Steve Rawlings

(Reposted from my regional library website, original date Mar 08, 2017)

As an avid fantasy reader I find it easy to bump into things that I've seen before, but I enjoyed this read. I picked it up by chance (February's "Blind Date With a Book") and found the characters to be enjoyably quirky, and what might normally come off to me as juvenile (I am an adult reading this) or silly, was pulled off rather well. My only gripe is that as a part of a trilogy, it sort of assumes that I'm going to read the rest of them so the story does not progress as far as I suspect it could, but there is a sort of resolution and it does end at a point where an end seems suitable. (Personally, I would like to see more single book fantasies but this seems to be the formula now).

On a side note, if I put my academic hat on there are some religious and possibly Christian parallels in the story. I suppose some people might be annoyed by that but I personally didn't find it obtrusive or anything, and it fits with the story this far.

I didn't intend to read more than the one book from the start, but might continue later when the mood strikes me. I would recommend it.… (more)

What was the most compelling part?

When Cantor and Bridger meet, I automatically adored Bridger. He was funny, clever, and unique from the other dragons. When Cantor balked against him I was a little upset, so one of the aspects that kept me going in this book was watching Cantor warm up to Bridger. I really wanted to know if he would officially name Bridger as his constant, which means they're together forever.

Were you disappointed at all?

Not really. I thought I was going to be upset at one point when a random guy came up and said "oh if you need a place to hide here's this inn and the guy hates the guard so you're good." All I could think was really Donita? you couldn't make that any more subtle? But in the end it was just a piece of fluff or something because they never go to the inn.

Rate it 1-5, 5 being the best
4
Additional comments
Religion Rant:
I liked this book enough. It wasn't a huge page turner for me, I'm just a really fast reader most of the time. I've read other books by Donita K. Paul and I liked them a lot when I was younger so I knew this book would be decent. However, I got hit right in the childhood with this book and something I saw on the back.
I was reading the back, and it was all cool. Dragons, different planes, evil guild of wizards and lots of magic. What more could you want? I was skimming the useless (At least for me) information on the bottom and saw what genres it was listed under. When I saw religion and Christian I was a little confused. This didn't seem like it had anything to do with religion. I became a little hesitant but decided I'd read it either way anyway so I might as well wait and see for myself.
The book itself has nothing to do with Christianity directly. There is no reference to Jesus, God or the 12 disciples. The religious theme is actually quite subtle and honestly if I hadn't seen it on the back of the book I never would have thought about it. I've read plenty of books with a God like character, someone the characters look to for guidance and help. I never give this much thought though because, unlike God, they usually show up in a corporeal form of some sort. The same is true of this novel, with a man, probably equivalent to an angel in Christianity, sent to help the adventurers fight against evil.
The evil is in the form of the Realm Walker Guild. Only 3 of the 99 members still walk in the light and with Primen, the God character of this book. The evil Realm Walkers are corrupting people every way they turn and are fighting in Primen's name but are not following His ideals, in reality. This is akin to terrorists, fighting in their God's name. I never thought I could relate a fantasy book to real life. It's crazy.
Being only marginally religious, I'm happy to say the presence of religion in books does not bother me, even after I realized the books were allowing me to agree with Christian ideals in a way that I thought was cool and rateable. Which is weird considering they almost always have dragons in them, and who can relate to dragons?
The whole religion thing hit me right in the childhood because I'm forced to reanalyze all of the books I've read in my youth with religion in it, especially the monotheistic ones. Paul did this in another series I read by her, as well. I understand it and accept it, but I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out. I actually like it. I think it's cool. Especially when there is some God smiting happening, which hasn't happened in this series yet, but I'll get my hopes up.
Everything Else:
The book had lots of action in it, but I have a few problems with the progression of the book. There are some places where it seems like whole sections of the plot just magically happened and they don't talk about it. One paragraph: Hey let's go to the barn. End of chapter. Beginning of chapter: So we went to the barn.... and I'm just like what? You did? And I didn't get to go? Oh so now you're going to fill me in. I think this is just a stupid writing style. I would have much rather been there in the barn. There wasn't actually a barn..I just made that up.
I thought the transitions between characters, mainly Bixby and Cantor, were decent except for a few places where I was reading and I didn't even realize it had switched to a new character until about a paragraph in. This might have been because I was distracted for a moment by the TV or my mother, but still it was kind of weird.
My predictions for this series is that:
1. Cantor and Bixby hook up
B. Cantor and Bridger become permanent constants
3. There's some serious prophecy junk going on
4. Cantor is the boy who lived...wait that's Harry Potter. He's the one to rule them all? I think that's LOTR. Anyway I think he's going to become king or lead wizard of the guild. It'll be great.
… (more)

I received this through the BookLook Bloggers Program in exchange for a fair and honest review.

First, let me say that for a book published by a Christian Imprint, I was thoroughly impressed with the fact that the religious aspects in this book were so subtle that, if you did not know to look for them, you would have believed it to be mainstream young adult fantasy fiction. For a lot of people, that is really a good thing.

I was impressed with how well thought out and well written this novel was. I had never heard of the author before but the cover art sucked me in and the description was enough to catch my attention. I mean, really, look at that cover. Isn't that just an awesome cover that makes you want to know what is in the pages?

Cantor's Journey was one that if you think about it enough, can be mirrored in each of our own hearts. The journey to find our way, to learn who we are as we grow up and become the people we are supposed to be. It is a journey that each and every one of us makes, young and old alike, to becoming the people we are intended to be and live the life that the universe has in store for us. I don't think we ever finish that journey until the day we stop breathing.

If you want to know more, pick up the book and give it a read. I really cannot pinpoint much negative about it, except that it was a little slow starting and took me 3 days to finish completely because the beginning just didn't seem to catch on fast enough. Overall, though it was enjoyable and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for our friends.… (more)

I received this through the BookLook Bloggers Program in exchange for a fair and honest review.

First, let me say that for a book published by a Christian Imprint, I was thoroughly impressed with the fact that the religious aspects in this book were so subtle that, if you did not know to look for them, you would have believed it to be mainstream young adult fantasy fiction. For a lot of people, that is really a good thing.

I was impressed with how well thought out and well written this novel was. I had never heard of the author before but the cover art sucked me in and the description was enough to catch my attention. I mean, really, look at that cover. Isn't that just an awesome cover that makes you want to know what is in the pages?

Cantor's Journey was one that if you think about it enough, can be mirrored in each of our own hearts. The journey to find our way, to learn who we are as we grow up and become the people we are supposed to be. It is a journey that each and every one of us makes, young and old alike, to becoming the people we are intended to be and live the life that the universe has in store for us. I don't think we ever finish that journey until the day we stop breathing.

If you want to know more, pick up the book and give it a read. I really cannot pinpoint much negative about it, except that it was a little slow starting and took me 3 days to finish completely because the beginning just didn't seem to catch on fast enough. Overall, though it was enjoyable and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for our friends.… (more)