Review: Excellent epic fantasy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 26, 2013
Bayan lives in a remote part of the world, his country of Balanganam having been only recently added to the ever growing Empire. When a surveyor comes to the Bayan's city of Pangusay, all Bayan wants is for the surveyor to move on before he discovers that Bayan is hiding his emerging magic. Bayan has his life planned out and it doesn't include being a Skycaller. Unfortunately, when he meets the surveyor, a eunuch named Philo, his magic runs wild creating a huge crater. Oops. However, Philo says that Bayan is not a Skycaller and that under the laws of the Empire he will be required to go to the Duelist Academy where he will be indentured to the Empire for the rest of his life. Need I say that Bayan is not pleased with this plan? But to the Duelist Academy he goes where he is poles apart in so many ways to the other duelists and his magic appears different than anyone else's. Life just isn't going as planned for Bayan. Will he ever fit in?This is an excellent epic fantasy with several storylines coming together in a richly woven tapestry. The writing is smooth, the plot interesting and fast-flowing, the world varied and fascinating and the characters have depth and are well-developed.  I was compelled to keep turning the pages to see what would happen next. I look forward to the next book in the series. In the meantime, I'm going to let my twelve-year-old read this and tell me what he thinks. He loves books with characters that use magic and he reads so much that I'm running out of recommendations for him.*Book source ~ Many thanks to Red Adept for providing me with a review copy. Please see disclaimer page on my blog.