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The Calvacade Chronicles #1
Calvacade: The Unlikely Heroes
Dragons, giants, and mermaids are only real in fairy tales, right? That’s what Candace used to think. Then one stormy night, her little brother goes missing and she is visited by a stranger who reveals to her that he is a wizard. Handing her a magical amulet called the Zindrel Gias, he transports her to the magical land of Calvacade and sends her on a quest to save a fellow wizard from the evil clutches of a powerful mage named Enchantra.
Quickly realizing she is in dire straights, Candace meets a host of people and creatures who help her along her journey, including but not limited a scholarly unicorn, an inept fairy, a dragon who refuses to eat humans, and the handsome temporary king, Dagan.
Will this ragtag group of misfits be able to stop the scourge of Enchantra as she attempts to take over Calvacade? Can Candace learn to use the Zindrel Gias in defense of her new friends? Will she ever find her missing brother? Find out in this new and upcoming epic young adult fantasy novel by Cindy Winget. Time is running out as Candace and her friends battle changelings, lightning wraiths, goblins, and much much more.
Quickly realizing she is in dire straights, Candace meets a host of people and creatures who help her along her journey, including but not limited a scholarly unicorn, an inept fairy, a dragon who refuses to eat humans, and the handsome temporary king, Dagan.
Will this ragtag group of misfits be able to stop the scourge of Enchantra as she attempts to take over Calvacade? Can Candace learn to use the Zindrel Gias in defense of her new friends? Will she ever find her missing brother? Find out in this new and upcoming epic young adult fantasy novel by Cindy Winget. Time is running out as Candace and her friends battle changelings, lightning wraiths, goblins, and much much more.
414 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 25, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 27, 2020
This story started out slow for me. I felt like a large part of that was because of too much narration and description versus emotional connection and action. It was about a quarter of a way into the book that the adventure became interesting enough to me. After that, I became increasingly interested in the characters and their success.
The fantasy land Calvacade is rather unique. There are the usual fantasy characters with a few new types of creatures. Yet the usual fantasy characters often have different traits than usually found in fantasy novels. I liked this a lot!
A Wizard Council normally rules Calvacade until a bitter sorceress named Enchantra tries to take over. She begins hunting down the wizards and other magical creatures to drain them of their magic. The wizards crown Dagan as temporary king before they go into hiding. One wizard sends Candace, a seemingly ordinary girl on Earth, special dreams to prepare her to assume her mysterious role as Protector of Calvacade.
The main character Candace is brave and kind-hearted. I liked her commitment to solving the quest mysteriously given her with little explanation.
Candace becomes incensed with the temporary king before she even meets him. She blames him for not protecting the creatures of Calvacade from Enchantra. When she finally meets Dagan, she does not realize he is the king which allows for a delightful scene.
Despite her favorable first impression, she remains angry with him. Her attitude came across to me more annoying than spunky at this point. Candace’s attitude toward Dagan soon changes. She becomes infatuated with him as she sees his devotion to the creatures of his kingdom.
I think a little more editing and perhaps shortening some scenes and lengthening others would improve the book. Despite a couple other things, such as the tiny fairy shrieking* when excited, that occasionally detracted from my enjoyment of the book, I find I overall enjoyed it. Candace’s sudden transition from the safety of her home to a mysterious magical world reminds me in several aspects of The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley.
The question remains at the end of the book if there is a possible future between Candace and Dagan. I am eager to read Candace’s further adventures in book two and hope there may be a third book as well.
If you are looking for some clean fantasy, I hope you will give Calvacade: The Unlikely Heroes a try. It is a fun story.
I received a free advanced reader copy of this book and then bought my own copy to share with my kids. All opinions are completely my own.
The fantasy land Calvacade is rather unique. There are the usual fantasy characters with a few new types of creatures. Yet the usual fantasy characters often have different traits than usually found in fantasy novels. I liked this a lot!
A Wizard Council normally rules Calvacade until a bitter sorceress named Enchantra tries to take over. She begins hunting down the wizards and other magical creatures to drain them of their magic. The wizards crown Dagan as temporary king before they go into hiding. One wizard sends Candace, a seemingly ordinary girl on Earth, special dreams to prepare her to assume her mysterious role as Protector of Calvacade.
The main character Candace is brave and kind-hearted. I liked her commitment to solving the quest mysteriously given her with little explanation.
Candace becomes incensed with the temporary king before she even meets him. She blames him for not protecting the creatures of Calvacade from Enchantra. When she finally meets Dagan, she does not realize he is the king which allows for a delightful scene.
