The Legend of the Kestrel (The Sylvan Chronicles) Paperback – January 17, 2019

I'm behind most on this series, but I thoroughly enjoyed the first book. The protagonist is too perfect to be believed but I still found myself rooting for him. I look forward to watching him react to flawed people, learn to lead others and dealing with hormones.

This book has a third person omniscient point of view and does do a bit of head hopping that a few times was confusing. It is however clean and acceptable for preteens and above it appears. So far nothing has occurred in the series to require a real age restriction at all. This book is not a standalone has all the feel of a book meant to foundation build and set up the real story. There was lots of info dumping disguised as teaching when it came to the main character. You have certain antagonists appear only once or twice simply to know that they are there and then do not appear again in the book. You get points of views from many of the minor main antagonist while only hints to the actual main antagonist of the series. That said I get the feeling that this entire series is going to flow pretty much like one large epic fantasy book stretched out or cut up into seven offerings. Depending upon the plot lines it might be two smaller epic fantasy books.I was a bit incredulous at some of the scenes starting off the book, and even the prologue felt a bit disconnected in a way. Without spoilers I do think no reasonable or intelligent person would allow a 10-year-old to be set off on their own without at the very least having a guide no matter the trust or abilities of the 10-year-old. It made for some interesting reading but the entire time I felt like I was reading an older character particularly with his grace under pressure.The first chunk of the book is dedicated to to survival along with a few chapters building up the antagonist or at least setting up their story lines. During these chapters you don't really get too much of an understanding of how much time has passed. But the next time we see our young protagonist 5 years have gone by. It was sort of abrupt but the story kept me engaged enough not to be pulled out too badly.the rest of the story I feel is more of the beginning of an epic fantasy story. We get to see our hero learning through information dumps and some good training or at least the beginnings of some training which is also skipped with unidentified time jumps. Usually instead of being halfway through the story or towards the end of a story we get this in the first 25%.normally I give stories like this a 3-star rating unless I'm completely enraptured with it. I say this because the story obviously feels exactly how it is, at the beginning of a larger series and not a story in of itself that is complete. The author however does pull off some very good action scenes and managers to introduce characters even late in the story that are interesting. I would have preferred perhaps one book or trilogy with each book feeling more like a complete book. However I think considering how Amazon is enabling some brilliant and ambitious writers to throw themselves out there I have to say I like this.I do worry that the seven books appear to have been published within a year or a little more. Coming into the first book there was only a handful if that of editing errors. And only one that I can actually recall clearly. The concern I have is considering the pace the books are put out the first book is often the one the author takes the most time on outside of the last book if the series is really one book stressed out to several. I'm hopeful the author at the very least keeps to his standard of this first book because I can see this being a repeatable reread that will average between 3 and 4 stars and perhaps five if the author uses this foundation for all it's worth.This fantasy does have a bit of a unique fantasy perspective with a bit of a Scottish touch, minus the accent. If I was a bit from the region while creating a unique fantasy world that is interesting and has if not a unique and interesting soft magic system. I enjoyed the main character despite the age of him as well as the antagonist and potential antagonist introduced within the story. The obvious love interest is obvious but appears briefly with a lot of promise with the character. It does have the feeling of developing into what was basically an instant love romance but comes off as filling a bit legit considering how the first meeting occurred and personalities of the characters themselves.That said I would recommend this book as a good read for anybody on Kindle unlimited. I know the audio is per usual is under $8 I think though that you might want to read the first book before deciding whether or not to invest that money into the audiobook. There's enough potential in the book though that I think if you have the money it wouldn't necessarily be a waste but for$10 you can get Kindle unlimited and read the entire book series to know for sure.

I really like the writing . Fantasy books are meant to take you to anther realm of possibility where legend live nd come to life to fight the forces of evil.The author is not wordy or rude. The stories are fast with just enough down time and character development. I think Thomas should have started his sword training a bit earlier to make it a bit more plausible. But that is the nature of fantasy. It is suppose to be a bit magical and the author still makes the characters quite human in spirit and thought. I think everyone would have enjoyed seeing more of the spirit teachers as well I hope a few more come, I am starting the fourth book, if their is to be 9 in all then the author could toss in anther for good measure or bring back a few.I like the ladies and with our powerful heroes. (I like that Thomas is able to share the stage).I think we need strong woman and I don't feel that the woman up stage the men or make them look foolish. Teased yes and so far the men tease right back except with the flirting parts I feel the men's befuddlement and being in over their heads. I am so glad that the woman and young ladies are not the type to huff, pout and be offended over nothings that happens in so many books it is awful. Nor are they fawning with cow eyes that is ridiculous too.If the author want to learn more on the art of conversation in a story he can read LM Montgomery's short stories and her other novels a Tangled Wed and My Blue Castle are great for those things He will cry and laugh is sock off. Also Louis Lamour and his books are great, for conversation (especially internal) and scene development. Not that Mr. Watcht needs help.

It was very engaging. Plot has a twist within a twist with a boy who never gets to be a boy. Question is will Love this story. He live long enough to become his destiny.

I like that right away the writer gets to the meat of the story. And that in just a few pages he renders the essence of a character. This is harder than you think and less common than you would think. A hero worthy of the title versus yet another conflicted anti-hero hero. A coming of age story in which the character really does come of age. In most other fantasy novels the writer holds back and only grudgingly allows the main character to learn his “craft” and then at a pace slower than slow. Until when the character does finally master his or her magic you are unimpressed. This is not yet another story in which the good guy suffers defeat after defeat in chapter after chapter by an infallible Evil only to miraculously and unrealistically triumph in the last few pages of the last chapter. Ending the story with a victory that the reader feels the hero did not earn. Not so in this book. Throughout the good guy gives as good as he gets. Plenty of well thought out action scenes versus the tedium of unending dialogue that fill pages but do not advance the story or develop characters. The writer understands that it is not the number of pages but the story being told that makes an epic. I literally could not stop reading book 1. I read it in one session. Well done, well done indeed!

Likable characters that are well developed, take their first steps on a journey that ramps up toward the end of this first book. Even though there isn't anything remarkably new, it's a well told tale. It's generally well written, but the author does a bit of meandering from one character point of view to the next from paragraph to paragraph. It's a bit distracting as you have to pause to figure out who is actually talking or thinking. Ill definitely read the next in the series though.

Esse primeiro livro da Saga é bom como uma introdução, te apresenta os conceitos e regras do Universo, os personagens principais e coloca as primeiras peças do Tabuleiro para o desenvolvimento da trama, contudo como livro unico a historia te da um gosto incompleto, falta sustancia para o livro, do ponto de vista de uma saga é aceitavel, mas como obra separada não.

Fast paced at the right times, also some slower pace when required to inform of the history and characters.I enjoyed this first book of the series and look forward to following the adventures of Thomas and his wolf.

I loved this book I couldn't put it down and I mean that literally my phone hasn't left my hand since I started the first page also I've reader a few hundred books off Kindle unlimited and this is the only book I've ever commented on or even gave a start if u like fantasy and beginnings this is a book to read

The plot is known, some good writing but writer is in habit of plagiarising his own work. This is 07 series book , which should actually be 01 book only . Entire pages are copy paste in other books , after first book one can finish every book in 01 hour flat , you can simply skip repeated portions. The books are very low on original content , by end of series you can finish book in 30 minutes , there is nothing going on here.

I was hooked from page one. This is such an unusual story but makes you feel part of it and everything that is happening is very believable. Loved this book and have purchased the following four - cant wait to get into them.