The Lost Heir (The Dragonath Chronicles Book 1)

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Thirsting for power, Mionee, daughter of Grand Sorcerer Terlanan, seeks out a tome of powerful Halla magic in the palace library. She seeks dark allies in other kingdoms, and in The Organization, an order of powerful sorcerers and mercenaries. Her hopes of becoming the Grand Sorcerer’s heir are dashed when her father names his son, Ipzaag, as the heir instead. Then, three “Chosen” are found. Anarra, the Dreamweaver, can see the future and use it to guide future actions. Nariel wields powerful destructive and intuitive magic. Darrak, the true lost heir to Mystandia is a Dreamseer and healer. He can see events from the past and heal the wounded without expending any energy. Together, the three Chosen and some of their allies seek to stop Mionee, restore peace to Mystandia and exalt Darrak to his rightful place as ruler of all.

The Lost Heir is sure to suck readers in to its fantastical, otherworldly clutches. Political intrigue and multiple story arcs kept the pages turning. The best character by far is Mionee, who has a major self-evaluation near the end of the book. She’s a misunderstood villain, and the nuance becomes clear when she arrives in Dreyan and is greeted by the unrepentant psychopath, Garenth. Sweet at first, Garenth’s many vices quickly frame him as a monster, who would only do nice things when it makes him look good. While Mionee has her thoughts fixed on gaining power, a few moments in the book reveal to readers that it’s not what she truly wants.

For some characters’ actions, however, it was difficult to suspend disbelief. Mionee pushed away any attempt of a connection with her family, then bemoaned the fact that she never had any connection with her family, and sought refuge with Garenth. The one fatal flaw this book has is that it seems the characters are being driven, not by their natural, logical reactions to the events around them, but to the plot’s eventual conclusion. Rather than go after Mionee, the source of the unrest in the first place, a few characters flee to Kremarra while the rest stay behind in the palace to determine who was loyal to Mionee and the organization.

The character most guilty of making strange decisions was Grand Sorcerer Terlanan, who didn’t appear to experience any kind of guilt for Mionee’s turn to evil, even though he was her father and responsible for raising her. For being a Grand Sorcerer, he never confronts Mionee before she vanishes to Dreyan. He seems to have very little idea of what she’s up to, but he continues to let her live in his palace while she sows discord among the guards under his nose. He is both clueless and powerful, skilled in magic and unable to detect the machinations of his own daughter, which is a bizarre and frustrating combination.

On a similar note, it was hard to believe Darrak, a college-aged man, had no interest in making friends, and that someone who was supposed to be the ruler of a world had no interest in engaging with anyone on any social level. His dialogue was awkward, and just like Mionee, he pushed away any attempt at connection or friendship until he gets to Dragonath, which gave a false sense that he was also headed down an evil path.

The book also has too many named characters. Even the horses had names. It was difficult to discern which characters were going to be there for the rest of the book and which ones were going to show up for a few paragraphs and never be mentioned again.

The Lost Heir is an adventurous, suspenseful book for any fantasy-lover. O’Connor invents a creative spin on a magic-casting group of characters. Rather than explain it overtly, the reader is immersed in a world of Dreamcasting, Dreamseeing, meno, kraylocks and Vantelaith and left to fend for themselves. The characters had a knack for getting into sticky situations, and by getting out of them using their powers, it clued the reader in to the characters’ potential. O’Connor leaves enough loose ends to look forward to the next books in the series.


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Author
Star Count 3.5/5
Format eBook
Page Count 320 pages
Publisher Purple Sun Press
Publish Date 31-May-2015
ISBN
Bookshop.org Buy this Book
Issue August 2015
Category Science Fiction & Fantasy
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