Review: Creative Author
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 25, 2012
This is the first book in the Masters & Renegades series by Chantal Boudreau.  I was excited to read this, as I love fantasy books - especially when there is magic involved.  I can thank J.K. Rowling for that!  LOL!  The author has a great talent for description.  I loved the detail she put into the different environments and the magic that was used in the book.  Her imagination has no limit.  I also love the idea of the story:  it all takes place in one day, and centers around nine contestants who want to become apprentices at the Magic University.  There are only three seats available; the trials they must go through in the competition are difficult and dangerous.Boudreau did a fantastic job in choosing her characters.  They are all very different in backgrounds, appearances, and beliefs.  However, throughout the competition, they learn that differences do not matter and none of them are perfect.  It is a classic story of how people can change and prejudices can be stripped away if we give each other a chance.My one problem with this story is that I couldn't really connect with the characters.  By the end of the book, I did not have any strong feelings or ties to any of them.  I think the author should have spent more time developing the characters and maybe giving more background on them.  I'm not saying that the characters weren't creative; I think they just needed more substance.  However, this is the first book in the series, so we may learn more about them in later books.All in all, this isn't a bad book.  I liked it, but I wish that the author could have put more into the characters.  It would have been nice to have one or two that I could have rooted for to win the competition.  I do plan on reading in the next in the series.  :)