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Cayla Kluver wrote this when she was 14! Unbelievable... the world that she has created is very impressive. It is extensively detailed, to the point where you can actually envision castle life. Her descriptions of people, places, foods, and clothing give it the feel for the medieval time it is set in.
Alera is a fantastic heroine - I liked that she is passionate, adventurous and opinionated - especially in a world where women must rely upon men. There were a few times where she did frustrate me, but she is only 17 and under the influence of her father.
Cayla's writing is superb for such a young age. Her writing style is simple but enjoyable. Although the story itself left me with many unanswered questions and, I will forewarn, the ending is a cliff-hanger (gosh, I hate those), but never fear it seems there will be two more books in this trilogy which will hopefully remedy that.
All in all, this was much better than I thought it would be. Obviously it is not perfect, but the flaws can be overlooked. The story has a little bit of everything including twists and turns that were unexpected. I truly enjoyed reading about Alera and her family and will be reading the upcoming sequels. Ms. Kluver is a rising star that I will definitely be on the lookout for.
This book was provided for review by Waggener Edstrom Worldwide.
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6 comments:
I gotta read this. :)
She was 14????? Wow!
Thanks for the review. I saw this book on Amazon and put it on my wish list the moment I read how young Kluver was when she wrote it. It is unbelievable.
I really have to stop slacking and just buy it.
I've heard great things about this book and am so impressed that the author is so young. Great review!
You'll have to lend this to me :)
I'm glad you liked it! Seems a bit too high fantasy for me, but it's nice to hear it's worth the read in general.
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