The Stars of Areon

The Chronicles of Areon #1

by Aaron J. Ethridge

Sixteen years old and newly knighted, Darian is now being sent on The Journey, his first step into manhood. Meanwhile Gwendolyn, a seemingly ordinary young girl, finds herself abducted by the servants of the powerful mercenary, Lord Valrak. When our young hero stumbles upon the trail of the maiden and her captors, he gallantly accepts the quest to rescue her. Along the way, he meets a number of companions who join him for honor, for friendship, and for gold.
The rescue party quickly tracks down and defeats the kidnappers only to find their way home blocked by more of Valrak's men. The adventurers decide to brave the wilderness, hoping to avoid these enemies, while making their way toward the noble knight's fortress home. During their travels, they discover the secret that fuels Lord Valrak's pursuit. Overcome at last and vastly outnumbered, our heroes are forced to take their final stand against the forces of evil.

Genres: Fantasy

268 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 2, 2015

Reviews

[Alicia Huxtable · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable

I loved these characters. They all work together so well to make this story quite an enjoyable read. I look forward to.reading the rest of the series

[Safari Spell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun, easy fantasy read! I usually don't read high fantasy, but I liked this little romp in a new world. I liked all the characters and thought everything from the plot to the voice was strong and intriguing. A lot of the interactions were cute and showed character development and never felt like info dumps. I didn't care for many of the names because they were so similar and strange that I kept having to look back to remember who was who early on, but it was less of a problem later in the story.

Also, saying the knight/maiden/rogue got frustrating the more I saw it. Once I knew the characters' names, I didn't want them referred to as their archetype. I'll also admit that descriptions during battles did make my eyes glaze over so I skipped some paragraphs because of that, but I'm excited to read the next one! I hope we get to see more of Darian and Gwendolyn's relationship grow along with who she really is.