The Seven

by Courtney Praski

After the nuclear apocalypse of 2100, now referred to as the Great Fire, Oloris—the last habitable land in the world has become mankind’s last chance at survival. This topographical phenomenon is home to seven vastly different climates—a freezing tundra in the north, a dark murky swamp in the west, a vast mountain range in the south, a subtropical sand filled beach in the east, and at its center lays a sweltering desert, gentle rolling plains, and a bioluminescent tree filled forest. Once home to only a few hundred survivors of the Great Fire, Oloris is now entering its eight-hundredth year and is home to over a million citizens.

Separated into seven nations, and ruled by seven very different factions, the land is monitored by a group of magically enhanced individuals called the Seven. Through the time-honored tradition of passing their mantle to a younger counterpart from their home nation every thirty years, the Seven have ensured Oloris’s peace for nearly half a millennia—until now. A power-hungry queen in the north will stop at nothing until all of Oloris is hers to rule. She is gathering her forces, making allies and planning the Seven’s demise. Her thirst for power couldn’t have come at a worse time. The current Seven have reached the end of their service and must choose their predecessors. Now, the sanctity of Oloris will be entrusted to a group of individuals who most perceive as children—not warriors.

A blind orphan, a rich highborn, a slave, a gentle hunter, an enlightened blacksmith, a warrior, and a queen long thought dead—are thrust into a world of magic, power, and deception. Enemies are lurking in the shadows, allies are rallying their forces, and nations are struggling to choose sides in the coming war. Carefully navigating Oloris’s politically charged climate, these young protectors must learn not only their place in the world but how to save their world as they know it.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

619 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 17, 2018

About the author

Courtney Praski is a resident in the State of Michigan. Graduating from Ferris State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice, and then a Graduate Degree from Saginaw Valley State University in Administration—Courtney always knew she wanted to do something that made a difference in the lives of young adults. As such, the concept of writing a book that could reach out to all youth’s in today’s word became Courtney’s way of making a far grander difference in the world.

Growing up surrounded by great literary works such as Harry Potter, Courtney realized that reading can quickly become not just a hobby but rather a place of escape for a child. Fantasy novels are meant to be an escape from reality—to go to a place where anything is possible, yet sometimes that journey can be incredibly lonely when there isn't anybody like you. This is why Courtney wrote this book. The Seven and the world of Oloris was created to provide a place of escape for everyone. So, whether you are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, a person of color, live with a disability, or a young girl looking for a strong female influence—no matter who you are, you will find your place in Oloris.

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was provided this E book free in exchange for an honest review on goodreads and/or amazon.

I spent the first 9 chapters of this book struggling to get through, it was a lot of information and not enough action. I realize that this is a fantasy novel and world building is to be expected. The books I'm used to typically give you the information when you need it rather than all at once to avoid overwhelming the reader. Once chapter 10 hit and the tyros started their journey around the nation the book picked up quickly, and stayed interesting. You learn about the Tyros individual homes and their customs. The shadow nation was thoroughly intriguing and probably by far my favorite of all the nations. Throughout the first -probably- half of the book my rating was a steady 3/3.5 stars. It was good, but not great. I hadn't found that one thing that pushed it over the edge to great.... until the last few chapters. I was on the edge of my seat in fear and sadness. The author managed to take my heart and rip it into shreds, effectively pushing the rating to 4 stars. Courtney Praski has very much earned a purchase from me, and I will most definitely buy the second book. I really hope that enough people show interest in this series and she manages to snap a publisher. She thoroughly deserves it, and everyone should give this book a chance if fantasy and great world building is their thing, Now, onto the spoilery review bits.

I'll start with the negatives/neutral comments:

•As others have mentioned this many times over I won't dwell on it, but the editing is lacking. Which is to be expected with self publishing. Nobody can catch every single mistake. I've read books from publishing houses that have editing mistakes in them. These did not affect my rating at all.

•I didn't like that the tyros were constantly referred to as Edlyn, the fallen tyros/enhanced etc. It was a bit superfluous and unnecessary once the reader becomes acquainted with the characters after a few chapters. This did not affect my rating.

•There was a lot of what I felt to be unnecessary repeated information, or just completely unnecessary information period. Listing all the names of the senate members wasn't needed. At most the important ones we should know about, and a smattering of a few other surrounding names were all that was needed. Most of the prologue could have be avoided since it was mostly repeated by Nero to the other members almost immediately after. They should have been condensed together to avoid repeated information. This did affect my rating.

•I felt more time should have been spent on enlightening the reader of the time spent training the tyros for their reign as The Seven, the book mostly skipped over what I felt was important information. It would have been nice to see just what their powers could do. The first 9 chapters were a bit hard to get through.This had a slight impact on my rating.

•When the tyros went on their journey more time was spent on certain nations and less on others. Some were understandable, like the enemy territories. But the others I wish had been more fleshed out. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the honorbound, and the shadow territory. This did not affect my rating.

What I Loved/My review

•There wasn't a single main character that I hated. They all had qualities that were absolutely endearing. Especially Tomin. My sweet little mozza ball.

•The writing, while wordy at times, was absolutely incredible. The author has such talent for creating a world that becomes thoroughly visible in my head. Like I was watching a movie instead of reading a book. I wish I had even an iota of the talent the author had. (They are also a darling to talk to as well!) The authors characters were very well thought out, and felt so real I wanted to protect them with my entire being. They felt like my family.

•The world building was incredible and plausible in my opinion. It wasn't so far out of the realm of possibility that I felt detached from the story.

•I also liked the fact that the magic system THUS far, did not allow them the usual "get out of jail free" card that most magic systems seem to have. Where characters can pull spells out of their butts to get them out of trouble. You find out in the end that Edlyn cannot save/heal Tomin because its not something their magic can do. That he needs a tonic. So that characters fate lies in the balance at the end of the book. THANKS! MY HEART!!!! xD

•The book felt refreshing and new in a world where a lot of times book ideas are recycled with fresh takes on them. It wasn't like anything I've read before.

•I loved the inclusiveness. There were gay characters, bisexual characters and straight. I love that the romance wasn't the main point of the story and it laid quietly in the background, but there was just enough to satisfy.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

NOTE: I was provided with a copy of this novel by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Before I get into what I personally thought about this book, I’d just like to preface this review by saying that regardless of what my thoughts on this book are, I think the author did an amazing job getting to this point. To finish a novel, especially being new to the industry and this being a novel that’s not only incredibly detailed but also just the first book in a series, is an incredible achievement and Courtney Praski should be incredibly proud of what’s already been accomplished.

**WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD**

Let’s start with the bad.

As much as it’s an incredible achievement to publish a book alone, I feel like that was the greatest downfall of this novel. Most of the issues I had with the book could have easily been fixed by having the support of an editor and/or publishing company. I know that that kind of thing can get expensive when you’re new to the business, so I understand why the author chose to self-publish and (I’m assuming) not have a proofreader take a look at it. However, I do hope that the series is picked up by publishing house in the future because I truly believe it is an amazing story and has the potential to be great with a little professional help.

While the author has an uncanny knack for describing scenes in great detail, I sometimes feel like there was just a little too much detail in certain areas and not enough in others. I personally love a lot of detail, but there were times in the story where things were described in far more detail than was necessary for no apparent reason, or described in great detail several times, and that sometimes made the story feel like it was dragging or becoming stale. On the other side of that, there were also times when more detail would have been nice to help make the story flow better and not seem so slow.

The main example that I took issue with was the prologue and the first three chapters. I honestly think the prologue was unnecessary as everything that was in there was described many times over during the course of the story so either the prologue should have been left out or the many times it was repeated throughout the book should have been removed. As for the first three chapters, I feel as though they could have been cut down to just one. There was a lot of information in those chapters that didn’t serve any purpose to the story, especially the stuff with Kane. Considering he doesn’t appear again at all in the rest of the book, I don’t think we really needed to know as much about him as was described. There was also a lot in those three chapters that I feel like should have been left for other parts of the book. For example, Luna’s loss of control and the discussion afterwards about her and Nina’s powers would have fit in better in the chapters where the Tyros were training their own powers. The extra space saved by cutting out those sections could have then been used to go into more detail with the tyros training and some other sections of the book that felt a little rushed.

Another example would be during the time the Seven and the Tyros were traveling to the different nations. I feel like there was a lot of focus put on certain nations and not enough on others. For example, their visit to the Shadow homeland lasted several chapters, as did their visit to the Pure nation and while both sections of the story were great, every single name of every member of the senate in the Pure nation was listed, even though 95% of them don’t have anything to do with the story as far as I can tell. But when it came to their visit to the Honorbound nation, that sadly only lasted less than a chapter and although that chapter did include the first part of this book that made me tear up with the Honorbound warriors and their last dance, I felt like we needed to know more about the Honorbound in general. I guess I just wish there had been an even amount of detail about each nation.

Speaking of the different nations, the final thing that kept tripping me up in this book was the use the nations to describe the characters. For example, Edlyn being frequently referred to as “the Fallen enhanced”. This was confusing at first because it took me some time to get used to who was from what nation and also because of their being two enhanced from each nation. Edlyn was called “the Fallen tyro” whenever Luna was in the room but “the Fallen enhanced” when she wasn’t, but Luna was also referred to as “the Fallen enhanced” more often than not; it would have been far less confusing to just use their names. Also, for a book that is pitched as being all about equality and acceptance, it felt almost as though the author was constantly trying to remind us that the characters were all from different nations and would forever be labelled that way. It just felt a little strange, like if someone were to keep calling me “the Australian woman”; say it enough times and it begins to sound offensive.

Now onto the good!

Alright, now that all of that is out of the way, onto what I really liked about the book; which was pretty much everything else!

Let’s start with the world building because wow! The whole time I was reading this book I kept coming back to one question: “How long did it take the author to come up with all of this?” and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the answer was “Years”. There is an insane amount of thought and planning put into the world building in this story and it pays off in that if you are someone who doesn’t have the ability to picture things clearly, you don’t need to worry about that; the author has got you covered here. I’ve never seen anything like it outside of works by Tolkien and Martin, so it was truly a pleasant surprise to come across such amazing detail in a book by a brand new author.

I really liked that all of the characters, they were so unique and different from each other and the author did a fantastic job of describing all of them and writing their dialogue in a way that made it very clear that they all came from different backgrounds and had different personalities. Tomin was my absolute favourite, and must be protected at all costs! Kora came in a close second and because of how the book ended, I’m going to be worried about both of them until the next one comes out! I feel like I could have really gotten to like Sorin as well, maybe even more so than Kora, however his character wasn’t as fleshed out in as great detail as the other tyros and he had very little scenes in which he said enough to get to know him; all I can hope is that we get to know more about him in future books. I would have also liked to have seen either a bit of when Edlyn was growing up or just more detail about her relationship with each of the Seven, and I feel like experiencing the growing relationships between the tyros could have been a lot more in depth had the training section been more detailed. However, what we did get to see of their bonding was beautifully written and the exchanges between them often left me with a goofy grin on my face.

The talent the author has for setting up and executing a scene is nothing short of phenomenal. She has such an incredible way with words that I was easily able to picture everything within the scene without really having to try. So much so that for scenes like the Honorbound warrior’s last dance and the very last scene of the book, I cried. And I’m not talking a few little “Aww that’s a little sad” tears; I was actually bawling. We’re talking tears, snot, loud sobbing; the works. I had to stop for ten whole minutes before finishing the final few paragraphs because I couldn’t see the words anymore!

And finally, the conclusion!

It might seem like there are more things I didn’t like about the book than things I did like, but that isn’t the case at all. I think it just looks that way because the few things I didn’t like — the things that stopped me from giving this novel a full five stars — are things that were more easily explain, but they weren’t in any way “deal-breakers” and can pretty much all be put down to the fact that the book was self published. On the other hand, what I liked about the book was literally everything that wasn’t listed in the “bad” section and that’s a lot harder to narrow down adn explain.

Whilst the first part of the story is a little slowly paced, the story picks up nicely once the Seven and the Tyros leave Nascent and builds steadily to the ending and then left me wanting more. I’ve seen a few other people say in their reviews that there were no major wars/battles and that’s true to some extent, there were some really impressive battles but no all-out wars, however I feel like those people were forgetting the fact that this is only the first book in a series. I’m sure there will be plenty of wars and battles to come in the following books and I’m glad that this first one got most of the world-building and backstory out of the way. I feel like a lot of series suffer from trying to include too much action the first book and then the second book suffers and seems boring in comparison when it has to pick up the slack. I’m a firm believer in spreading out both information and action throughout a series; not everything needs to be crammed into the first book.

But the time has come for me to give my overall feelings about this book and that is something that’s very simple to put into words; I loved it. It made me laugh, it made me gasp, it made me cry. I need more and I need it now. In my honest opinion, the things I loved about this book outweighed the things I didn’t like by a mile. This novel and the way was written has pretty much guaranteed that I will read anything and everything Courtney Praski publishes in the future.

[Carrie (brightbeautifulthings) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free e-copy from the author when she contacted me through Tumblr. I’m always happy to add more diverse books to my reading list.

The nuclear apocalypse has come and gone, leaving a very different world in its wake. To ensure their survival, the seven nations of Oloris band together to form The Seven, a group of elite and magically gifted warriors, to mediate the problems among the nations and protect them from another nuclear war. Every thirty years, The Seven choose and train their replacements, and they have ruled peacefully over Oloris for hundreds of years. When a queen of the north makes a deadly grab for power, she sets events into motion that may lead to the very thing the founders of Oloris most feared, and it may be the first time The Seven must fulfill their true purpose.

There are parts of this novel, particularly toward the beginning, that are rough. Fortunately, many of them are things a good editor would have been able to fix, which means they’re mainly surface issues–repetitions, an overuse of 'immediately’, an under-use of pronouns, and some heavy-handed descriptions. They’re distracting, and there are often too many words when fewer would do, but I’m a lot more willing to overlook things like this in books that don’t have the benefits of a traditional publisher. I’m not sure about the beginning scenes were Kane is running from Kaidina. They make the beginning very slow, and since the novel never comes back to his character, there’s no sense of closure, at least in a structural sense. There’s a part of me that thinks the novel should have begun with the new Seven ceremony and filled in the historical gaps from there.

At its heart though, the storytelling is good. The biggest strength of the novel is its world-building, which is complex and detailed. It’s not quite on a Tolkien level of making up your own language, but it’s extremely well-thought out. It’s a little overwhelming at times, but I don’t think the true fans of high fantasy will mind it (which, I’m not–I never made it through a single Tolkien novel). How that world-building is woven into the story is sometimes a little clumsy–there are some information dumps, especially toward the beginning, and I don’t think I needed every Senate member’s name–but it’s a first novel. It’s clear that Praski has a solid understanding of her world and how it works, and it’s an interesting world. All seven factions are distinct and three-dimensional, which is quite an achievement, and they rarely feel like things I’ve read a hundred other times. I wanted to spend more time in The Black Glades with an all-woman tribe of warriors, but… that’s just me. I would have been fine with it if the whole novel took place there.

However, it is a lot. Seven nations is a lot of world-building. Seven main characters is also quite a few, and there are actually fourteen, since the old Seven are training the new Seven. That’s not even counting what must be dozens of side characters. The beginning chapters felt like a long series of introductions, and there are new ones each time the Seven visit another nation. There’s little sense of getting to know character or place organically, but I think that’s a skill that comes with practice. The characters that stand out do so in a good way, especially the girls. Edlyn, Kora, and Raina seem better-rounded and more distinct than the males, with the exception of Tomin, whose unique power frequently plays an important role.

One of the bigger, higher-level problems is that The Seven feels like a very long introduction to the main plot, which is the impending war with Kaidina of the north. Around page three hundred, I realized there was no possible way for the novel to wrap up in the remaining pages. There could have been less attention on the numerous characters and nations in favor of advancing the plot, because I’m not sure all the visiting different places helped. They’re interesting, but visiting Theo’s and Kora’s homes gave me no better sense of them than I already had. The end scenes are quite a bit more tense than I was expecting, and the novel leaves off on a major cliffhanger. Fans of diversity in their high fantasy, like Tamora Pierce, should find a lot to enjoy about it.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief Note: I received a free eBook copy of this novel, in exchange for an honest and truthful review.

My overall rating for this book is three and a half stars (but I went ahead and gave it the full four here because I didn't have the half option), with that said, it could have been a full four stars, but I really struggled getting through a good chunk of the book. It wasn’t really a bad thing, but the story did require a lot of build up as well as background information. Most of the book felt like I was reading a prologue that was setting up for the main story of the series. However, whenever you get to the main story it sucks you in and doesn’t let you go until you have read every last word!

I found Courtney Praski’s ability to paint a picture for the reader in a compelling as well as beautiful way. It is definitely worth taking the time to read this book.

I am truly excited that the author was able to get her story out to the world, I honestly can’t wait to see what comes from her in the future, as well as what happens next in The Seven Book Two.

~ ATTENTION: Spoilers Below. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK ~

Now I would like to talk about the things that I absolutely loved about this novel. The world that Courtney Praski created for us was ripped from our own world. It was truly a breath taking to see what she created form our own history. The world was destroyed by our own doing, but eventually turned into this cutthroat, stunning, and intense place known as Oloris. Oloris was wonderfully crafted, and with all the description from the author I could envision this place in great detail. Description seems to come naturally to the author.

My favorite part about this entire novel is the characters. Now, sometimes for a lot of other stories it is really hard to connect with the wide array of characters. Coutrney Praski took it another step further than most, she had essentially fourteen main characters for the reader to connect to, and BOY did I connect to the characters. The Seven were great characters, especially as they began connecting with their tyros. Especially the relationship between the trainee Edlyn with The Seven. Even though we didn’t get to see their relationships develop after they adopted her into their protection as well as their home. We did get to see the deep and true connection that developed between this, evident through this quote:

“And if anyone dares, always remember she is a child of the Seven—and may God have mercy on whoever hurts our daughter, because they will find none from us.”

That was truly a moving moment for me, and the moment I knew I loved the character Nero.

I cannot say enough good things about these two major factors, honestly, I think if you enjoy this genre this is definitely something everyone should read! Connecting with all the characters as I have, seeing them grow into who they are destined to be, it is truly amazing, and I am in awe.

All that said, there were some technical things to take into consideration. There is some sentence as well as paragraphing structure issues that could be bothersome to an avid reader (or even someone who is huge on grammar). The author would have definitely benefited from an editor or even a professional proof reader. However, the nature of self-publishing is not everything will be caught pre-production. So, if you can overlook these things, again I urge everyone to pick up this book and read it!

The other issue that I have with this book is how repetitive some parts could be, mostly with words used to describe characters. The author would painstakingly repeat just how special each character was, whether they were The Seven or a Tyros, but it wasn’t exclusively left to just that. The author would consistently remind the reader just exactly where each character was from. Now, that wouldn’t have been a bad a handful of times because as I said there are a lot of main characters. But I did feel like it was excessive as certain points while reading it.

In conclusion, I really did enjoy this book overall. Reading it was a true joy and the ending was breathtaking in a heart being ripped out sort of way. Also, for whatever it is worth I plan on buying this book to support the author, because IT definitely is worth the money!

[Alice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Attention: I received this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

It took two months to slog through this book. Yes, slogged as if I was crossing the Northern Ice Fields with ice hounds nipping at my icy heels sinking straight into the icy ice. Hmm… this should give you an idea where this review is headed.

First, this isn’t a bad read by any means. It’s a decent fantasy that desperately needs an editor (or twelve). Second, this might end up being a bit nitpicky by the end but I have some serious beef with certain parts of The Seven--especially the length. At 400 pages (with some format errors) this thing is a brick. A very, very, very, very incredibly slow brick. Buckle up because I’m about to walk you through it.

Kane Emard is on the run from the queen in the north, Kaidina. Unfortunately he spends a good portion of his journey dropping a load of information about the layout of land, the apocalyptic world called Oloris. Even though we had a long introduction to Oloris in the prologue, Kane helpfully reminds us. When he finally ends his journey at Nascent, he meets Nero, Doyen of the Seven, and claims the king and queen of the Fallen were murdered and he has their only child.

    Any of this make sense yet?

    As Kane meets with the Seven, we get an info dump on each nation’s representative and a little information about the nation itself. The Fallen, Honorbound, Pure, Defiance, Hunter, Shadow, and Nameless--memorize them now as names will disappear, replaced by each character’s nation, and it gets very confusing. Introductions are stopped to assure the readers that the Black Glades are deadly, the Undying Valley is truly terrible, and yes Onyx and Griffin are definitely a couple.

    Hmm, yes, this makes sense.

    Kane mentions a lot more names and titles that mean nothing to us as he explains he’s collecting on a life debt. He wants shelter for the last living Isolde, Edlyn, who has been tucked in his coat the entire time. Luna, the Fallen member of the Seven, loses control of her powers when she hears her king and queen have been murdered and there’s a lot of heavy-handed description quickly followed by more information. Nero spells out Aether and annex and what it means to be “enhanced” and each Seven’s elemental ability to Kane, because this is very important information that the reader must be told right away (instead of, say, waiting until later chapters to show us as the kids train with their mentors).

    Anyway, the life debt is accepted and Edlyn stays with the Seven in Nascent and fifteen years pass and suddenly it’s the Day of Nations.

    Are you still following all of this?

    On the Day of Nations, each nation presents their enhanced candidate and the Seven choose who they will mentor to take their place for the next thirty years. Insert more thick paragraphs of information that we don’t need, with a few bits that we do, and the new Seven are chosen. Edlyn, Theo, Luca, Kora, Sorin, Reina, and Tomin.

    Edlyn, who the Seven were carefully raising to take her place as queen in the north. Theo, who becomes the group dad when it’s convenient for the plot. Luca, the rich bastard child with a heart of gold. Kora, a skilled assassin no longer in slavery. Sorin, the one kid who gets dropped for the entirety of the book. Reina, who quickly steals Edlyn’s thunder and becomes the main character. Tomin, the blind runt of the group but everyone roots for him anyway.

