I thoroughly enoyed this high fantasy adventure. The characters are not only well crafted, but also deep and interesting. I liked how none of them is perfect and we get a good range of personalities that add a lot to the story. The plot is also well done with lots of action and a good strong pace despite lots of information being imparted about this world and the quest. This particular book is a good "set up" over and above the minor quest in which the characters are brought together and information about the larger quest imparted. It's hard to do this well, and I feel Woodscourt excelled at it.
Finally, although there is a prequel that affects the story presented and is particularly important with regads to one of the characters from this book, the author managed to weave the pertinent information into this story while keeping what pertains to the prequel hidden enough that I'm very curious to read it before continuing with the rest of this series.
Definitely a recommended read for those who like epic YA fantasy without the whiney brats and with a grand-scale fight of good vs evil.
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