What do you think?
Rate this book
Alastair Stone Chronicles #11
Path of Stone
Librarian's note: This an alternate cover for: B075QZR1NP
Trial by fire
After fifteen-year-old Alastair Stone is caught performing magic at his prestigious boarding school, he can hardly believe his good fortune: not only isn't he punished, but his father arranges a trial apprenticeship—three years early—with one of the most powerful mages in all of Britain. He'll have a month to prove himself, or he'll be packed back off to school.
But when Alastair arrives at his new master's vast, remote country house, he soon finds that his teacher's draconian style and exacting standards aren't the only challenges he'll have to face to pass his trial. The house holds deadly secrets, and not all of his master's staff are on his side. There's also the matter of the village girl he can't stop thinking about...
All this is bad enough—but when events spiral out of control, unleashing a murderous enemy to stalk the dark halls of the manor, Alastair is left as the only line of defense against a potential bloodbath. Can a barely-trained, fifteen-year-old mage on his own use his wits and courage to save not only his life, but his master's?
Trial by fire
After fifteen-year-old Alastair Stone is caught performing magic at his prestigious boarding school, he can hardly believe his good fortune: not only isn't he punished, but his father arranges a trial apprenticeship—three years early—with one of the most powerful mages in all of Britain. He'll have a month to prove himself, or he'll be packed back off to school.
But when Alastair arrives at his new master's vast, remote country house, he soon finds that his teacher's draconian style and exacting standards aren't the only challenges he'll have to face to pass his trial. The house holds deadly secrets, and not all of his master's staff are on his side. There's also the matter of the village girl he can't stop thinking about...
All this is bad enough—but when events spiral out of control, unleashing a murderous enemy to stalk the dark halls of the manor, Alastair is left as the only line of defense against a potential bloodbath. Can a barely-trained, fifteen-year-old mage on his own use his wits and courage to save not only his life, but his master's?
- GenresUrban Fantasy
227 pages, ebook
First published September 18, 2017
179 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
R.L. King
68 books332 followersR. L. King is the author of the Amazon-bestselling urban fantasy series The Alastair Stone Chronicles.
When not doing her best to make life difficult for her characters, she works as a software technical writer for a large Silicon Valley database company.
She also freelances for Catalyst Game Labs, publisher of the popular roleplaying game Shadowrun, where she's contributed fiction and game material to numerous sourcebooks and one full-length adventure, "On the Run," which was included as part of the 2012 Origins-Award-winning "Runners' Toolkit."
Her first novel in the Shadowrun universe, "Borrowed Time," was published in Spring 2015. She's working on her second Shadowrun novel, "Veiled Extraction," which will be released in late 2016 or early 2017.
When not writing or working, she enjoys hanging out with her very understanding spouse and her small herd of cats, and watching way too much Doctor Who.
When not doing her best to make life difficult for her characters, she works as a software technical writer for a large Silicon Valley database company.
She also freelances for Catalyst Game Labs, publisher of the popular roleplaying game Shadowrun, where she's contributed fiction and game material to numerous sourcebooks and one full-length adventure, "On the Run," which was included as part of the 2012 Origins-Award-winning "Runners' Toolkit."
Her first novel in the Shadowrun universe, "Borrowed Time," was published in Spring 2015. She's working on her second Shadowrun novel, "Veiled Extraction," which will be released in late 2016 or early 2017.
When not writing or working, she enjoys hanging out with her very understanding spouse and her small herd of cats, and watching way too much Doctor Who.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 23, 2017
Path of Stone: Alastair Stone Chronicles #11
by R.L. King
King delivers another fun and exciting novel in her 11th journey into the magical world of mage, Alastair Stone. This novel was a prequel to the series, chronicling Stone's early entry into magical training with the well-known and powerful mage, William Desmond. While I'm not usually a fan of prequels, this one was well done and King did a good job of making the 15-year old Stone's character consistent with the adult Stone of the rest of the series. The story is told as flashback, as Stone tells it to his own mage-in-training, Verity.
