Then we have another switch to Kari who is a young woman in the stands watch Steve joust thinking young woman things when the town is attacked. She scrambles out of the arena and tries to run for her home shooting monsters with her astounding archery skills. When she gets to her home she find a phoenix has set it ablaze and she decides to take on the beast. When it seems as though the phoenix has won out from the sky falls a handsome elf; Ty. They team up and make their way to Ty’s brother’s home. Then they are dragged out of the home to the center of the city to witness the truth behind the attacks. There they see Steve imprisoned and ready for hanging but surprise rescue him.
There is more throughout and after this point, but I don’t want to give away the ending or anything. There are many good things and many not so good things about this novel. Let’s do a mixture of both. First the novel starts off very slow and seems very drab. When reading it got the feel of just another story about a boy who wants to be a knight, seems as though it has been done before. The author spends a lot of time on descriptions and back stories in the first section; building up the character of Steve. So much emphasis is placed on this back story that a lot of the actual story gets lost. I understand the author is striving to make Brighflame the hero he is intended to be, but so much back story could be done without. Some is important to the story line such as how he came to be raised by Sir Titus.
The second thing that brought down some enjoyment was after I finished chapter 12 and was really pumped for Brightflame’s story and to see what was going to happen; the story jumps all the way back to the beginning to follow Ty. Then as Ty’s story start getting really good, we go all the way back to the beginning to Kari. What would have made it more fluid and flow a lot better and gain more excitement for the story, is if each of their stories were mixed together. For example while Brighflame struggles on the arena with a minotaur have Ty jump from his seat to rush forward to help save his friend while helping others and noticing the things he notices. When they part ways Brighflame rushes off towards the castle battling on the crowd Ty rushes to the stables toward his gryphon. Other novels do this as following one character then stop their story at a point then pick up at that same point but a different character. Brighflame watches the tower crumble and runs to get out of the way of debris. Ty watches from above praying his friend is safe while he battles the phoenix and is knocked from the seat. Kari is cornered by a phoenix and from the sky fall Ty. Interweaving the storylines make a connection between the characters noticeable and makes the readers hope they meet up at some point and do battle as a team rather than all fighting separately.
Now for some good things about this novel, it is a good story. There are great elements in the storyline that get you into the story and loving the characters. Some of the ideas he creates are interesting such as knowing the type of element a monster controls by the color of their skin and how strong they are in that element based on how pale or brilliant the color is, it shows both strength and weakness in the characters. That is something I haven’t seen done yet and I was impressed with that idea. Tony does a great job with the story, I just think there are things he could have done to make it better.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Final Review: There are a lot of things that took the rating for this novel down a star. There are elements that are remarkable and I wanted to see more from. Chapter 12 was best part.
Pros: Great character descriptions/design, story developed well.
Cons: Restarts the story from the beginning with each new character. Didn't like re-reading the same events all over again.
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