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Paths of the Chosen
The head of one of the world's great religions. An imprisoned thief. A humble healer, sworn to nonviolence. These men are among those chosen by the gods, tasked to seek out an enemy that could ultimately threaten all existence. But that enemy has chosen its own mortal soldiers, and battle lines are being drawn in a war that could ultimately claim both gods and men. Book 1 of The Godswar trilogy.
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First published October 24, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 17, 2012
Does "epic fantasy" mean "lots of characters involved in lots of conflicts that occur in lots of locales"? If so, that's what the reader can expect when jumping into Kenneth McDonald's Paths of the Chosen.
Paths of the Chosen begins with Izandra, the main character, being chased by kobolas, an enemy race. She is able to escape and reports her adventure to her fellow townspeople. Then she talks to a few other characters and then looks for Ethander, an old mentor who has been helping her develop her "healing" powers as she attempts to harness this "phuskios," the source of her developikng healing powers. She goes to his house only to discover that kobolas had invaded it and died in the process, kllled by "wards" that the mentor had set up for such a purpose. After reporting on what she found, and still not finding her mentor, the novel then goes into the "heavens" where various gods are deciding what to do about evil gods seemingly desiring to overthrow the world. They decide to send The Avatar to enlist various mortals to assist in their battle against the evil gods. Before long, Izandra and a few others including her brother Ezran, start off on an adventure that is connected to the Avatar's visits and to find Ethander. In the meantime, other characters, knights, barons, etc. are alerted to the coming darkness and determine to combat it. One of the subplots McDonald presents is a power-struggle between a handful of barons who are fighting to become the lord of all barons.
Later in the novel, McDonald presents a sub-subplot of a small group of "pligrims" making their way to one of the holy shrines that one of the knights and his group are headed for. This tangent is interesting because in it McDonald has one of the kobalos reveal his comptempt for these pilgrims who have come to bring the "light" to those living in darkness.
I tried to focus on Izandra's quest, but the details of her adventure were too many chapters apart. I was quite interested in her story and skimmed over much of the subplots to somehow stay connected with her story. The novel ends with one of her conflicts resolved but since Paths of the Chosen is the first of a series, the rest of the conflicts will be addressed in the next book or two.
Is it worth picking up the next book of the series? Yes, it is. But I expect more of the same in Book Two.
Paths of the Chosen begins with Izandra, the main character, being chased by kobolas, an enemy race. She is able to escape and reports her adventure to her fellow townspeople. Then she talks to a few other characters and then looks for Ethander, an old mentor who has been helping her develop her "healing" powers as she attempts to harness this "phuskios," the source of her developikng healing powers. She goes to his house only to discover that kobolas had invaded it and died in the process, kllled by "wards" that the mentor had set up for such a purpose. After reporting on what she found, and still not finding her mentor, the novel then goes into the "heavens" where various gods are deciding what to do about evil gods seemingly desiring to overthrow the world. They decide to send The Avatar to enlist various mortals to assist in their battle against the evil gods. Before long, Izandra and a few others including her brother Ezran, start off on an adventure that is connected to the Avatar's visits and to find Ethander. In the meantime, other characters, knights, barons, etc. are alerted to the coming darkness and determine to combat it. One of the subplots McDonald presents is a power-struggle between a handful of barons who are fighting to become the lord of all barons.
Later in the novel, McDonald presents a sub-subplot of a small group of "pligrims" making their way to one of the holy shrines that one of the knights and his group are headed for. This tangent is interesting because in it McDonald has one of the kobalos reveal his comptempt for these pilgrims who have come to bring the "light" to those living in darkness.
I tried to focus on Izandra's quest, but the details of her adventure were too many chapters apart. I was quite interested in her story and skimmed over much of the subplots to somehow stay connected with her story. The novel ends with one of her conflicts resolved but since Paths of the Chosen is the first of a series, the rest of the conflicts will be addressed in the next book or two.
Is it worth picking up the next book of the series? Yes, it is. But I expect more of the same in Book Two.
November 6, 2012
More of a 3.5 star book than a 4, but I didn't want to go as low as 3 stars.
The book opens very promisingly, with the protagonist Izandra being attacked by a gang of not human creatures called kobalos while she's naturally all by herself in the middle of no where. Thanks to her own cunning and the good fortune of running into a friend with decent fighting skills, she survives. She is an apprentice to a magician, but heads out on a journey with the friend Dannil and his brother for a much more mundane purpose (to be called away on her own later).
Izandra's story, as well as another story in the book, that of the healer who travels part of the way with Dannil were good - interesting, kept me intrigued and wanting to read more.
There were several other sub plots that really seemed to drag on and come to no decent conclusion, making me wonder why they were in the book, I'm sure they'll come together later, but the chapters about the scheming baron in particular were so hard to get through.
I'm interested enough to read book 2 - so here's hoping there's more Izandra and less boring stuff.
The book opens very promisingly, with the protagonist Izandra being attacked by a gang of not human creatures called kobalos while she's naturally all by herself in the middle of no where. Thanks to her own cunning and the good fortune of running into a friend with decent fighting skills, she survives. She is an apprentice to a magician, but heads out on a journey with the friend Dannil and his brother for a much more mundane purpose (to be called away on her own later).
Izandra's story, as well as another story in the book, that of the healer who travels part of the way with Dannil were good - interesting, kept me intrigued and wanting to read more.
There were several other sub plots that really seemed to drag on and come to no decent conclusion, making me wonder why they were in the book, I'm sure they'll come together later, but the chapters about the scheming baron in particular were so hard to get through.
I'm interested enough to read book 2 - so here's hoping there's more Izandra and less boring stuff.
September 1, 2014
I found this to be an interesting tale. While the names (people, creatures) were a bit unfamiliar, and so gave me pause from time to time, I still highly enjoyed the intensity and complexity of the web of conflicts that pulled so many people in (though I did feel lost at times).
I think this is a great selection for those that enjoy fantasy and am incredibly intrigued to see how the bigger story plays out.
I think this is a great selection for those that enjoy fantasy and am incredibly intrigued to see how the bigger story plays out.
January 15, 2015
The council of the nine gods have to deal with their evil brother's activities in the mortal world. They can't be directly involved, nor can they directly interfere in mortal activities, so they use an avatar to give instructions to certain persons. Quite imaginative, well developed story and characters. Needs a little editing, but all in all, a pretty good story.
October 31, 2011
a great find & thankfully bk 2 is already here! this book caught me within the first pages. in places it seemed a little choppy (phrasing etc) but the story was worth it. there are quite a few seemingly random characters to track but i enjoy the unfolding of the larger picture.
March 29, 2012
Fantastic. Just downloaded book 2, Choice of the Fallen. Will start tomarrow.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews