Schemes: The Order - Book 3

The Order

by A.C. Donaubauer

After the delegation's return not only the Old Kingdom has to face changes as a consequence of the contact with the Western Territories. Eryn and Enric, too, realise that their recently established bond is not without side effects. Eryn centres all her hopes on the healer from Takhan who is supposed to aid her for a few months and who is bound to arrive soon...

Genres: Fantasy

545 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 2, 2016

About the author

A.C. Donaubauer lives in Vienna, Austria, and is a freelance language/business/social skills trainer and translator.

Reviews

[Dolly Sandor · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars. I know each book in this series is long but they are so well done, I hate when they end. Eagerly awaiting the next.

Review:

I love this epic series!!

What I liked: The Order series has just captivated me from the first book, The Order. Believe me, there is so much going on but the core characters have most of the action/reaction. I recommended the first book to many of my fellow bloggers and friends. They seem appalled that the books are so long. I was thrilled because I love the story and characters that much.

Eryn and Enric are on their way back home and couldn’t be happier after all the tricks Eryn’s mother, Malriel, pulled while they were visiting. While I enjoyed the second book, Commitments, I was glad to have the main characters back among all the others I had come to love. The Western Territory, while a bit more modern, especially concerning the arts and healing, seemed laid back but with a lot, and I mean a lot of political positioning among the Houses.

You just have to love Eryn. She just keeps opening her mouth and inserting her foot and to top that off, she can’t tell when she’s being manipulated. She’s being manipulated by just about everyone it turns out. She’s so concerned with her healing and upcoming tests and a few other projects she’s working on, that she’s almost too willing to forgive and forget. Of course with the system of checks and balances, she’s really in a bit of a quandary as there is nothing she can do to upset the apple cart. Well, there is but the consequences would be too great for those she cares about.

Just when Eryn thinks things are settling down, her two favorite people (much sarcasm) come to visit. Her cousin who is now her sister, Pe'tala, is sent to lend a hand with the healing clinic and to teach and test Eryn in the art of healing. The other visitor, Eryn’s biological mother, Malriel, seems to have “schemes” of her own to hatch in the Kingdom. Eryn just wants to avoid her mother, but Mom is having none of it. She’s playing a game to get sympathy from the other magicians and their companions in the way Eryn treats her.

Since Schemes is over 600 pages, I obviously can’t tell you everything I liked or this review would be way too long. Ms Donaubauer definitely takes the action, plotting, and the characters up a notch. I really had an extremely hard time trying to find stopping places. All the main characters are going through so much there is never a dull moment. The commitment bond between Eryn and Enric becomes something neither one of them were expecting.

Ms. Donaubauer as always interjects humor and snark into the storyline which at times just had me laughing out loud. One thing about Eryn, what you see and how she reacts is almost always predictable. Enric, however, is not the forgiving type and when the King uses Eryn to further a plot, Enric carefully plans his revenge.

I learned much more about each character and their willingness to help, use, and embarrass each other. I was surprised by several of the twists thrown into the storyline but one I saw coming a mile away. I just didn’t know how the author was going to arrange the situation.

What I didn’t like: There were occasions where I just wanted Eryn to win a round of the political intrigue. I thought by this point she might suspect how she was being played by the other characters. But that’s also part of what kept me up too late. I wanted to read about the next person who was going to play Eryn.

As always in my favorite books/series, it’s the characters that I love. The interactions between them in Schemes is one of the high points so far in this series. Yes, I know the books each have many pages but I want to go back and read them all over again. I can’t say that about too many series. Now the wait for the next book begins…..sobs!

Highly Recommended!!!!!

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review originally posted at RabidReads.ca.

4.5 stars

This is a series that I’ve really enjoyed since I read the first book. I can’t thank Dolly at Just Talking Books enough for putting this series on my radar. From the very beginning I’ve enjoyed the time that I’ve spent with Eryn, Enric, Orrin and Vern. As the series has moved forward, the cast of characters has grown and now there are even more characters for me to love.

After spending the previous book, Commitments, in Eryn’s original homeland, in Schemes, we are back in Anyueel, aka The Old Kingdom. Eryn is eager to move forward on her healing, but The Order has other plans for her. Eryn continues to struggle with The Order. The Order the official group of magicians which are basically like an army. They are the warriors of the kingdom. Eryn, being the only female magician because of a curse that was left on Anyueel to only sire male magicians, doesn’t understand the need for so much training in fighting during peacetime. She wants to focus all of her time on something she deems a greater need, healing (I tend to agree with her).

Enric is starting to show himself in more of a social setting than he has in the past. Being the second strongest magician in the land has given him a very lofty position. People were very scared of him. As Eryn works more with the general population and less with the elites, she is bringing Enric along for that ride.

Also in this book, Eryn is anxiously awaiting a healer from her homeland to help educate The Old Kingdom more in the ways of healing. Eryn has not formal training, but was taught by her father who did, though they didn’t practice openly with magic. She is quite surprised when she learns who that healer will be, but none other than her cousin which she doesn’t get along with at all. Along on that visit is Eryn’s mother, who she is really not happy about seeing.

Again Eryn, is faced with having to play political games, not only with her mother, but also her cousin and even the king himself. One of the parts I liked a lot is when Eryn actually has to go to her cousin for help in solving a problem. Eryn has taken over the orphanage, but doesn’t have time to run it herself, so she starts to look for someone to run it. She is very surprised when the companion of head guy at The Order, the most powerful magician in the realm, asks for the honor. See, in the Old Kingdom, companions (that is the term used for spouses) of powerful magicians don’t see it as fit to lower themselves to having a job. So when the highest ranking companion decides to take on this role, many of the others frown down on her. Eryn wants to help, but if she just comes right out and tells these people what she thinks, it looks back on The Order and on Enric. So she pays her cousin to do it for her. Since her cousin isn’t from this kingdom, isn’t part of The Order and their cultures are different, she can get away with things that Eryn can’t. This also seems to help to bring them together, along with a trick from the leader of The Order and some help from Enric.

I can’t go into everything because this book is very long (Amazon’s English version says 319 pages, but I know it is a lot longer than that. The German version says 805, which seems about right). I’m always hesitant to start because it seems like such a large task, but once I start reading, I can’t put it down. The story doesn’t feel long when I read it at all. I get immersed into the story and the characters lives and just get lost. If you like fantasy worlds with magicians and some humor, then I highly recommend this series. I really hope that the books’ lengths don’t deter you from trying them. I’m really excited for the next book where Eryn is one again traveling to her homeland. I just can’t wait to see what is in store for her there.

“What?”
“I thank my lucky stars for allowing me to witness that scene! It is balm for my soul! Just what I needed after dealing with Malriel today.” She laughed and went to the drinks cabinet to pour herself a glass of sweet wine.
“I am glad I could assist in cheering you up,” he remarked dryly.
“You did, there is no denying it,” she smiled. “I have discovered a side to you that I wouldn’t dream was buried there under all your dignity, superiority, strictness, eagerness to adhere to rules and all that. You were cheeky, snotty, uppity, ironic, disrespectful…”
“So basically, like you?”
“Exactly!” she beamed, not feeling the least bit insulted. “I am not the only one here being cursed with a parent who rather resembles some frightening monster in a story for children instead of a real person. But I want to say that you are still the one who is the better off of us,” she said.

“How are you going to spend your last day here tomorrow?” Junar enquired.
“Firstly, I am going to sleep in after all this tonight,” Eryn sighed. “Then I will probably take a walk through the city one last time and drop by at the clinic. In the evening the King wants to see us to say his goodbyes. And the three of you?”
“Go through our packing lists one final time, have last minute hysterics… the usual,” Junar shrugged.
“You plan your hysterics? That’s what I call organised,” Enric commented.
“Oh, it is,” Eryn nodded, “mine are too spontaneous for your taste.”
“Not true,” Enric contradicted, “I do appreciate the element of surprise. It’s never dull with you.”
“A declaration of love that makes me want to weep from the emotion,” she chortled.

**Book was provided to me by the author. This review is my opinion and was not requested or provoked in anyway by the author.

[Dominique · Rating 5 out of 5]

Der Orden 3 Intrigen

A.C.Donaubauer

***** Sterne

Mit großer Vorfreude habe ich auf den 3. Teil gewartet. Und auch diesmal war es großartig das Buch zu lesen.
Wie auch schon beim vorherigen Teil, geht es Nahtlos ineinander über.
Am Ende des 2. Teils gehen sie an Bord um nach Hause zu fahren und im 3. Teil sind sie auf See.
Das finde ich toll. Bei manchen sind dann Jahre vergangen, was ich persönlich nicht so gut finde.

Nachdem Eryn und Enric Takhan endlich verlassen dürfen, freuen sie sich sehr auf zu Hause. Eryn hat viel gelernt und möchte so viel wie möglich in Ihrer Klinik davon anwenden.
Enric hat viele neue Geschäftsbeziehungen aufbauen können und auch dafür gibt es noch viel zu tun.
Und das sich schon bald Besuch aus den Westlichen Territorien ankündigt, trägt auch nicht grade dazu bei, das die beiden mal zur Ruhe kommen.

In Takhan sind die beiden das Band 3. Grades eingegangen. In seltenen Fällen gibt es dabei den Nebeneffekt, das man die Gefühlslage des Partners miterleben kann. Und wie soll es anders sein, die beiden gehören zu diesen seltenen Paaren.
Aber genau dieses Band führt zu einer Menge lustiger Szenen.

Über den weiteren Inhalt will ich gar nicht viel schreiben, denn es gibt eine ganze Menge unvorhersehbarer Dinge, die ich euch natürlich nicht verraten möchte. Immer wenn man denkt, so da kann doch nicht’s mehr kommen, kommt’s immer noch dicker.

Es gab mal wieder sehr sehr viel zum schmunzeln und lachen. Aber es gab auch wieder Szenen in denen ich sauer auf die Protas war und am liebsten selber ins Buch rein wollte, um ihm/ihr mal gehörig die Meinung zu sagen.

Astrid schreibt ihre Bücher mit sehr vielen Dialogen, was mir sehr sehr gut gefällt, da es immer sehr lebhaft ist. Ich habe dann das Gefühl ich sitze mit dem Darstellern am selben Tisch und trinke mit ihnen Tee, oder gehe mit ihnen über den Markt oder hinüber zum Heiler Gebäude. Sie sind für mich mittlerweile zu guten Freunden geworden, mit denen ich ein wenig meiner Zeit verbringen darf.

Sie sind mir alle so sehr vertraut geworden, das ich schon ein wenig Angst davor habe, wenn der letzte Teil denn irgendwann raus kommt. Denn auch wenn ich mir sicher bin, das ich die Bücher noch sehr oft lesen werde, ist die erste Reise mit ihnen, das erste kennenlernen und das erste mal Lachen über die Szenen dann doch vorüber und es wird anders sein.

Aber bis dahin wird es ja erst mal den 4. Teil geben auf den ich mich schon sehr freue und sehr gespannt bin.

Jeder der gerne witzige, freche aber auch spannende und interessante Fantasy liest, lege ich diese Serie sehr ans Herz. Ihr werdet es nicht bereuen.