aarons paints a great picture of his world and really gets you into each scene.

The prologue in this book was epic and really got me hooked for what was to come. The hook that drew you in was really interesting and grabbed my attention. Once the story started, I immediately liked the main characters and as I started to get familiar with the world structure and names, the world felt unique and interesting. The funny thing about this book is that it really reads like a massive epic fantasy. This actually threw me at first because the travel scenes were very detailed and you really felt the journey. The rub here is that when the story really starts, the book is almost over.... again first part of a larger story...

I enjoyed this installment and I am really looking forward to book 2 which I am about to start. I can't wait to see where this story goes.

[Cody · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the writing is good and the ideas fun, this is not a book. This is a teaser meant to get the reader to want to buy the other 2 "volumes" when they are released. If each volume is around the 170-200 pages mark like this one, that will make one solid book in the proposed quadrology.

I liked the volume, but won't be doing any more reading in this series if/until Book 1: Pillars of Natura is properly distributed as a single book and not split into 3 for what feels like a marketing ploy. Especially since volume 1 ends on a cliffhanger of sorts.

Don't let my irritation at the author's choice of distribution/structure fool you, the writing is solid and the plot unfolded into a neat snarl at one point, even if it is a basic coming of age/chosen ones plot that is told a bit differently. I just can't give the "book" more stars until I can actually read the entire book.