Runeforged

Ascension #1

by Justin DePaoli

Magical runes. An immortal emperor. A young woman who faces the impossible.

Nineteen-year-old Corina makes a mysterious discovery close to her home: in a dark cave lies an ancient rune abandoned for six hundred years. 

When she touches it, her quiet life changes forever.

After capturing the rune's arcane power and cheating death, Corina learns she's a Possessor--the first in centuries. And she might be the only hope against an immortal and tyrannical emperor who reigns over her world. 

But lying in the shadows is something far more unsettling and powerful than a godlike emperor, and it's coming for her. It's coming for everything.

Genres: Fantasy

339 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 19, 2018

About the author

Justin DePaoli called Pittsburgh home for twenty-one years, but now lives in Kentucky with his fiancee, stilt-legged German shepherd, two cats, and a company of fish.

Beginning his career as a freelance writer, he now writes fiction full-time.

When he's not writing, he enjoys playing guitar (quite horribly), running, lifting, playing video games, and spending time with his fiancee and menagerie of pets.

Reviews

[C. Gold · Rating 5 out of 5]

This intriguing world was sundered into different pieces (or maybe was made that way?). The only way to visit different shards is via magical portal structures which the emperor keeps under his thumb along with the populace. There's no famine or war, but no lands of plenty either. Due to clever economics, each shard and town are kept toiling away which doesn't give them any time to plot uprisings.Also, any magic people are taken away and kept under control or eliminated. Despite all that, there's resistance. And a young girl with special abilities is the key to the resistance leader's plans. Too bad he didn't ask her what she wanted.

I really enjoyed this story. The characters are very distinct from one another and well rounded with strengths and weaknesses. Even better, the antagonists have realistic motives behind what they do and have some pretty clever plans in place. Allies may not always seem like allies because they have their own plans, and enemies might not really be. It's awesome to be unsure which way people will go. No stereotypical villains in this story!

The world building is only moderately sketched out with the sharded worlds that have different climates and terrain. However, there are two races that were very well done and unique. One is a ghost like race that is powerful in some ways but barely able to influence the physical world. Another is a crystal headed people that are the emperor's fearsome slaves. Both play important roles in the story and aren't just background filler.

There are multiple POVs, so you get see different glimpses of what's going on with people on various sides. However, it didn't lessen the mystery of what was going to happen next and I didn't feel like it was too jarring swapping between the different people.

This story kept me up way past my bed time and I'm looking forward to book 2. The ending wrapped up the first book's events nicely and left enough of an 'uh-oh' ending to tantalize, but no terrible cliff hanger.

I definitely recommend this book for people who enjoy fantasy with multiple POVs.

[Carly Stevenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you can get passed the bad grammar and spelling (which I could) it’s an interesting read. The world building wasn’t great, after finishing the book I’m still confused to what the shards actually are. Several creatures or ‘species’ are also described which are so unique and intriguing to the storyline however there wasn’t a huge amount of drawn out character development for them so it was more of an ‘I like this character but don’t feel too much over the fact that they’ve just died’ feeling which wasn’t what the author was going for.

It’s all very factual and doesn’t evoke a lot of emotion when reading this one. I didn’t get invested into the story.

I think the idea behind it could have been great but the writing just let it down as it was a very complex world created and the author couldn’t quite carry it through to his writing.

[Mridula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting

This was a fast paced book with an interesting concept and lots of mysteries. There are many typos in this book but nothing so bad that it takes away from the reading enjoyment. The writing style is nice but lots of fancy words are used when far simpler ones could have been used just as effectively and it would have worked better - because the people who are narrating this story - the main characters are poor, not so well educated and very young and them having such complicated words in their vocabulary doesn't feel right. It's not unpleasant but just doesn't fit. I did like the author's style of description though - for example:

Candlelight scrawled its thin, ever-changing designs down the peeling walls.

Toward the end of the book the language is simpler I guess because there is so much action. Enjoyed it overall.

[Rudaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the beginning I enjoyed the book, but as I continued reading I just wanted to end it as quickly as possible.
Was their any editing done? The author kept repeating the same sentence all through the book. In every shard they went to they mentioned that the emperor never let's the villages make enough profit so that they can live comfortably. This is just one example!
Plus the way that the 2 main characters spoke to each other made them sound like VERY young teenagers. Whenever Corinne used more than one rune I was the one who was having headaches.
I would like to know what happens in book 2 but not sure if I have the energy to read it

[Aria Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd one. Despite the desperate need for an editor of both grammar and clarity, something keeps me reading on. Not necessarily the characters... I can't say I especially like or dislike Corina or Ingram... I don't know... Probably the world building- it isn't always clear to me just what is going on but what I think I understood was intriguing.

[Cathy Crowley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting world

This is a story about a broken and fragmented world. I would very much like to see where the author takes us. The characters are intriguing and the author does a good job taking you on a journey. Hopefully the next book will explain how this world was broken.

[Stephen Levesque · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book/series, was not for me. It really didn't make you want to keep reading and had things that just seem to unreal. The characters were drab to me and not very strong. The story was slow. You really need strong characters and engaging story that flows, and this didn't have that. Good luck.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good quick read.

I enjoyed this for a quick day read. Characters are interesting. Story isn't predictable. Over all quite a good adventure that ends up wrapping up well and leaving you wanting to continue the story.

[Zac N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interested in reading more. The author throws us head first into a new world. Confusing and non-descript at first, as time goes on more is revealed. By the end of this short story I want to see more.

[Caiti Mulvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

It was well written and faced paced. The characters were likable as well. I would most definitely recommend this book.

[crystal smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

I hope cor ignores the voice. I really want her and ingram to make a difference in the lives of the people.

[Dan Allnatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Painfully slow at the beginning, but then the pace really picks ups. The last 1/4 of the book has a lot going on and was a bit frantic.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.

[Ozgur · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I haven’t read anything in this genre more boring than this... certainly not my cup of tea.

[Anders · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't really get the shards and fragments, probably because I'm not a native English speaker, but the book was fast-paced and fun with a quite original magic system.

[Sam Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The jury's still out on thi she one!

[Risebuddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. 10/10

[Sarah Boni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally this book was good. The world was interesting and the plot flowed well. The only main problem that left me scratching my head were the characters Hylie and the uncle. After Hylie leaves Raemon, her story comes to a close so quickly and without making much of an impact, I’m left wondering why she was even in the book. But Raemons story line is even more of a let down. He quickly becomes an antagonist and I thought he would play a much bigger role at the end. But instead we are informed that he was executed. So why did we spend so many chapters following him around?

[Volpot · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Stars. DNF Halfway though and not much has happened. Two primary characters are still mostly blanks. The story is almost told in a dispassionate voice. Worst is the odd "world" in which the story is told...which consists of "shards" that are wholly obscure as to shape, form, and purpose.