William Wilde and the Stolen Life

The Chronicles of William Wilde #2

by Davis Ashura

The riveting tale begun in William Wilde and the Necrosed continues as William finds himself beset on all sides by cruel foes and even crueler friends. Having survived the monster, Kohl Obsidian, Wiliam Wilde had hoped his life would settle down; that he’d finish his senior year of high school with no further adventures. But life isn’t so simple for a potential magus, especially one who’s overcome as deadly an enemy as Kohl. Instead, William has unwittingly earned the raptor gaze of even greater foes. One is someone he thought he could implicitly trust while others are even more dangerous. And all are from the island of Sinskrill. They are mahavans, powerful magic-users bent on humanity’s enslavement. They seek to capture William and chain him to their needs, to bind him in perpetual servitude upon Sinskrill. William finds himself caught amongst people for whom deceit and pain are simple coins to be traded, and his best hope to survive these new challenges might lie with someone he'd always thought to be his mortal enemy.

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Audiobook, Young Adult, Fiction

434 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 18, 2018

About the author

"

Davis Ashura is an author of such sublime depth and beauty that his works have been known to cause a tear to fall from the eyes of even the hardest of hearts.
Just kidding.
But he does write.
This humble writer, who refers to himself in the third person, resides in North Carolina, sharing a house with his magnificent wife who somehow overlooked Davis’ eccentricities and married him anyway. As proper recompense for her sacrifice, Davis then unwittingly turned his magnificent wife into a nerd-girl. To her sad and utter humiliation, she knows exactly what is meant by ‘Kronos’. Living with them are their two rambunctious boys, both of whom have at various times helped turn Davis’ once lustrous, raven-black hair prematurely white (it sure sounds prettier than the dirty gray it actually is). And of course, there is the obligatory strange, adopted cats (all authors have cats-it's in the by-laws). One eats everything placed before him and the other has the world's stinkiest breath.
When not working – nay laboring – in the creation of works of fiction so grand that hardly anyone has read a single word of them, Davis practices medicine, but only when the insurance companies tell him he can.

Reviews

[kartik narayanan · Rating 4 out of 5]

tl;dr: The Chronicles of William Wilde is turning out to be an intriguing series with William Wilde and the Stolen Life, the second book, taking it to a new level.

The author gave me an opportunity I read this book along with the first one when it was released (so most of the review is taken from the first one I wrote). And it is awesome. I am going to revise my opinion of this series to a must-read. The story is more mature and the characters development goes in unexpected directions. I found the book to be reasonably fast paced and there weren't any sections in the book that dragged.

If you are on the lookout for a fresh take on the YA genre, William Wilde is your cup of tea.

[Paps · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good continuation of the story, William ends up in the enemy’s hands and experience first hands life under them, hopefully this will be motivation enough for him to fight this evil. We get to see what life can be under the control of the Big Bad and why the Magi are so needed as well in, how depleted 'Earth' magic is and how it affect magical creatures.

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Action, Adventure, and Hard Lessons

More action than in the first book means you’re in for a fast and bumpy ride. No sex, gore, or murder, but plenty of domination and pain, so I’d recommend readers 10+. A very good story, with growing characters in a growing world. New abilities, friends, and danger keep you very interested. Definitely recommended.

[Guy Venturi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kidnapping works best on kids.

Kidnapping a couple of mages in training could be a problem. They might have friends, family, and love to protect and help them. It is hard to know who you can trust, but it is even harder to accept help without some trust.

Magic has different components that makes those who can control it different with differing abilities and effects. Learning to control yourself is a challenge, but trying to avoid magic is even harder. There is always someone more powerful than you as an individual, but teamwork can beat any individual.

William and Jake discover each other as they learn magic together. They also learn about Serena and Selene and understanding about being forced to do what it takes to survive. Forgiveness comes hard, but cooperation builds trust.

This book builds characters and introduces new challenges to prepare for the next book in the series.

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's the big idea and/or unique approach of this book?
The story of book one was local, dominated by high school drama. This story takes them out of that space to a much bigger world (can’t say more without spoilers) and I enjoyed it more than the first book because of it. I wish they would have spent more time with the mechanics of the magic, but I’m realizing that this series isn’t going to be that way. The magic will be loosely described and it isn’t the point. Not bad, just not my favorite approach.

Was I entertained/did it keep my attention?
It was fast paced and had a grand finish.


Would I recommend it to others?
Yes, it’s good. It’s not going to make my list of great books but it was a fun YA adventure.

[TC Marques · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whereas the first installment of the series introduces the characters and has a YA feel to it, this second installment goes deep into character building and development! It gets really deeper and at times even darker. The world also evolves building up to what appears to be an amazing series, and intertwines softly with the world introduced in the authors first series Castes and Outcastes. (How not to love Rukh and Jessira?) When I picked this series up I really didn’t know what to expect, other than I love the author and would probably love yet another series by him… but it blew my expectations! I’m really enjoying it and I’m glad I still have at least 1300 pages to go on the series!

[Richard Kendrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounding up from 3.5 stars. The writing in this one was tighter than the first. While I was invested in the characters and interested in the story, it's somehow just not quite fully aligning with my tastes. I'll likely continue the series.

[Seth Bobbink · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story

I really am unsure of what Rukh and Jessira's purpose is in this series like how is this series connected with the first one it seems like Davis Ashura just went shaazam and they were in there with no forethought or purpose. But even so still a good story!

[Steve Flanagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read

[earnest james · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

This was the second time I read it and I was once again enmeshed and enthralled in the story and the characters.

[Landon Ragusa · Rating 4 out of 5]

*8.0/10

[Non Pantalones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm continuing with reading the series - I wasn't surprised by any of the twists and turn of the plot... it's serviceable. :) I can definitely tell where a lot of the concepts come from, but nothing throws me out of the story. I'm not in-love with the relationships... they seem very plot-driven, instead of the other way around but again, nothing that throws me out of the story. I'll continue reading.