Despite her favorable first impression, she remains angry with him. Her attitude came across to me more annoying than spunky at this point. Candace’s attitude toward Dagan soon changes. She becomes infatuated with him as she sees his devotion to the creatures of his kingdom.
I think a little more editing and perhaps shortening some scenes and lengthening others would improve the book. Despite a couple other things, such as the tiny fairy shrieking* when excited, that occasionally detracted from my enjoyment of the book, I find I overall enjoyed it. Candace’s sudden transition from the safety of her home to a mysterious magical world reminds me in several aspects of The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley.
*It’s possible this just bothered me because as a mother of seven I may have become highly sensitized to excess noise. I just might tell her if she was at my house, “ Sorry Miss Fairy! You have to go outside to shriek.” Of course, outside is where most of this occurs anyway on their adventure. That’s a good thing! Or maybe not if there are goblins about.
The question remains at the end of the book if there is a possible future between Candace and Dagan. I am eager to read Candace’s further adventures in book two and hope there may be a third book as well.
If you are looking for some clean fantasy, I hope you will give Calvacade: The Unlikely Heroes a try. It is a fun story.
I received a free advanced reader copy of this book and then bought my own copy to share with my kids. All opinions are completely my own.
January 2, 2019
This book is a fantasy following the typical heroes journey from the female perspective. Candace when we meet her does not sound like the type of girl that is generally popular in school, though she is not disliked either. This puts our heroine in the normal range. Through the journey she has quite a bit of learning and growing including putting the needs of others ahead of her own and balancing this with staying true to her task of rescuing the wizard Gildrid and overthrowing the evil Enchantra.
When it was brought to my attention it was by a person that happened to like the Enchanted Forest Chronicles and was aware of my love for that series. It was mentioned as being somewhat similar in some areas. I have to agree. Those that enjoyed that series should find that they also enjoy this book. This would be an excellent book for young women to read, and their brothers too.
Some of the names were very creative and some ordinary for an English speaker. This gave it a nice mix. The only name I can point out as being perhaps a bit stereotypical is our main villain, Enchantra. From the way the character reads however I would expect that to be a name the character gives herself in an attempt to underscore her stolen power. The backstory is believable enough to forgive the name and it is hard to make a villain seem more than a cookie cutter anyway. This does NOT mean that I am calling her a cookie cutter, merely that I want to draw attention to how difficult writing that role normally is.
I liked the balance of adventure and romance. The romance did not overpower the story although it was indeed an element in the story. Take away the romance and attraction between Candace and King Dagan and you change the whole dynamic, and may have had him making some very different choices that had impact on how the story played out. The importance of friendship was also a necessary lesson tucked away that did not overpower the story.
I must also state that the mermaids annoyed me greatly. This part was well done and I think that it could be argued that the emotional prods that they deployed were needful in Candace’s development and realization as to what and how deep her feelings were.
Regarding character development I want to point out how I enjoyed the way they were revealed as what they are and how the characters developed. They did not have the forced feeling that I have come across in some books. Candace’s backstory intrigued me as well and I hope that this will be the first in a series. I would like to know more of this world and see what happens during the rebuilding phase after the civil war that happened.
I did spot a few typos while reading during my vacation, but I did not have my notebook handy to take note of what and where they were. They were minor however, not anything more than what I see through big name publishers, so that is not enough to detract from my enjoyment or rating. It just gives me an excuse to read again.
When it was brought to my attention it was by a person that happened to like the Enchanted Forest Chronicles and was aware of my love for that series. It was mentioned as being somewhat similar in some areas. I have to agree. Those that enjoyed that series should find that they also enjoy this book. This would be an excellent book for young women to read, and their brothers too.
Some of the names were very creative and some ordinary for an English speaker. This gave it a nice mix. The only name I can point out as being perhaps a bit stereotypical is our main villain, Enchantra. From the way the character reads however I would expect that to be a name the character gives herself in an attempt to underscore her stolen power. The backstory is believable enough to forgive the name and it is hard to make a villain seem more than a cookie cutter anyway. This does NOT mean that I am calling her a cookie cutter, merely that I want to draw attention to how difficult writing that role normally is.
I liked the balance of adventure and romance. The romance did not overpower the story although it was indeed an element in the story. Take away the romance and attraction between Candace and King Dagan and you change the whole dynamic, and may have had him making some very different choices that had impact on how the story played out. The importance of friendship was also a necessary lesson tucked away that did not overpower the story.
I must also state that the mermaids annoyed me greatly. This part was well done and I think that it could be argued that the emotional prods that they deployed were needful in Candace’s development and realization as to what and how deep her feelings were.