    On page 123, we get introductions. And more info dumps. One hundred pages in and surely the story will kick off, right? Wrong. We get a condensed version of training--instead of taking this time to talk about Aether and annex, and demonstrating each character’s ability in offensive and defensive settings--and an extremely detailed description of Nascent, despite the fact the characters leave Nascent three chapters later.

    Finally, with the ironically titled chapter “The Journey Begins” (on page 187), several months have passed and the characters set off to travel Oloris and meet the leaders of each nation. Traveling over an apocalyptic wasteland should be exciting--mutated creatures to fight, radiation to avoid, merchants and pilgrims to meet, ghost towns to explore. Oh wait, no, it’s just more description about a typical fantasy world.

    The first stop is the Black Glades, home of the Shadow women. The majority of the book is spent here. 59 pages and nothing is accomplished. Eventually we visit the Barren Highlands, home of the Nameless. Only one thing is accomplished here; the Seven convince the Nameless to accept any and all war refugees. Then it’s off to the Undying Valley, home of the Defiance, for about 17 pages of, oh look, more nothing. Time for Kraint’s Deep, home of the Pure, where we are quickly drowned in so much information that we absolutely do not need.

   The Seven decide to slip into a Senate meeting. Awesome. Politics--the best way to tease a plot! Oh, never mind. It’s just an assault of name after name after name after name. As if we’re supposed to care who these people are. But one thing is accomplished; the kids find their way into the restricted Citadel to find evidence that a Pure family had their souls stolen.

   Wait, what?

   No time to dwell on that--time to head to the Dummons Valley, home of the Hunters. Oh, nothing is accomplished here, either. Just a lot more info dumping about the nation. Just like the previous chapters. Just like the entire book. But it’s here, on page 326, that the romance starts to rear its ugly head. Because, of course, these characters are so close to each other.

   We’ve seen them overcome so many trials, so many battles! They’re enhanced; they control the elements! The book has been filled with action and… oh, no it hasn’t. We haven’t seen anything like that. But sure, somewhere in all that description and zero character development, I’m positive they found something to love about one another.

   Anyway, time for the Glowing Forest, home of the Honorbound. And as expected, nothing happens here.

   It’s finally time, with 50 pages left in the book, to head to the Northern Icefields (which, we can guess are different from the Northern Ice Fields in the beginning of the book since they’re spelled differently) and confront the evil Kaidina who killed Edlyn’s parents fifteen years ago. Alright, plot time, let’s go--wait, Kaidina, where are you going? The evil queen says maybe ten lines and then disappears, and after an attempt to poison one of the kids, the Seven decide to cut the trip short and head back to Nascent.

   No confrontation between Edlyn and Kaidina. No angry “Why did you do it--why did you kill my parents?” in a secluded tower. No subtle threats over an awkward dinner. The Seven just pack up and leave, and as soon as they’re back at Nascent, they peace out and leave the kids in charge. That’s it. Training’s over.

   Now. What did everybody learn?

   Nothing happens in this entire book. Nothing at all. The characters that set out at the beginning of the story are the exact same that return. Despite all of the information the reader is given about each nation, it doesn’t seem to change or influence any of the characters whatsoever. There are no trials to bring them together. We never see any form of team building. And despite being called “enhanced” there’s barely any use of elemental power! What’s the point of having super magical powers if you don’t even use them?

   There is one small skirmish at the end of the book but by this point, both the author and any form of editor have fallen asleep (or suffered alcohol poisoning) that it doesn’t make an impact. It’s the equivalent of “She swung her sword and the bad guy fell over.”

   400 pages and nothing happens.

   And it’s upsetting because, somewhere under all of the weight of information, a solid story could be pulled out. If it was tightened up, if there was any conflict, if the cast was cut in half--I would be interested in that book. This is a good foundation but it’s not enough. With a few more rounds of edits (by an editor or four that doesn’t fall asleep by page 312, but kudos for trying) it could be something that engages readers instead of, say, putting them off for two months.

   So now that we’ve covered the play-by-play, let’s get into the nitty-gritty. I have some issues with this book outside of, you know, the whole no conflict thing.

    Now the blurb for the book claims it’s apocalyptic. It might even be considered a dystopian novel with all the different factions in play. No, my friends, we have just a regular medieval fantasy setting. Nothing in all the giant paragraphs of description screams “apocalyptic” except for the early mention of Wuthering Heights. That counts, right?

    Besides Nascent, there’s no crumbling towns or highways, no overgrown parks, no razed cities. We get icy wasteland, desert wasteland, glowing forests, swamp, grassy plains, medieval tiered city, and mountains. Everything is stone or wood, all organic. No proof, despite being set after the year 2100, that there was technology in the world.

    The cast was too large for the author to handle. Not only do we have the Seven, but we have the seven kids--and the nation’s leaders--and the story suffers because of the size. Who are Griffin and Onyx? They’re supposed to be a lovey-dovey couple but we never see them. They’re supposed to be powerful, built like oxen, but we never see them in action. Nina says maybe a handful of words in all 400 pages. When Sorin reappeared in the later half of the book, I had no idea who he was; I had to go back to the Day of Nations and figure out if he was part of the Seven or part of the kids. Theo had a slightly bigger role, I recognized his name, but he basically didn’t exist either.

    The typos and abuse of words ran rampant, especially after page 312. “Immediately” was used five times within the space of three paragraphs; it’s used 13 times within 8 pages. “Precise precision” was certainly a thing. “The two continued striking and defending each OTHER's attacks, their skill with the sword matching the OTHER as they danced around each OTHER, neither able to gain the upper hand. Finally, their swords met, and an array of sparks danced in the air between them as the two gritted their teeth at the OTHER" was absolutely a paragraph that happened.

    Names changed. Eastmund became Eastman and back again. At one point, a Gale says a line and is then never mentioned ever again in the entirety of 400 pages, but the scene continued as if he was still there.

    9 out of 10 names, especially feminine, ended in A. Disclaimer: This is a nitpick. But I am so guilty of doing this that I automatically recognize it in other’s writing. 48 names throughout the entire book, and I might have missed a few. When your cast is already so big, and personalities/voices so similar, this is a real problem. I could barely keep anyone straight. I think all but two women in the Black Glades had a name that ended in A. I actually kept reading this book just to keep my tally going. Every time a name appeared I got a little excited, and then a lot confused as I tried to keep them all straight.

    All in the all, The Seven is not a bad book. It’s a heavy book. It reads more like the author’s world building journal instead of a fleshed out story. If it had a bit more work put into it, and the author decided if they want apocalyptic or medieval fantasy, I think it would be a fairly decent read.

[Liberty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: This book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.75 Stars out of 5 Stars.

Read from February 9 to February 11.

I'm starting my review with the constructive criticism before moving on to all the things I loved about this book. I know the book is self-published so most of my comments on the technical issues would be null and void if it was being published through traditional means.

Constructive Criticism
1. Misspelling--At the beginning Dummon is spelled as Dummom. There are moments when woman is used where it should be women. Then instead of than. Lesson instead of lessons. The word the where it should have been they. Like I said, easily corrected in edition with a traditional publishing.
2. Misuse--The word "predecessor" is used a few times where it should actually be "successor."
3. Odd phrasing--A few odd phrases, which could totally just be a me thing and not a people in general thing, like "stunned surprise" or "like an angry storm" when the word angry has already been used in the sentence.
4. Contents page said that chapter five started on page 81 but it actually started on page 82. Small error. Not a real issue at all. Also the format for the beginnings of chapters 18 and 19 were weird on my edition. The chapter headings were on the bottom of the previous page.
5. Too much exposition--This for me was mostly during the first couple of chapters. Especially the scene where we meet The Seven. I love the "show, don't tell" rule as a whole and that is done very well when we meet Onyx and Griffin. Just a little less telling with the other characters there.
6. Needs more description--The strategy room at Nascent was hard for me to picture and I would have enjoyed more description here. I would enjoy one or two more training scenes at Nascent. More of the development of the dynamic between the tyros so that later chapters make more sense. More of an explanation for why Willa Black is such an imposing figure. I think the action sequences could use a little more description for clarity. I would also really like a scene of the team once they're on the boat leaving Validus just right when they're settling in for the boat journey south.

