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The Hailwic Chronicles: The Shifter
Hailwic: a land ruled by corruption, secret magic, and terrifying dragons. None of these matters to Nyel, who is happily living a simple life. To prove his worth to marry the girl of his dreams, Nyel vows to slay a dragon.
When the time comes, the true monster reveals itself, and Nyel makes a choice that changes his life forever. He is cast into a new world where dragons are allies, and sorcerers are more than royal.
Nyel never wanted this new life. But when a mysterious sickness threatens his home, will he learn to live as something he once hated or get rid of a power that could save the people he loves?
When the time comes, the true monster reveals itself, and Nyel makes a choice that changes his life forever. He is cast into a new world where dragons are allies, and sorcerers are more than royal.
Nyel never wanted this new life. But when a mysterious sickness threatens his home, will he learn to live as something he once hated or get rid of a power that could save the people he loves?
263 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2020
5 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Kendra Slone
2 books5 followershttps://www.facebook.com/authorkendra...
Kendra Slone loves to live in fantasy worlds in her free time. From reading and writing books to playing video games, she is always searching for the next best thing to grab her attention.
She is the author of The Hailwic Chronicles, a YA fantasy series that she started writing when she was young. An avid reader in the same genre she writes in, Kendra has always wanted to publish a book of her own. She made that dream possible by self-publishing her first book, The Hailwic Chronicles: The Shifter, in October of 2020.
Kendra lives in a quiet, small town in Illinois with her husband, three cats, and two dogs. Want to know about her future projects and life updates? Follow her on social media for more!
Kendra Slone loves to live in fantasy worlds in her free time. From reading and writing books to playing video games, she is always searching for the next best thing to grab her attention.
She is the author of The Hailwic Chronicles, a YA fantasy series that she started writing when she was young. An avid reader in the same genre she writes in, Kendra has always wanted to publish a book of her own. She made that dream possible by self-publishing her first book, The Hailwic Chronicles: The Shifter, in October of 2020.
Kendra lives in a quiet, small town in Illinois with her husband, three cats, and two dogs. Want to know about her future projects and life updates? Follow her on social media for more!
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 20, 2021
3.75 stars
Hailwic: a land ruled by corruption, secret magic, and terrifying dragons. None of these matters to Nyel, who is happily living a simple life. To prove his worth to marry the girl of his dreams, Nyel vows to slay a dragon.
And this is how his story begins. One in which the true monsters are not the winged beasts everyone fears, but something much worse.
When the time comes for Nyel to make good on his promise and slay the dragon whose scales he needs to win the hand of the girl he loves, he falters. Because instead of the mindless beasts he was expecting, he is faced with seemingly intelligent creatures who don't seem at all intent to claw and shred him at first look. And they have babies too! Playful little dragon younglings! And Nyel can't bring himself to leave them with no mother. But that is something the other dragon hunters would never do and Nyel finds himself forced to intervene to protect the younglings. He's forced to stand against the very man whose daughter he's trying to woo. And the consequences are dire.
Nyel's life would never be the same. The new world he discovers has him reconsidering pretty much everything he was brought up to believe. In it, dragons are allies, and sorcerers are more than royal and, as far as Nyel himself is concerned, he'll have quite a bit of adjusting to do, to accommodate for his newly gifted dragon magic. And the way he slowly did that, was the highlight of the tale for me. Wonderfully done!
Hunted down for his new gifts (that he in fact resents) and determined to find out what exactly his new powers mean, Nyel and his brother start off on a quest for answers from the dragons themselves. But when a mysterious sickness threatens his home, Nyel might need to choose in between learning to live as something he once hated or getting rid of a power that could save the people he loves.
The Hailwic Chronicles is an entertaining epic fantasy that grabbed me from the very first chapter. Plotwise it is pretty linear however and as far as genre goes, it doesn't bring anything new to the table. And that is also the reason the excitement I felt at the beginning dwindled a bit along the way. The characters are likable and so are the dragons, while the narrative is not perfect but very nicely flowing. It's a solid epic fantasy and yet, it lacks that little extra that makes a good tale stand out.
