Secrets of the Conclave

by Beth Raymond

The time for change has come. Since its founding, the matriarchal society of Corinas has existed under the oppressive rule of the Masters of the Conclave, who use powerful child Adepts to aid in their governance. Rebellions have come and gone, but none have managed to displace the Conclave’s iron-fisted control. Now, a new group of rebels hopes to succeed where others have failed. Nyona, a former Adept who only wanted to live her life free of the Conclave, is unwillingly thrust into the rebellion’s efforts when she finds a forbidden book containing the secrets to controlling her daughter’s Ability. Together with Mathis, a Guardsman who joined the rebellion after his parents’ execution, Nyona will help the rebels destroy the Conclave’s power—or die trying. What Amazon Readers are ★★★★★ "If Margaret Atwood's 'A Handmaid's Tale' and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series had a baby, Beth Raymond's world of Corinas is what it might look like." ★★★★★ "The story pulls you in and you find yourself needing to know what's going to happen next." ★★★★★ "I devoured this book like it was my last supper." Available in digital and print.

Genres: Fantasy

286 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2012

About the author

Beth Raymond practices law by day, but in the quiet, pre-dawn hours, writes fiction from the comfort of her leather armchair. When she’s not writing or working, she enjoys traveling, playing video games, knitting, and organizing things that do not particularly need organizing. Beth lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two cats.

Amazon Author Central page

Reviews

[phoebess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decisions
This was really short prequel. Almost nothing happened—plot-wise, so it's up to you, if you read it or not. Also, it doesn't really matter if you read it before or after Secrets of the Conclave.

Secrets of the Conclave
I devoured this book like it was my last supper. No kidding. It was an interesting take on matriarchal society, well, on cult (let's call it as we see it, right?) full of naive and brainwashed Adepts and duplicitous Masters.
I really liked that part when Miss Raymond introduced us to two Adepts' "wake-up calls"—each one on the opposite sides of fight. There was the unruly Adept with Rebels and the obedient Adept with Conclave. I don't know which one could be considered as worse... The one which confirmed Alia's mere speculations about Masters? Or the one in which clueless Sarabie found out that her life is not a bed of roses?
And you can probably guess what pissed me off. I was so happy Mathis and Nyona would finally end up together and a few moments later, they were split up by a stupid story development! They only managed to kiss each other once or twice, for fuck's sake! Ugh...
The story was well-written, entertaining and, most of all, it kept me on my toes from beginning till the end. I'm so looking forward to the sequel...

[Wendy Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing story of the Conclave. Special children are born as Adepts who can communicate telepathically with others. They loose this ability when they become child bearing age. Then they are bred with another Adept to produce a child Adept. This is just the way it is, they have been taught all their lives that this is the master plan and their goal in life. No child knows who their mother is. They try to have mainly female Adepts but there must be males also to continue on the line. The Masters take care of all of this. Apparently everything the Masters relate to their "kingdon" isn't true. The rebels have been trying to get rid of these evil Masters and the Conclave.


I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

[Samantha Campfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can find my full review of this as well as an attached asthetic picture for this novel at
http://bookwormeviewsandasthetic.tumb...

I did receive this hardback from Goodreads Giveaways, but I do not let that sway any of my reviews, to be honest the description had me marking it "To Read" shelf anyway. I love a captivating description!!!
I like this book, plain and simple. There were a lot of things that I wanted from this book that I did not receive, merely because the author was so good that I wanted more. The story is set in the past around an area of land called Corinas where a matriarchal establishment called the Conclave rule. They help rule with the use of “Adepts”. Adepts are female children and teenagers with powers that have studied alongside The Masters (Older adepts that have lost their powers and have born a female adept, as all must) and have learned to hone in on their abilities and use them for the greater good. Tasks like finding out the truth, , lies from deceit during trails by getting into the mind of the person speaking and seeing what they saw, but is everything exactly as the mind’s eye see it, or could someone be trying to change the truth? We find out that these powers allow the adepts to all connect together to form one conscious, or to speak privately with one another. There are other powers hidden within the adepts as well. They can increase power, tell the sex of an unborn child. There were hints that the adepts could do much more than that, but it was never reveled in this book. With powers like the Conclave, there is always a resistance, and a means of restraining power. The Conclave, with their Iron-like grip on society, and especially the adepts, keep the people ignorant of their true intentions, to rule the Corinas without interference and to bend the adepts how they please to fit their agenda, even using the adepts’ power to make the people of Corinas think that they need the conclave to protect them. They keep the Adepts bent to their will with oldest trick in the book, ignorance. The Adept children are kept illiterate until the age of 20 and unaware of the things going on around them outside the walls of the conclave, or outside of their assignments across the lands within Corinas. There are also “Implants” which can sever an Adept from their powers forever, a means of punishment. The threat of being implanted keeps the adepts in line as well as lies about what comes after ascension (the losing of your powers to become a master). There are always those that will fight for what is right, even if it is not popular; the rebellion who mean to strip The Conclave of their power over the Corinas, and their power over the Adepts.

This is the story of an adept that did the impossible, and adept that is the impossible, an adept that believes the lies she has been taught, and the rebellion that brings them together to fight for the real greater good; The Freedom for the people of Corinas.

This story is woven together by the point of view of many characters.
Nyona, a mother with a secret so dear, she will risk it all.
Mathis, a rebellion soldier who watched the conclave take everything from him
Alia, an adept who has a streak for breaking the rules
And Sarabie, an adept that finds out the truth, the hard way
All of their voices mingle together to bring you the beginning of a journey, the beginning of a fight, and the beginning of a series that I cannot wait to read.

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this as a Kindle freebie and really didn't have very high expectations; experience has taught me many a self-pubbed author should push pause and edit at least one more time. While there were a few fleeting things that didn't quite fit - like current medical terminology - they were so minor that they didn't lesson my enjoyment of the story. Overall this was a well groomed story.

In this opening novel of what I assume to be a trilogy, the Conclave is introduced as the seat of a matriarchal society that rules its lands by use of adepts. These adepts are telepathic, sending and receiving messages across great distances. They can assess truth and ferret out lies with ease. Unfortunately, with the onset of puberty most girls lose this ability. Instead of casting aside these uneducated and no longer useful young women, the once-adepts are convinced its a great honor to bear the next generation of adepts.

The need to control the adepts and their power lies at the heart of this story. The Conclave's need for new adepts results in a some rather disturbing policies that spawn a rebellion. At the center of this struggle is Alia, an unusual adept who seems to hold onto her power against expectations, and young Tovi, an adept born outside the Conclave by a woman the Conclave had thought to be infertile and had, as a result, released from service.

I don't want to say much more because I don't want to give away anything. Instead, I encourage any fantasy lovers out there to go ahead an give this book a chance to entertain you.

[Nymeria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the book. Hope there is more like this by the author

[Sabra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hate cliffhangers, but this is pretty good