Things that are done well
1. Things/exchanges that I enjoyed--Onyx and Griffin's first scene (I felt like we got a pretty good understanding of their relationship already). The description of the room the tyros were staying in at Nascent was great (also, can I please live there?). The description of Edlyn's time at Nascent before the book including her breakfasts with The Seven was particularly wonderful. I enjoyed seeing Kora's love for chess come out in the strategy room. Chapter nine as a whole was cute with Nero and Conrad watching the horse training. Chapter 11's discussion between Nero and Luna about the oncoming war and their relationship with Edlyn was touching. I absolutely LOVED both the city of Odeilia and the city on Canleon (can I live in these places too?). I enjoyed the whole scene with Kora's new tattoo. Luca and Kora bonding at the leaving celebration with the Hunters was cute (or as cute as anything with Kora in it can be). I enjoyed the banter between Fay and Luca toward the end of the book.
2. Quotes I enjoyed--"'The air felt different--uncomfortable then, but here in Nascent, it feels heavier. Like instead of carrying us, we are now carrying it.' 'It isn't the air. Everyone and everything is depending on us now. It's the weight of the people.'"
"'Having a soft heart in a cruel world is not weakness--if anything, it is strength.'"
3. It really feels like the author understands her world and how a) the magic works, b) the world is laid out, and c) these different people all interact with each other and the politics associated with it.

Overall opinion of the book
Look, even with my stopping to write notes for every chapter and stopping for sleep and work (boo), I still managed to finish this book in less than 40 total hours. It is good. I enjoyed the diversity of the characters and how this book is so character focused. My absolutely favorite characters are Tomin and Kora. Tomin is the little brother I've never had and Kora is the bad*ss I've always wanted to be. I would say that I'd like a timeline in the back of the book of events before this book took place and possibly a dictionary of terms that are specific to Oloris. I could easily enjoy an entire series in this world as well as a prequel of the events that happened before this book.
This book could easily have been a 4.25-4.5 Star rated book if the technical issues weren't there. For me, I would get tripped up when I ran into one and would have to stop and get myself back on track. Are there technical issues? Yes. Should you look past them and enjoy this book? Absolutely.

I would recommend this book for Y.A. Fantasy and/or Y.A. Dystopian fans.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the many books that I liked despite not having a great deal of plot, or at least, not a super original one. The characters were what carried this, I just loved the cast and their interactions with each other.
Worldbuilding was good, but so fantastical that the idea that the setting is post-apocalyptic was hard to take, whenever that was alluded to I would be thrown out of the story. I think it could be edited so that it's just a completely separate fantasy realm. That said, the prologue explaining the fall of society and the history of Oloris was brilliantly written, an info-dump that didn't seem info-dumpy.
The writing is good but not outstanding and there were a few sentences that wouldn't make it past a decent proofreader '"X?" he asked, uncertain of X.' (I forget what the actual question was, or indeed who was asking other than he was male, but that was the sentence structure.) Some of it read like Praski was writing at 3am to hit a deadline and missed it on every edit.
But I did really like this, the stakes were high enough and written with enough sense of urgency for me to forgive the less-than-stellar plot, and I did have some tears in places, which most of you will know boosts a books' rating for me every time.
Very much keen for the next.

[Mara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got a free digital copy of this book (which needs some formatting changes, and there are some spelling mistakes) in exchange for an honest review – and honest it will be (the rating isn’t bad, but I had issues)

Anyway, that aside, because that is more a personal issue of mine (I almost studied graphic design for a reason), based on the things I liked and dislike, I will give this book a rating of 2.5 stars. The things I will cover are the plot & pacing, the characters, the world-building, the book genre, grading and finally, the recommendation. Warning! Everything onward from here will contain spoilers for the book, excluding the recommendation which will be spoiler free. If you want to avoid spoilers, scroll till you’re there.

The Plot & Pacing
The reason I start with the plot – aside from that it would make sense – is this the reason I almost DNF this book. You know the long summary on Goodreads, and also the back of the book? You would expect that it’s a nice set-up for the story. Maybe halfway through the book, they have figured out their place in the world, and how to save it and the second half they will start to save it. Right? Wrong. This is literally the plot of this whole book. A war is looming, and this entire book covers what happens beforehand, the politics that come with it. There was literally one proper fight, which was in the last few pages.

But, before I lay down my issues with the plot, I will point out the things I liked at first. (Because there were some nice things about the plot).

The Positives
After an almost DNF (which I will talk about later), I liked the plot and the pacing. It was a lot easier to go through, the plot pushed forwards, the training part of the story was fun and interesting and well used to establish the characters. The new Seven were fun and brought more light-heartedness and silliness to the story, because, well, they’re kids. Even the oldest is, what, just twenty? And the youngest was fourteen, and their dynamic was lovely. I rarely got really bored, there weren’t insane plot holes (as far as I noticed).

The Negatives
Important to note that I mostly had issues with the pacing of this book so the negatives will be much grander than the positives. However, in the other categories, this won’t be that much of an issue, as I didn’t have many issues with the characters – which is also a big part of this review (I think, don’t quote me on that).

The Issue
So, what was my issue with this book? I mentioned a few issues I had at the beginning of this part, and I wouldn’t care about it that much if the book had been short. I can pull a book off my shelf that spends the first half of the book – and a part of the second part – to sketch the situation. Who is the evil guy? How will we defeat them? And what do we have to do to defeat them? And do you know how many pages this book has? 137. This MG book has around 20k, in which is established a solid understanding of the world and its issues and how to solve those issues. This book basically spends 135k words doing the same. So, long story short, the plot is slow, which isn’t always bad, but in this case, it was.

The Slow Beginning
Okay, for starters, I finished the book, right? So somehow the plot couldn’t have been bad. The answer is yes, the plot wasn’t bad, I enjoyed it, and the writer made sure that most of the time it wasn’t boring. The story was pushed forward, the world building and characters kept it interesting most of the time. But I said most of the time, because oh boy, do I have a bone to pick with something called Pacing. The pacing of this book is sometimes… well, I think it’s terrible.

Looking at the summary, they’re talking about the fact that a power-hungry queen has shown up and wants to take over Oloris. And, what’s even worse is that the Seven, who are Oloris’ peacekeepers, will step down and let a new generation of enhanced (people who possess magical powers) take over the role as the Seven. So, yeah, bad timing. And with this summary, I expected to delve into the story of these new Seven as soon as possible. A bit of world-building, a bit of information sharing and we can see all the bright and new characters. I was wrong.

So, more maths. Within the PDF, the story has 400 pages. It took the writer 100 pages, a fourth of the story, to get to the point all the new Seven are gathered. We barely know who they are, they haven’t even started their training, and we’re already a quarter into the book. Not only that, most of those 100 pages were viewed from characters that weren’t even one of the new Seven. I mean, this is a YA book, and admittedly I haven’t read that many YA books, but aren’t the characters supposed to be teenagers? Or at least in their late teens. These characters which we followed were all adults on those pages. And for the first part – the first three chapters – I understood the POV that was used. But from chapter four and onward the writer easily could have used Edlyn’s (one of the new Seven) POV to go through the picking process of the other new Seven (which all in all took 50 pages – which is way too long in my opinion).

Conclusion
I think the pacing could have been a lot better. The first few chapters could have used some cutting because what is established in 100 pages most likely could have been done in 50 – or giving the author a bit more space, 70 pages. The plot itself was fine, though I would have expected way more from the plot. But a few of the issues I will discuss in other parts.

The Character
This book has fourteen important characters. The original Seven and the new Seven. This is a large cast. An impossibly large cast to include all. This shows in the writing of the author. Most of the time during the second half of the book they travel a lot. During those travels, old Seven is pushed to the background. Only Nero, which was the leader of the old Seven, will speak and mention a lot during the travelling. But, you might ask, who is the main character in the book? I mean, the book is called ‘The Seven’, so most likely they are the main characters, but we have to follow someone’s POV, right?

Not exactly. The book is written in omniscient, which means that the POV jumps from character to character. On the other hand, this is a great opportunity to showcase all the characters, right? Yes. Does it happen? Not that much, sadly enough.

Okay, I have read the Percy Jackson series – but I will be talking about the Heroes of Olympus specifically. There are seven heroes, nine if you count the last book, and they have 2.7k of pages to flourish (and three out of the nine characters are already introduced in the previous book series, two of which were main characters), and still, characters are left out. Out of the seven, two have noticeably less development than the rest, and these two were new characters. And this was 2777 pages . Now we’re looking at a novel which is about 550 pages long. It’s impossible to develop all the characters, and it sadly enough shows. However, let’s go to the characters itself.

The New Seven
This is the main crew after the first 100 pages. The POV flitters between them. Well five of them. Two characters are obviously gotten the back seat, which is sad because they’re characters I liked, from what I’ve seen of them. Below here are the main Seven:

A blind orphan: Tomin is an enhanced who can control the earth. He uses to see, and he’s the youngest of the group. Does this ring bells? If you have watched Avatar the Last Airbender, it should. At his introduction, I immediately thought he was a Toph rip-off and was a bit weary of the characters to come. Turned out he wasn’t anything like Toph, he’s shy, sweet, smart. But sometimes I feel his blindness is a bit… overlooked? Like, he can read. It’s never explained how. Also, descriptions like these made me wonder who proofread this.

“The feeling of something falling against his legs caused his eyes to shoot open, as the sight of the dead ice hound with Onyx’s dagger buried in the side of its head immediately greeted his eyes.” – PDF pp. 355

Wait, wasn’t he blind?

Nonetheless, he was one of my faves. He was such a sweet character but he also made clever remarks and made me laugh so much, and he’s just the well needed comic relief without even trying.

Tomin’s brow furrowed for a moment. A second later it was followed up by a shrug of acceptance before turning to Edlyn. “Are you attracted to Luca because you think he would make a good father to your hypothetical children?” – PDF pp. 254 - 255

A rich highborn : first of all, Luca. I love the name Luca. He is from Pure. People from Pure believe that ‘Unions are created to have children – PDF page 330’. So, no loving freely. However, he is a bastard child, from another mother than his brothers, and through the story, he realises that maybe he shouldn’t wait for his family to assign him a woman, but find his own. It shows a bit of character development, because he came into the story as a son of a rich and influential guy, and at some point, he decided that maybe the ideals from home weren’t the best. Luca is a character I first didn’t care about but grew to like over the time. I think his crush on Edlyn is cute, though I wished the writer would have expanded further on it, as it never fully resolved, they haven’t gotten together at the end of the book – though there is development, acknowledgement, which is most likely the first step to romance. And maybe my favourite quote of the book comes from him:

Luca nudged her shoulder, forcing the Defiance enhanced to meet his gaze. “Because before there can be life, there must first be love,” he answered quietly, smiling timidly at her. – PDF pp. 332

A slave: Kora is an interesting character. She has never been my favourite, but her character growth was nice. She learned from other people, but she also taught other people things, things others took for granted (take Luca into consideration). As a slave and a trained assassin, you would expect her to be very cold and distant. Because that’s the fun part, she isn’t. She acts very motherly, taking care of her fellow Seven.

“Our first voyage out of Nascent, and I am already a liability,” he whispered dejectedly.

Edlyn opened her mouth to respond, to assure the young man that he was not a liability, but a flash across her peripheral stopped her. Kora was at their side now, but the Defiance enhanced paid Raina and Edlyn no mind, as she moved forward and smacked Tomin upside the head.

Tomin cried out in surprise as he moved his hand up to rub the back of his head.

“Do not be an idiot, Tomin,” hissed Kora. “It does not suit you.” – PDF pp. 195

A gentle hunter: Sorin… Okay, I love his name, and that was pretty much it. Like I mentioned, two characters had gotten the backseat in the story, and Sorin was one of them. The most spotlight he gets is during the visit to his country, but that one is pretty short, so we don’t get to see him flourish, which is pretty sad because I like his character. But he is mostly pushed to the background and used when he was needed.

“I can’t believe you blew up Nascent,” Luca teased Sorin, his voice cutting through the uncomfortable silence that overtook the small passageway they moved through.

Sorin choked on the air next to him. “My Doyen told me to,” he slurred out deliriously. “Technically, she blew up Nascent.” – PDF pp. 395 - 396

An enlightened blacksmith: Theo was, like Sorin, put on the back seat within the story. He was the dad of the story, big and strong and caring, but also a bit of the joker together with Sorin (they were often seen together). Like with Sorin, I wished Theo had more page-time. The only moment he had a more major role was when they were visiting his country, but like with Sorin, this didn’t last extremely long.

“Well, they are human,” Kora reminded them drolly, shaking her head at the men. “It is only natural for them to seek comfort from someone.”

Theo and Sorin turned to Kora at the same time, devious smiles on both their faces.

“You are human, Kora,” Theo started.

“Who would you like to be”—Sorin cleared his throat—“comfortable with?” – pp. 256

A warrior: Raina is an interesting character that, despite having quite a lot of page-time, doesn’t develop a lot. She is a strong warrior. She becomes the leader of the crew, a burden that falls quite heavily on her. She is also a very caring character – which most of them are, their friendship is fantastic – but doesn’t hesitates to scold characters if necessary and make difficult decisions (which made her a good leader). Her romance with Kora is quite sweet, and it showed early that the two like each other (more prominently than Luca and Edlyn) but she doesn’t let Kora do whatever she wants. I think what might be the only development for her is that she has become more open to the rest of the new Seven, but this a development that also Kora and Tomin showed.


A queen: Edlyn was brought to the Seven when she was just a kid. She was basically raised by the Seven and saw them as parent figures. Originally, Edlyn was going to be the queen of the kingdom of Fallen but decided to join the Seven instead of claiming her crown (because otherwise the current queen, who had killed her parents, would infiltrate the Seven with her own son). The nice things about Edlyn’s development are that she learns that there is so much in the world than what her books told her. She is curious, which is a good way to introduce the world.

“Edlyn,” Fay soothed softly, as she reached out to grasp Edlyn’s shoulders in a tight squeeze. “No one wants to leave you, but you know that we cannot stay.”

Edlyn’s chest tightened painfully at her words, as she lowered her gaze to childishly kick a rock with the toe of her boot. “Yes, but that doesn’t make it any easier to say goodbye.” – pp. 383

The Seven
The Seven, which will hand over their roles at the end of the book, are more background characters than anything else. Nero, who is the leader and a Nameless (earth user), is the biggest character of the book, though notable mention goes to Conrad, who plays a more important role towards the end (and who is actually one of the more influential Seven of the crew). The relationship between Griffin and Onyx is sweet, but sadly enough very minimal. I wished the relationship between Fay and Nero would be explored further. But overall, I wish that Luna, Nina, Fay, Griffin and Onyx would be less towards the background. A travelling group of fourteen is big, enormous even, and most of the Seven have to suffer for that. (And I wished the importance Nero got in the story would have been lessened and given Sorin and Theo more page-time).

Name conflicts
There were a few names I thought wasn’t exactly a smart choice – mainly of readability. You had Raina and Rein (Raina’s mother), Luca and Luna, which are almost identical (I misread them a couple of time). Tomin and Theo, start with the same letter, also misread them a couple of time.

The appearance of the characters
1. Nero – 788
2. Edlyn – 625
3. Kora – 482
4. Raina – 443
5. Luca – 366
6. Tomin – 349
7. Conrad -- 270
8. Fay – 200
9. Theo – 199
10. Nina – 178
11. Luna – 161
12. Griffin – 160
13. Sorin – 151
14. Onyx – 131

(I’m still mourning Theo and Sorin – especially Sorin who as one of the new Seven, one of the main, is placed 13th in the times mentioned. Of course, there are different names for them, like Kora is also called ‘Defiance Enhanced’, but giving everyone the same treatment should cancel it out.)

World building
The world building was nice. The author didn’t slack off when it came to world building. Some pictures were painted beautifully, and there was a solid backstory. However, sometimes I thought it was so much that I forgot half of the names of the cities and it took me a while to figure things out. The world building wasn’t evenly distributed either. At the end of their training, the upcoming Seven will travel to all Seven kingdoms. But only a few places get a lot of page-time. The women of Shadow (Raina’s people) get most time, most world building of them all. The Nameless (Tomin’s people) were solid. But then you had Defiance (Kora), the Hunters (Sorin) and Honourbound (Theo) who got very little world building. Their stay in the country lasted less than 20-pages, with the Honorsbound getting only a whopping 12 pages of world-and-culture building. Of course, it will be hard, the writer had 180 pages to go through 7 kingdoms. That’s an average of 25 pages per kingdom. The world building of the Pure (Luca) was fine – and done maybe the best (as it was waved between the actual story and not purely tell) and the Fallen (Edlyn’s) was also pretty solid.
All in all, the world building isn’t bad, but it easily can get overwhelming, something I noticed early on.

Genres
The book was advertised to me as a Dystopian Fantasy YA. The beginning wasn’t very YA, as the characters were all adults, but later on, it was fine. Fantasy also took a bit to get going, and it was mainly reflected in the world building. However, the thing I have the biggest beef with is Dystopian. Believe it or not, Oloris is actually America but in 2800. The story could have, in my opinion, easily done without it. It brings very little to nothing to table and uses it to refer to the old world (or is it old-world? I saw both spelling so…), and it also references to religion (as an atheist, I could care less about that). Overall, I could have done without it. The space and time it occupied within the story easily could be used for more world building, or giving Sorin and Theo more page-time (I’m still salty about them it seems).

Also, I would add Politics to the list of genres, because there was so much politics in this book. I don’t mind some good politics, it’s part of the world we live in, but I could have done with less. In each kingdom they arrived, there was politics, politics and even more politics. So yeah, I would have added politics to the genres.

The Positives, the Negatives, and The Final Rating

The Positives
+ Interesting world building
+ Lovely characters
+ Diversity (sexualities wise)

The Negatives
- Slow start
- There isn’t much going on, the stakes aren’t really high until the end
- Too much world building
- Some characters should have more screen time

The Final Rating
It the beginning, it had been graded with one start and a DNF. Slowly by little, the book has been climbing up my good books (hah, the pun). I decided to give it a 2.5 stars, with the conclusion that I won’t buy it, but that I’m interested in the sequel. The grade will be rounded up to three stars because the other three quarters was its redemption. (If it had been the opposite, I would have rounded it down to two stars.)

Recommendation
I would recommend this book to someone who likes some good world building, likeable characters, friendships and romances and who likes politics and political systems within different kingdoms. The beginning might be hard to get through, and the Omniscient POV might be a bit to get used to. Also, take into account that the summary is quite literally all you will get in this story. There aren’t epic battles and a lot of hocus pocus, and up until the end, the stakes aren’t insanely high for the characters.

[Aly Ghio · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book as a free copy, so I could review it.
First of all, I really like the story and the characters; they have this realness to them that made them feel very real. Of course I have my favourites, but I’ll keep them for the spoilery part of this review.
Even though the story is great, at first I had some struggle getting really into it. It is built very slowly in the first part and I started really appreciating it only later on in the storytelling.
Some parts of the story felt reptitive and sometimes I could find some grammar and structure mistakes that, with english not being my first language, sometimes had me struggle (this is probably due to its being a self-published book, so the author has all my respect, because I’d make a lot more and far worse mistakes).
Now let’s get into the spoilery and fangirling part, where I’ll talk about how much I loved this story.

POILER AHEAD
I warned you
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I’ll follow a little order here so if you haven’t read the book and you want some spoiler it makes sense.
Edlyn is one of my favourites, she’s awesome. She is kind and gentle, but she also is a fierce warrior. Ever since her head popped out of Kane’s coat, she’s had a special place in my heart.
Kane also could have been a favourite had I seen more of him in the story, which I hoped there’d be, but sadly there wasn’t.
The Seven are awesome, especially Nero and Conrad, though I also love Griffin and Onyx just as much, so I’ll talk about them: first of all let’s talk about this quote

“And if anyone dares, always remember she is a child of the Seven- and may God have mercy on whoever hurts our daughter, because they’ll find none from us.”

This is where Nero became my favourite of all the Seven, because despite his being the Doyen and rarely showing his emotions, he deeply cares for all the Seven and the tyros.
Griffin and Onyx are the loves of my life because they’re so in love with each other and I feel like they are the ones who hugged Edlyn, after rushing to her bed, when she woke up with nightmares calling to her uncle and that’s just too cute for me not to live them.
Now let’s talk about Conrad. My dear author, HOW COULD YOU DO THAT. You slowly build this character dor the whole story and then you have him die like that, with Edlyn screaming his name. My heart broke just then and I couldn’t put it back together for a long time. This is not something you should do to people.
The tyros are all wonderful and I don’t think I could pick one out of all of them as a favourite, though if I had to I’d choose Tomin, just because he’s the youngest and he’s the most fragile of all, so I constantly wanted to take him out of the book and hug him tightly.
So here’s what I thought, I can’t wait to know what happens next in the series.

[Phillip Murrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned about this book on Goodreads and read it through Kindle Unlimited. The Seven is an alluring story that is always one page out of reach. I started the book and was in awe and the great detail to world building. The year is 2800, but you’d be forgiven for thinking Oloris was a fantasy land. When I started reading, I craved more. The setup for a great war was intoxicating. Then it dragged on and became simply exciting. By the time I finished reading I realized the book was essentially one giant prologue for the next book. Book two will likely be very amazing, but the bloody swordfights I expected never came. The world is vast and exciting. There is so much potential, but again, this alluring and exceptional story was always one page turn away. The best way I can describe it is to think about a great TV show that doesn’t get good until the end. You must slog through six or seven boring episodes until all the pieces are in place, then the show is amazing. This book is eventually revealed to be those first episodes. I am excited about what comes next, but what started as a five-star review, was a four-star review by the halfway point, and ended up as a three-star review by the end. It just took too long to get to the excitement that was constantly teased. The rest of my review will contain spoilers.

The Good.
I am in awe at this author’s abilities to build a world. There’s a lot going on, but it will mostly make sense by the end.

The Day of Nations ceremony was great. It really helped to define the different characters and cultures. I’ll admit that it took a while for me to finally keep track of which enhanced had lightning versus fire, but it all came together by the end.

The Demur process was also fun. It felt like a big middle finger to the big bad. It’s like being called out for cheating and then pointing out that you were the only person who truly read the rules.

I liked how the Shadow people killed their male babies. It was a tough decision to make, but it made sense. It shows that governments and people are always in a shade of gray.

I kept changing my mind on which character was the best. I’m still not quite sure because many of the characters were well written, but Tomin is definitely in the top three. I liked how he sees using his connection to the ground.

The sandstorm was a terrific way of showing off the various powers of The Seven and their Tyros. I wish a battle had been used instead, but this was also a fun scene.

My biggest complaint is that there is barely any fighting in this book. However, in the final 5% we finally get there. Conrad’s sacrifice was great. It finally showed how powerful enhanced people are, especially among The Seven.

The Bad.
There were a few moments where I felt the author was lecturing me. Some current world politics were placed into this (it is a political thriller, after all). However, it felt like personal opinions were pushed just a tad too hard.

The world building is grand, but I feel like it may take multiple readings to pick up on all the nuances.

What happened to Kane? He saved Edlyn, and somehow survived with the Amazonian Shadow women. This was literally the first place The Seven visited, but Kane never shows up. It wasn’t like his presence there was unknown, so he didn’t have to be in hiding. I may have missed a sentence that explained this, but I kept waiting for the reunion that was 15 years in the making.

Tomin (great character, it must be said again) nearly drowns. WTF? These are the most elite magical warriors in the realm. They just spent a year of intense training, and somehow swimming wasn’t a necessary skill? Why doesn’t he know how to swim? Not knowing how to swim is like not knowing how to ride a bike (or a horse in this world). Everyone should know, especially if they are expected to travel to all nations (some including a lot of water) and right the injustices, Jedi style. It was simply put in to make a moment more dramatic, but I strongly feel it was breaking the rules of the world created. No argument will convince me that swimming wasn’t a skill The Seven would have demanded of their Tyros. At least Luca should have wanted to train him.

There is barely any action. I love action. The book includes maybe a half dozen ice wolves killed in two scenes (maybe five pages of text) and the fight (not battle) at the end. A fight the heroes lose. Someone might as well have said “To be continued” as they fled for their lives. I understand the war was the slow burn, but a couple of bandit fights or more detail to training scenarios would have gone a long way to break up the constant tease.

The Technical.
This book is written in the third person omniscient.

The book is part of a series and comes nowhere close to serving as a standalone adventure.

[queen0f_hearts · Rating 2 out of 5]

**First of all, I was provided this book for free by the author in exchange for an honest review**

This is the first time for me I review a book I got for free to share my opinion on it. Somehow, I really want to only say kind things because the author is kind too. But it’ll be hard and I apologize in advance if someone is unhappy with my opinion but I’ll express it as it is and everyone is free to think differently and judge the book by themselves. Anyways, here we go.

When I read the blurb, I found the story promising and I am sure the author has put A LOT thoughts in creating the plot, the world, the characters and everything that needs to be planned beforehand. I also can see, the author tried her very best to make this book, its plot and characters great. I literally can sense the high expectations she has on herself in every sentence. She wanted a lot. To make this an unforgettable and remarkable start of a series. And I do agree, the story itself isn’t bad at all. Edlyn’s past and how she ended up with the Seven, the training of the tyros and the surprising end (though I had predicted something will happen, the signs were everywhere), it was really good! Actually, a great plot.

But then, there was a big problem to my mind. The style of narration couldn’t entertain me at all. To be honest, partly, I found it quite poor. Those always long sentences were tiring and things were repeated over and over, or described to its tiniest detail, though not necessary. I never felt tension rising, not even in action loaded situations. The narrative style, tiring and slow as it was, took the speed from the action that happened and sometimes you could skip entire paragraphs without missing a bit. Everything was told like from far away and I couldn’t really get into it because of that distance.

The characters were lovely. I especially grew fond of Tomin. Such a cutie, I thought. Actually, as time passed by and I struggled more and more to continue reading, he was my reason to go on. I cared for him and, sadly, only for him. The style of narration never let me grow close to one of the other characters. Also I found them too smoothly fitting in and adjusting. The entire training of the tyros by the Seven kind of happened as a sideline. They never struggled, though it was obvious how some of them would need more training than others. Instead, the training just happened as if it wasn’t more but a part of the story the author had to write while actually wanted to be done with it to get to the more exciting part of the story. This didn’t make anything feel realistic or authentic. Even when the tyros grew closer to each other, it felt like this had to happen, so let it happen, smoothly of course. I just couldn’t like it.

If I was asked to give the author advice how to make this book an entertaining and thrilling read, I would at first recommend to change the style of narration. Then also, things can’t go so smoothly, not always and everything. Make it more realistic by not making the characters so perfect in their behavior. Lastly, the summary of this book is awfully long and doesn’t give much information about the book’s content but the world and the characters. And the title and cover are other issues. I think I would have preferred a phoenix, inspired by Nascent.

This is the first book of a series and though the end is promising, I won’t read it. Finally, would I recommend to read this book? I’m not sure. Actually not as it is. Maybe after it was rewritten in a better style of narration.

[Bailey Randolph · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

I found the book very slow to begin with. I am not typically a fantasy reader, and I find myself having a hard time getting into new worlds. A large majority of the first half of the book throws a lot of information at you, and I found myself getting confused at times. That being said, the author did an amazing job at painting a picture of the world she created.

Once the ‘action’ started, I found the book a pleasure to read. I really loved the characters – they were diverse, they were unique, they were likable. I really like stories that are more character focused, and I honestly had a difficult time picking a favourite character. The book was beautifully written, and I do feel that hardcore fantasy fans could just devour this book.

[Chelsie · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at this point. I do appreciate that the author let me have a free copy to review, and I tried so hard to get through this, but it's been months and months and there's just nothing about the story that calls me back to finish reading. It's slow going, the characters are pretty bland, and there are just far too many of them to build any kind of connection to anyone. I worked my way to what I think is 3/4 of the way though, and still up until that point nothing was happening in the story. I just can't struggle with this anymore.

[Kaitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

A dystopian world, split into seven different nations. Seven powerful warriors: Nero, Fay, Luna, Nina, Griffin, Onyx, and Conrad, who have protected these nations for thirty years. Seven young tyros; Raina, Kora, Edlyn, Luca, Sorin, Theo, and Tomin, training to protect their world, while an impeding war looms overhead. The Seven by Courtney Praski is a beautifully written novel telling the stories of these nations and these people. Although vastly different from one another, everyone must work together to protect their allies, and to win the war. These characters are incredibly detailed and the storyline flows smoothly. As the current Seven choose their successors, train, travel, and try to gain as many allies as they can, this story will hook you from the beginning. It is well worth the read for fans of fantasy, and dystopian novels.