Regarding character development I want to point out how I enjoyed the way they were revealed as what they are and how the characters developed. They did not have the forced feeling that I have come across in some books. Candace’s backstory intrigued me as well and I hope that this will be the first in a series. I would like to know more of this world and see what happens during the rebuilding phase after the civil war that happened.
I did spot a few typos while reading during my vacation, but I did not have my notebook handy to take note of what and where they were. They were minor however, not anything more than what I see through big name publishers, so that is not enough to detract from my enjoyment or rating. It just gives me an excuse to read again.
November 28, 2020
I received a copy of this book directly from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review.
As much as I wanted to, I could not get into Calvacade by Cindy Winget.
Here's my main issue: the book is categorized as "children's fiction". It's meant for those between the ages of 8 and 18 - which is an immense range for a book. The main character, Candace, is 17 years old and opens the book by being on a date. The date itself doesn't feel like a teenager type of date - it feels like something much older… but here's the rub… the narrative itself is written like a middle-grade book. It is incredibly juvenile, and not in the way a Young Adult book would be.
I think the author made a mistake in trying to make the book widely available to a broad range of ages when they should have been focusing on a smaller group. The main character is too old to be the protagonist of a middle-grade book - the issues she faces and the scenarios she's put in are outside the realm of what a younger reader will be interested in and understand. On the other side of things, the writing itself is too geared towards the younger audience to keep the attention of the older readers. It's a complete mess, and I think the author really missed the mark with it.
That aside, and perhaps because the writing itself is geared towards a younger audience, the narrative is poorly written. There's an abundance of overused exclamations and rhetorical questions. The dialogue is overly dramatic in a similar way and doesn't flow well. There were several times I was jolted out of the story by the author suddenly changing topics unnaturally in the middle of a scene.
I think this book suffers from a lack of an experienced editor, and I found I couldn't enjoy it. There may be others out there that can set these issues aside and continue to read and enjoy the book, but sadly, I am not one of them. There are better books out there if you are looking for a fun fantasy read.
As much as I wanted to, I could not get into Calvacade by Cindy Winget.
Here's my main issue: the book is categorized as "children's fiction". It's meant for those between the ages of 8 and 18 - which is an immense range for a book. The main character, Candace, is 17 years old and opens the book by being on a date. The date itself doesn't feel like a teenager type of date - it feels like something much older… but here's the rub… the narrative itself is written like a middle-grade book. It is incredibly juvenile, and not in the way a Young Adult book would be.
I think the author made a mistake in trying to make the book widely available to a broad range of ages when they should have been focusing on a smaller group. The main character is too old to be the protagonist of a middle-grade book - the issues she faces and the scenarios she's put in are outside the realm of what a younger reader will be interested in and understand. On the other side of things, the writing itself is too geared towards the younger audience to keep the attention of the older readers. It's a complete mess, and I think the author really missed the mark with it.
That aside, and perhaps because the writing itself is geared towards a younger audience, the narrative is poorly written. There's an abundance of overused exclamations and rhetorical questions. The dialogue is overly dramatic in a similar way and doesn't flow well. There were several times I was jolted out of the story by the author suddenly changing topics unnaturally in the middle of a scene.
I think this book suffers from a lack of an experienced editor, and I found I couldn't enjoy it. There may be others out there that can set these issues aside and continue to read and enjoy the book, but sadly, I am not one of them. There are better books out there if you are looking for a fun fantasy read.
October 11, 2018
Fantasy adventure!
A fantasy world well created with creatures that are quite familiar to most and others dreamed up by this new author. The adventure is well planned and does not leave one disappointed in the end, as everything is neatly tied up in a bow. The editing could have been better as there are some minor things that are incongruent. I liked how some of the characters evolved and you really cheered them on as they did so. In the end, this is a well thought out adventure with just a hint of romance and a lot of wandering around and fulfilling tasks in a fantasy world.
I would recommend this book for preteen and no younger than 9 as there are some violent moments, but nothing to turn most away from this book.
I look forward to reading more from this author!
A fantasy world well created with creatures that are quite familiar to most and others dreamed up by this new author. The adventure is well planned and does not leave one disappointed in the end, as everything is neatly tied up in a bow. The editing could have been better as there are some minor things that are incongruent. I liked how some of the characters evolved and you really cheered them on as they did so. In the end, this is a well thought out adventure with just a hint of romance and a lot of wandering around and fulfilling tasks in a fantasy world.
I would recommend this book for preteen and no younger than 9 as there are some violent moments, but nothing to turn most away from this book.
I look forward to reading more from this author!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews