The Wielder Trials

by Franca Ogbonnaya

After the harrowing events of her encounter with Namiran raiders and Alkynaia sea serpents while on board the Windrider, Britea now finds herself enrolled in one of the only three wielder schools left in Malaquey. She soon discovers there is more to wielding than she thought, and while she makes some close friends, she also creates some powerful enemies. As fate catches up with her, she will have to look deep within herself to find the tools she needs to meet her destiny and save her school.

Meanwhile, the Dyhaeri, Kahl and Mat, are forced to come to terms with the far-reaching consequences of Kahl’s rebellion. As they are being “disciplined” by learning how to properly interact with humans on board the Peacekeeper, they come to discover they are to play the part of ambassadors in Malaquey, and at Britea’s school in particular, after many mysterious deaths and disappearances of humans and Dyhaeri alike at the hands of the mad Immortal Queen of Namira.

Their three paths will cross and intersect with a fourth player’s path as an ancient prophecy plays out that forces each to learn about themselves and reassess their current views of others and the world and will either cause a war...or doom their lands forever.

482 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 25, 2020

About the author

Hi, my pen name is Franca Vanessa Ogbonnaya ( real name is Vanessa Ogbonnaya). I live in Alberta, Canada and I love reading fantasy and sci-fi so much that I decided to write my own! I love drinking tea and thinking up imaginary worlds where my characters have fun, filled adventures. My favourite characters are reluctant heroes with a wicked sense of humour.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanessao343/
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vanyfranca001

Reviews

[Cathleen Townsend · Rating 3 out of 5]

To all outward appearances, Queen Kallesa has nothing to fear. She rules with power so absolute, she can abduct young magic wielders, and then torture and kill them with impunity. Anyone who threatens her she can simply make disappear. She can even imprison sea monsters and keep them in tanks like so many fish. But she can’t make the prophecy go away so easily. It proclaims that a sixteen-year-old magic wielder, with the help of the Three and the sea monsters, will send the immortal one to the abyss.

Meanwhile in a neighboring kingdom, Britea, the prophesied teenager, has completely different concerns. She’s just started classes at a wielder college, and she’s overwhelmed. How can she possibly keep everything straight and stay within the rules?

I had complete sympathy for Britea as the story had lots of moving pieces and details. I had to read the beginning three times to get enough of a grip on the plot to write the opening paragraph of this review. And it didn’t let up as the story moved forward. It launched quickly into a conversation with Britea’s classmates that had a lot of exposition—geography, average age of wielder ability, heredity of wielders, ethnicities with particularly strong wielders, types of classes available at the college, ways students were tested, career opportunities for those who pass, and the types of uniforms the students wore and the meaning of the insignia. And shortly after that Britea met with instructors who recite a multipage list of instructions that all wielders must comply with. And the details just kept on coming after that. I prefer stories that don’t require me to take notes as I read to understand them. And then re-read them to make certain I’ve got them straight. But there are folks--notably gamers--who will eat up every world building detail and ask for more.

The characterization was pretty good—most of the fictional people felt real, especially Britea and Malie, the sea monster. It was fun to watch the privileged Lianne get taken down a notch on multiple occasions. The settings were well-described, as were the characters. I was left with sharp mental images.

So, if you don’t mind an incredible abundance of world-building mixed in with your magic school teen protag’s story, this tale will probably satisfy you.

[Kevin Carlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Airbender meets Harry Potter in this well-written second installment in the Wielder series. Britea, now the new kid at Wielder college, makes new friends and deals with wealthy bullies, while in the outside world the Namiran Immortal Queen works quietly towards nefarious goals, and the Dyhaeri and Weltonians must work together to uncover her plot.

From prophecies and well-intentioned but misguided naval officers, to an adorable prophetic book store owner, to a tortured sea serpent forced to bear witness to the evil queen's brutality towards captured Wielders, this book keeps the reader consistently engaged.

I found it very easy to get lost in this story. I tend to be easily distracted, and I get “taken out of the story” when I encounter things like continuity issues or awkward dialogue, but The Wielder Trials swept me away to this fantastical world and kept me there. The writing flows very smoothly.

Several things I am an absolute sucker for: Humans with skin colors not naturally occurring in the boring world we refer to as “real life”; short, aggressive chefs; and redemption arcs. Nothing hits me harder in the feels than a redemption arc. That's all I have to say about that.

There are a few minor technical issues. There are some redundancies, both in the sentence structure and in the “head-hopping” shifts in perspective, as well as some typos here and there. One more round of editing and an updated edition might be in order. Sometimes those sorts of minor issues get to me if I'm struggling to get into the story, but I was so thoroughly immersed in the fantastical world of The Wielder Trials that I really didn't care. So if anything, for me those minor issues just highlighted how much I was enjoying the story.

I'm looking forward to the next installment.

[Loralee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story. Having read the first book and liked it, I was excited to read this one too, and I'm glad I did. Britea is working forward on building her skills in a Harry Potter type school for weilders of the 4 different elements. Meanwhile, the evil queen, Kalessa is sacrficing young wielders and taking their powers, kind of reminiscent of Elizabeth Bathory. But as some of these poor sacrifices are dying, they're making predictions that worry Queen Kalessa more and more. One of the characters, a captured sea serpent, called an Alkynaia, whose name is Malie, is a good character to add, with its internal dialogue about Kalessa. Incidentally, along with sacrificing the young wielders she captures, Kalessa is an all around jerk to her servants as well.
I really like Britea, and her confrontations with Lianne, Lianne being a Draco Malfoy type character to Britea's Harry Potter.
The story did move a bit slower for my taste, and while I hoped that Kalessa would have more of an impact on this story, she didn't have as much as I'd hoped. It ended with a clear set up for the next instalment in the series.
I hope to see Malie doing something in the next book. He doesn't seem like a bad sort.
Readers of YA who enjoy stories about magic and young, spunky heroes would enjoy this book.

[Phillip Murrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a YA novel that hits all the major beats for fans of the genre. I prefer higher stakes, so I don't usually read YA. However, some great premises have come from the genre, so I occasionally dip back into some. This one wasn't for me. It felt like an early Harry Potter book. This isn't a bad thing for most, but characters constantly referenced the massive ship battle from the first book. Having this one basically focus on wielder school felt like a regressive step in storytelling. I like a lot of action. This book had some, but I never got the high stakes I thought the queen represented. The rest of my review will contain spoilers.

The Good.
This book reminded me of Mark Lawrence's books Red/Grey/Holy Sister. Although this is the more PG friendly version.

Britea's previous accomplishments and experience mean she goes to year three. Just like real life, sometimes you get credit through non-traditional methods.

Britea challenged Lianne on the original wielder. It put little miss perfect in her place. Although I thought the royal snob trope was annoying, it was still great to see Britea win their first contest.

I enjoyed the Dyhaeri culture. I especially liked the concept of turning some of them into humans.

Although I don't typically like YA, I admit that Britea and Kahl were exceptionally well written characters. Though not as good as Malie. Malie was by far the best character. Internal dialogue about the queen always made me smile.

Shielding lessons come later in study because stupid teens will duel in the streets. I liked the rule and it made me look forward to the inevitable duel.

The teens who wielded in a drunk bar fight were severally punished. It was effective as a lesson and rather cruel. This was when the story dipped a toe into a more adult tale.

When Pearl's mother visited. This was probably my favorite scene. She cared more about appearances than her daughter. I also found it hysterical that Lianne would boast at a party instead of keeping her head down and risk exposure. It shows how privileged the girl was.

The Bad.
Queen Kallessa was too over the top. I love Darth Vader. He gets to kill his underlings on whims because he did it FIRST. All other evil characters who do this always feel like pretenders.

Classing wielders by the four basic elements is so overdone.

Britea and Pearl's duel. She almost killed five people (yet miraculously didn't). That broke my suspension of disbelief. It should have just been Pearl who went over the bridge. Maybe one more kid to be a witness. Five was too many. Then Britea advocates for Pearl to stay? She forgave her in moments? And all the other kids? Nobody snitched on Lianne and Valerie? The whole scene started amazing and became the lowest point. Britea and Pearl became friends far too easily and quickly. I guess there was no loyalty to Vindell. Even she forgave too easily. A whole star was lost from this scene.

Britea and Kahl share some letters. We have to read them as they're written and as they're received. It was redundant and annoying.

The Danai/Mat duel ended as a tie. Ties are always a cop-out. Either pick a winner or skip the whole thing.

I love action. There is some, but everything built up to the trials. I kept waiting for the queen to arrive. She did, but only in the last twenty pages or so. It meant no big battle and an easy escape to set up the next book. The title should have been a big hint, but I kept my fingers crossed for every page to finally get out of school and onto the battlefield.

The Technical.
This book has mild violence.

There are multiple POV characters.

[Alex Robins · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for an interesting mix of Harry Potter & The Last Airbender than the Wielder Series is definitely for you. Franca hasn’t reinvented the wheel here, those familiar with YA “school of magic” stories will find a lot of similar tropes: the inexperienced protagonist slowly coming to grips with her powers, themes of social inequality (the class bullies are rich and snobbish), a smorgasbord of teachers ranging from compassionate to austere, and an underlying mystery that pulls the story forwards.

That being said, despite the familiar setting, Franca’s writing is nothing short of excellent. The conversations between characters are smooth and believable, the world-building is incredibly detailed and smartly integrated into the story, and the action scenes, while rare, are frantic and fast-paced. It’s evident that Franca has a very clear picture in her head of how the world works and how the characters interact and she has managed to transcribe this perfectly. A dramatis personae, timeline, and more can be found at the end of the book for those who would like to immerse themselves even more completely in the history and culture.

There were only a very few small niggles that bothered me. I had difficulty identifying with the main characters, although this is of course a personal opinion as I am a man in my forties and not necessarily the primary target audience of the novel. In fact, my favourites by far were two secondary characters: Pearl, who had a great redemption arc throughout the book, and Malie, a talking sea serpent (!) who helps flesh out the main antagonist, Queen Kalessa. Hopefully we’ll get a spin-off series about Malie one day!

The other thing that put me off a little bit was the pacing. The plot took a while to get going, and occasionally went off on some tangents that slowed the main story to a crawl. Again, this is my personal opinion as I’m a big fan of fast-paced action-packed reads. At close to 580 pages (for the paperback version), it is maybe too long for YA and could be slimmed down.

One last (but important) point: the cover is fantastic! It’s the kind of cover that tells the reader a great deal about the story (it’s obviously going to be a fantasy book about magic and a female protagonist) and looks very professional. If this is available in bookshops, I’m sure the cover alone will draw more than one inquisitive reader to the book. Well done!

Well-written with great world-building and believable characters, I can easily recommend The Wielder Trials to anyone searching for some YA magic-based antics.

[Jessica Kuzmier · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. For me, the fantastical elements really didn't catch me, but the interplay of realism that was built up within that framework. I actually found the most interesting character to be Pearl, who really wasn't developed until about a third of the way into the book. I did like the general concept that was presented, that wisdom and discipline must be learned in order to really utilize one's talent, which is a story arc that the main character Britea experiences throughout the novel.

I found that the book was a little long and could have been shorter, but this is just me. I appreciate the well-written narrative and visual world created in this book. If you like a saga of an imaginary kingdom, complete with evil queens and young underdogs, this book will be for you.

[Renee Davis]

Just got done reading the series. Cannot wait for the next book to come out. This had me up late at night cause it was interesting. The characters were very well written that you could place yourself in their shoes. The mystery in the stories were ones that made you want to solve them and at the same time get onto the next adventure.

[Scott Spotson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author has painstakingly created a new world, and there is much, much detail of this world-building. It is apparent how much details has gone into all aspects of any civilization; the clothes, the college, the superpowers, the food, the royal court, crime and punishment, and a cast of dozens serving as minor characters in all aspects of society, from the teachers to the servants to the military.

Sometimes I felt I were reading an encyclopedia of a new planet rather than a fantasy novel. I'd admit the writing was strong, and the characters very nuanced, and some thrilling moments. But the pace sometimes slows down a lot to incorporate more world-building.

My favourite plot was that of Pearl, a sworn enemy, slowly becoming bosom buddies with Britea. I loved this plot thread. I kept on reading to find out if Pearl would bolt and betray Britea, or pull through for her new friend. This alone was enough to keep me invested, plus some pretty cool descriptions of the tiers of the wielding superpowers.

I couldn't understand why Kahl and Mat stayed so long at the college, if they're dignitaries. Usually dignitaries don't become university students or instructors, and while it's continually explained they're just observing, did they really need a year to just observe? And why are Kahl and Mat on the royal court? Is it a coincidence that they are excellent at the same skills that the college specializes in even though they were supposed to serve the royal court as servants with focus on governance? I didn't really see them perform any governance duties. I felt like it was a flimsy plot point just to get them into the actions of Syla College. Why not just have Kahl and Mat ordered to be students at the same college and never have them join the royal court? After all, if Britea wasn't really supposed to be at the college, then it's not much of a stretch to transform Kahl and Mat into promising but unwanted students, either. I don't think the royal court was necessary for the plot -- get straight to the heart of the college, making the two mix is a little awkward and forced.

I also didn't see how the wielding powers are that valuable for war. There are superhero stories aplenty, but those superpowers are usually very powerful, and I just didn't see those wielding powers as having the same heft. The fire power though -- that could be worthy for war against armies. Wind and water doesn't seem to be lethal forces. Since the story is told from the point of view of Britea, there's a lot of discussion of the wielding of water.

All in all, the story kept me interested, although I had to rouse myself to continue at times. Maybe this story could be trimmed to the college experience and less on the royal politics and the military. There are always snobby (or wealthy, or both) students at every college, so no fear of losing those high-minded antagonists.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Franca Ogbonnaya's The Wielder Trials. It's the second book in the Wielder Series and it follows late wielder Britea on her arrival at Syla College as – far from home - she makes new friends, like Danai, the only Weltonian to learn at the college for a few hundred years, and also enemies, such as the aristocratic Lianne and her snooty friends. The arrival of the two Dyhaeri cousins - Mat-rellian and Khal with the Dyaeri, High Priest, adds an added layer of interest as does learning more about wielding and the upcoming Wielding trials and the layers mystery about Danai’s parents. The story builds slowly to an epic showdown with evil Namiran Queen and her minions.

I particularly liked the friendships between Britea and Danai and her friends, the light-hearted and sweet romance developing between the two girls and the Dyhaeri cousins, as well as the way both Danai and Britea deal with opposition, and the narrative journeys of Pearl Ceros and Harto Flay. This book had elements of the Harry Potter books and Avatar the Last Airbender with a wielding school, intercollege wielding competition, an evil immortal ruler and redemptive arcs. It will be interesting to see where the next book leads.

[Lin Meili · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very interesting fantasy book!

The main character is a girl (Britea) who recently discovered that she has magic/wielder powers, and thus must be trained in a special wielder school.

The story is therefore one of those magical boarding school stories, similar to Harry Potter or Deadly Education.

I enjoyed reading it. The world is very expensive and epic. The main character is relatable and likable.

The only thing that I didn't like, is that the main bully wasn't sufficiently punished in the end, but I expect she will meet her comeuppance in the next book.

The titular Wielder Trials was especially good. I recommend this book for those who enjoy fantasy YA books that center around learning to harness and control magical powers.

[Alex Canna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s Harry Potter set on a fantasy world and it’s got everything you’d expect of the concept: teenage angst, good versus evil and the fate of everything in the balance. It’s all fairly well plotted with plenty of action, although it could do with some editing.
However, I found it hard to suspend my disbelief and I finally figured out why. In the Harry Potter series, it always felt to me that the Hogwarts world is just a twist in the road away: get the right letter through the door and you might end up in a school for wizards; go down the right alley and you might actually find yourself in a shop selling real magic.
It’s the ongoing tension between familiar and unfamiliar that makes the Harry Potter series so relatable. But when you blend Hogwarts with this level of fantasy, I found myself in a completely unfamiliar world without a framework: anything can happen. And because anything can happen, and characters don’t have to deal with a limited set of options, there’s no jeopardy: everything is now at the whim of the author.
But that’s me and I can’t speak for everyone else. If you’re up for no-limits fantasy, this could very well hit the spot.