The storyline was interesting. I'm not sure it accomplishes revealing anything new about Alastair Stone, but it does let the reader know that, even from a very young age, Alastair not only desired to live a magical life, but that his sense of dedication to his chosen craft, and his sense of right and wrong, were always the driving forces in his life, things we (the readers) already knew. Still, it was fun to see the usually unflappable Stone as a teen, struggling with self-worth and self-image, much as all teens experience. There certainly was a lot of action and definite danger to characters, including Stone himself. New characters to the series are well drawn. There was good flow and pacing to the story line, and the editing was good, ad the proofreading decent, although I did notice one left out word (1655 on my Kindle). I also found a seeming mistake regarding Desmond's "rules" (regarding needing permission to go to the village near the Desmond estate on a weekend -- hint: Desmond said he would have "free time" where he could go and come as he pleased.)(The 'rules' appear from about 831 to 871 or so on my Kindle, the error regarding same appears at about 1573.). Also, I found it unusual, or at least to me, that when the author's narration include conversations, or remembrances of same, which reference both Alastair Stone and his father, Orion Stone, the author often refers to the elder Stone as 'Stone,' rather than make those passages clearer by referring to the character by his first name, leaving no doubt as to which Stone was the subject. That last one isn't really a mistake, just something that made me stop, take myself out of the story, and wonder why.
So, all in all, this novel is a nice entry into the Alastair Stone Chronicles. I'm looking forward to the 12th novel in the series, "Necessary Sacrifices," which is due in December 2017.
by R.L. King
King delivers another fun and exciting novel in her 11th journey into the magical world of mage, Alastair Stone. This novel was a prequel to the series, chronicling Stone's early entry into magical training with the well-known and powerful mage, William Desmond. While I'm not usually a fan of prequels, this one was well done and King did a good job of making the 15-year old Stone's character consistent with the adult Stone of the rest of the series. The story is told as flashback, as Stone tells it to his own mage-in-training, Verity.
The storyline was interesting. I'm not sure it accomplishes revealing anything new about Alastair Stone, but it does let the reader know that, even from a very young age, Alastair not only desired to live a magical life, but that his sense of dedication to his chosen craft, and his sense of right and wrong, were always the driving forces in his life, things we (the readers) already knew. Still, it was fun to see the usually unflappable Stone as a teen, struggling with self-worth and self-image, much as all teens experience. There certainly was a lot of action and definite danger to characters, including Stone himself. New characters to the series are well drawn. There was good flow and pacing to the story line, and the editing was good, ad the proofreading decent, although I did notice one left out word (1655 on my Kindle). I also found a seeming mistake regarding Desmond's "rules" (regarding needing permission to go to the village near the Desmond estate on a weekend -- hint: Desmond said he would have "free time" where he could go and come as he pleased.)(The 'rules' appear from about 831 to 871 or so on my Kindle, the error regarding same appears at about 1573.). Also, I found it unusual, or at least to me, that when the author's narration include conversations, or remembrances of same, which reference both Alastair Stone and his father, Orion Stone, the author often refers to the elder Stone as 'Stone,' rather than make those passages clearer by referring to the character by his first name, leaving no doubt as to which Stone was the subject. That last one isn't really a mistake, just something that made me stop, take myself out of the story, and wonder why.
So, all in all, this novel is a nice entry into the Alastair Stone Chronicles. I'm looking forward to the 12th novel in the series, "Necessary Sacrifices," which is due in December 2017.
October 14, 2017
Very good
This book, Path of Stone, could have been a stand-alone if not for the first and last chapters which relate to events from the previous book, The Other Side. It is an interesting back-story of Alastair as he begins his mage apprenticeship with a demanding and extremely strict world class master mage.
R.L. King is a good writer and storyteller and she did a very good job with creating Alastair's teenage character while maintaining the characteristics we know him as an adult. The story is a detailed, but not uninteresting, telling of Alastair Stone's hopes and dreams and doubts and mistakes as he works to comply with the demands of his mage master.
Sometimes authors seem to loose momentum after they have written several books in a series. Their stories become flat and forced. So far R.L. King has put out very entertaining stories. Anyone who enjoys urban/paranormal fantasy, in the vein of Jim Butcher's Dresden File and Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series will love the Alastair Stone Chronicles.
This book, Path of Stone, could have been a stand-alone if not for the first and last chapters which relate to events from the previous book, The Other Side. It is an interesting back-story of Alastair as he begins his mage apprenticeship with a demanding and extremely strict world class master mage.
R.L. King is a good writer and storyteller and she did a very good job with creating Alastair's teenage character while maintaining the characteristics we know him as an adult. The story is a detailed, but not uninteresting, telling of Alastair Stone's hopes and dreams and doubts and mistakes as he works to comply with the demands of his mage master.
Sometimes authors seem to loose momentum after they have written several books in a series. Their stories become flat and forced. So far R.L. King has put out very entertaining stories. Anyone who enjoys urban/paranormal fantasy, in the vein of Jim Butcher's Dresden File and Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series will love the Alastair Stone Chronicles.
January 13, 2018
Excellent; When 15 yo Stone got into trouble at his school after a circle was discovered in his room, his father pulls him out of school & sets him up to start his apprenticeship 3 years early with one of the best teachers around, William Desmond. However, the mage only agreed to take him on first for a probationary period. However, he almost washes out. Not from lack of talent or will power, but for breaking some of the rules. Even though, Alastair saw no way around breaking the rules when a young girl was in danger. Desmond, haunted by the death of an apprentice of his years ago, had developed rules so it would not happen again. The mage later admitted he was too hasty in his decision, though his reasoning was sound. For the rest of the story, you will need to read. Very good book. Hard to put down.
September 11, 2022
A nice, shorter installment in the series giving us a peak at a young Alastair. Despite being a very proper, very respectful teen, we do see the early characteristics here of the mage we'll grow to love as he grows. He draws his lines between self-interest and the benefit of others, and we root for him the whole way. Refreshing to get the narrative in the narrator's native accent as well.
September 23, 2017
Awesome story! I really enjoyed reading about how Alastair got his beginnings. I like how it was told to Verity as a lesson/story for her to relate to. There is a lesson for all of us to learn and so read and you will learn. I recommend this book and all the books in then series!
September 27, 2017
Just what was needed!
Loved the back story...and would love to see more of his earlier adventures. It was nice to see what shaped this character early on. Can't wait for another escape to the Stone Chronicles
Loved the back story...and would love to see more of his earlier adventures. It was nice to see what shaped this character early on. Can't wait for another escape to the Stone Chronicles
September 29, 2017
Absolutely Fantastic!!!
Wow! Just wow!
I love this whole series and this installment does not disappoint!!
Seeing into Stones beginnings and what he faced was perfect! So sweet and heroic all at once...
Huge thanks and much praise to the author for this story!
Wow! Just wow!
I love this whole series and this installment does not disappoint!!
Seeing into Stones beginnings and what he faced was perfect! So sweet and heroic all at once...
Huge thanks and much praise to the author for this story!
January 17, 2021
A look to the past
I adored this one. It basically goes over how Stone met and apprenticed to Desmond framed by helping Verity cope with things she had to do in the last book. Was great getting insight into Stones upbringing as well. Loved it
I adored this one. It basically goes over how Stone met and apprenticed to Desmond framed by helping Verity cope with things she had to do in the last book. Was great getting insight into Stones upbringing as well. Loved it
December 9, 2017
Wonderful to glance into Alastair's childhood
July 25, 2018
Great story! I have enjoyed all of the Alastair books immensely. It is interesting to get some back story on Alastair. I cannot wait for more!
February 16, 2020
In The Beginning...
This is a GREAT story regarding Stone and his beginning foray into magic. It helps round out our should I day FLESH out Stone's backstory.
This is a GREAT story regarding Stone and his beginning foray into magic. It helps round out our should I day FLESH out Stone's backstory.
August 22, 2020
Great book
This series has everything you could want. It's fast paced with great cast of characters and a great story line. This series is masterfully crafted and I love them.
This series has everything you could want. It's fast paced with great cast of characters and a great story line. This series is masterfully crafted and I love them.
May 5, 2021
Nice little trip down Memory Lane for our favorite Occult Studies professor
February 7, 2018
Flashback
What a great idea and story. R.L. King does a wonderful job of breaking up the series a little by going back in time to when Stone was an apprentice. Very nicely told, the story starts with stone trying to help his own apprentice by sharing something that happened to him when he was an apprentice. A great addiction to an already great series.
What a great idea and story. R.L. King does a wonderful job of breaking up the series a little by going back in time to when Stone was an apprentice. Very nicely told, the story starts with stone trying to help his own apprentice by sharing something that happened to him when he was an apprentice. A great addiction to an already great series.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews