Now, the book I read for this blog tour is called...
Portals, Passages, & Pathways by B.R. Maul!!!
Now, who wants to see what this book looks like?
Doesn't that look amazing?
Now, here is the summary:
When a portal to another world cracks open just outside the small town of Riverside, it sets off a series of events forever changing the lives of two boys; one boy is chosen to lead a world to peace while the other one is chosen to tear it apart.
Simon Whittaker lives an ordinary teenage life until his best friend, Jessica Wells, and her family takes him on a last-minute camping trip. There, amongst towering pines, Jessica confesses a secret; her family has been watching over Simon his entire life because he is the key to another world’s salvation, and now someone has come from that world to kill him. Amidst a whirlwind of unanswered questions, doubt, and curiosity, Simon is given the Ring of Affinity and then is led through a magic portal into the land of Magnanthia.
In the faraway land that’s in the midst of a brutal war, Simon must place his life in the hands of a swordsman, ranger, cleric, and wizard sent to teach him how to wield the power in the Ring of Affinity and to help him become the next guardian of Magnanthia. The ring, Simon is told, has chosen him, a rare and honorable event. But no one knows why he was chosen.
Meanwhile, the once peaceable king of Magnanthia, King Elderten, has ordered death to Magnanthia’s nine guardians, the nine he helped to assemble and now believes is responsible for the death of his queen and the kingdom’s devastation. If he can stay alive long enough, Simon will become the first guardian of Magnanthia to be chosen by the Ring of Affinity, instead of appointed by mere men. Simon remains the only hope for those who believe the guardians are innocent.
Jak Jakobsin, another teenager from Earth, has been pulled through a portal by two of Bedlam’s demented soul seers sent to capture Simon. The soul seers were impressed with what they saw in Jak, so they offer him up to the overlord. Jak is given the ultimatum, do or die. Obsessed with his discovery of magic spells, power, and control, Jak quickly acclimates to his new environment. Bedlam’s overlord plans to use Jak, along with Bedlam’s undead army, to build a force so powerful that the great King Elderten will perish and Magnanthia will be his forever.
Prepare for a breathtaking climax as two different paths are set in motion.
PORTALS, PASSAGES & PATHWAYS is a teen young adult novel that creatively combines fantasy fiction and real fiction like C. S. Lewis' beloved THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. It delves deep into an epic adventure in a fantasy world rich in magic and wondrous creatures, much like J. R. R. Tolkien's THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. A must-read for any sword and sorcery fantasy fan!
For this blog tour, I'm giving you an honest review. Who wants to read it? Here we go!
My copy was provided by Netgalley.
Simon is an ordinary teen who is happy with his life. He sings in choir and he has an awesome best friend named Jessica. But the normal Simon learns something that changes his life forever when he goes on a camping trip with Jessica. On this trip, Simon learns about a different world called Magnanthia. To get to Magnanthia, you must travel by portal. Simon receives the Ring of Affinity to help become a new guardian who will help protect Magnanthia from harm.
This harm comes in the form of soul seers. These soul seers travelled to Earth and kidnapped a boy named Jak. They found Jak to be useful in the quest to defeat King Elderton. Jak, not really having a choice in the matter, quickly becomes obsessed with the magic and power he now holds.
Simon must help to prove that the guardians are innocent and Jak must prove himself to have enough power to join the army commanded by Bedlam's overlord.
At first, this book started off a bit slow. It was nice to learn more about Simon and his personality. This book didn't start off in a high fantasy world where you had no clue as to what was going on. The time period was also nice. You'd expect a fantasy novel to be set in the past or in a different world, but this book started on Earth in the present time.
I liked how the book was separated into two points of views. First, we had Simon who is the good guy, the hero. Then you have Jak who is the villain, but knowing his side of the story helped shape the book. You got to understand Jak's feelings and why he became one of the villains in the book. It's not like he just decided to travel to Magnanthia one day and become the overlord. He was forced to go to Magnanthia, he was kidnapped. It helped develop his personality and helped see more than his superficial attitude.
The writing style was nice. Maul allowed you to learn about Magnanthia at a gradual pace. He didn't throw you in and make you confused with all the different terms and magic. He eased you into it and it was quite easy to understand Magnanthia, unlike other high fantasy novels.
I was never overwhelmed with too much detail, but Maul created enough imagery that I could picture in my head what the new world looked like. The dialogue was nice and entertaining. The book wasn't too serious and had enough jokes to keep me both intrigued and entertained.
While the beginning did start off a bit slow, I never found myself skipping ahead. I wanted to know what was going on, but I was perfectly fine with reading some of the boring parts as these parts were important later on in the book.
This book kept me interested the whole time and I feel as if middle graders and teenagers will enjoy this book, as well as older people.
I can't wait to read the next book. The twist at the end makes me want to beg for more. Portals, Passages, &; Pathways really took me on a ride and what a ride it was!
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