All in all, this is a solid start to a promising new series and I'm looking forward to seeing how Nyel's tale will unfold in future volumes.
Hailwic: a land ruled by corruption, secret magic, and terrifying dragons. None of these matters to Nyel, who is happily living a simple life. To prove his worth to marry the girl of his dreams, Nyel vows to slay a dragon.
And this is how his story begins. One in which the true monsters are not the winged beasts everyone fears, but something much worse.
When the time comes for Nyel to make good on his promise and slay the dragon whose scales he needs to win the hand of the girl he loves, he falters. Because instead of the mindless beasts he was expecting, he is faced with seemingly intelligent creatures who don't seem at all intent to claw and shred him at first look. And they have babies too! Playful little dragon younglings! And Nyel can't bring himself to leave them with no mother. But that is something the other dragon hunters would never do and Nyel finds himself forced to intervene to protect the younglings. He's forced to stand against the very man whose daughter he's trying to woo. And the consequences are dire.
Nyel's life would never be the same. The new world he discovers has him reconsidering pretty much everything he was brought up to believe. In it, dragons are allies, and sorcerers are more than royal and, as far as Nyel himself is concerned, he'll have quite a bit of adjusting to do, to accommodate for his newly gifted dragon magic. And the way he slowly did that, was the highlight of the tale for me. Wonderfully done!
Hunted down for his new gifts (that he in fact resents) and determined to find out what exactly his new powers mean, Nyel and his brother start off on a quest for answers from the dragons themselves. But when a mysterious sickness threatens his home, Nyel might need to choose in between learning to live as something he once hated or getting rid of a power that could save the people he loves.
The Hailwic Chronicles is an entertaining epic fantasy that grabbed me from the very first chapter. Plotwise it is pretty linear however and as far as genre goes, it doesn't bring anything new to the table. And that is also the reason the excitement I felt at the beginning dwindled a bit along the way. The characters are likable and so are the dragons, while the narrative is not perfect but very nicely flowing. It's a solid epic fantasy and yet, it lacks that little extra that makes a good tale stand out.
All in all, this is a solid start to a promising new series and I'm looking forward to seeing how Nyel's tale will unfold in future volumes.
June 14, 2025
2.5 / 5
Picked this up at a small book fair in Edwardsville, IL! At the beginning of the story, the vibes were very “How to Train Your Dragon” but then shifted away from that to dealing with a world not only where humans and dragons are at odds with one another but a terrible, magical disease is also causing problems. Some interesting elements & straight-forward adventure.
I found, however, that closer editing needed to be done as there were a fair amount of errors, and characters needed to be further developed. There were too many cliché characters, too much static stuff rather than dynamic. From the technical standpoint, the wordsmithing & worldbuilding were just too elementary.
I’d say I probably would have liked this more had I read it as a middle schooler, so maybe that’s who I would recommend this to.
Picked this up at a small book fair in Edwardsville, IL! At the beginning of the story, the vibes were very “How to Train Your Dragon” but then shifted away from that to dealing with a world not only where humans and dragons are at odds with one another but a terrible, magical disease is also causing problems. Some interesting elements & straight-forward adventure.
I found, however, that closer editing needed to be done as there were a fair amount of errors, and characters needed to be further developed. There were too many cliché characters, too much static stuff rather than dynamic. From the technical standpoint, the wordsmithing & worldbuilding were just too elementary.
I’d say I probably would have liked this more had I read it as a middle schooler, so maybe that’s who I would recommend this to.
October 25, 2020
WOW. Just wow! I just finished it and this book is complete GENIUS. I am completely in awe. Kendra has created an entire incredible world and I can’t wait to see what happens next! I was hooked by the first 5-10 pages and could not put it down after. The characters are absolutely wonderful and the plot keeps you on your toes constantly wondering what will happen. Amazing! 😁
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews