“She’s the kingdom’s only hope, but can he keep her alive?
Marked by the Bronze Crescent said to corrupt one's soul, eighteen-year-old Ezro Valorian is among the few able to fight the vicious netherbeasts ravaging Paran'dan. But when the family he's suffered to protect betrays him for his treasonous beliefs, Ezro loses everything he's risked his soul for.
Desperate for purpose, he pursues a lost traveler, hoping to rescue her from the dangerous beasts in the desert. However, when he finds her, he learns she's more than a traveler. She's Vaeryn Seraphine, a descendant of their kingdom's slain protector, and she's seeking her family's divine power so she can restore the order of the Luminors and save the kingdom. But to reach this hidden power, Vaeryn must traverse a perilous canyon, and without the Bronze Crescent, she is defenseless against the beasts therein.
Ezro offers his aid, and the two begin the dangerous quest. But is one man enough to face a canyon of monsters?”
Series: Book #1 in “The Luminors” trilogy.
Spiritual Content- A Scripture is possibly referenced (about laying one’s life down for another being the surest sign of love); A quote by St. Francis of Assisi at the beginning; The God-like character of this world is called the “Illuminant”, his people are called the “Faithful”, and his anointed rulers are the “Illuminarchs”; “Raphós” is the spirit of the Illuminant and appears as a bird when Vaeryn or other Luminors need him (but Vaeryn has a couple moments of being upset because she feels like the spirit has forgotten her due to the lack of aid; *Spoiler* At the end, he is seen in a human form & transports a character to another place by a single touch *End of Spoiler*); It’s said that the Illuminant spoke to the hearts of several men and women with strong faiths to find the first Illuminarch; “The Book of Illuminance” is the book of the Illuminant; Prayers to, thanking, & praising the Illuminant; Reading The Book of Illuminance; Talks about the Illuminant, him choosing Illuminarchs, & anointing his people; ‘H’s are not capital when referring to the Illuminant; Vaeryn comes from the line of the last Illuminarch and is on a journey to find the portal to the sacred realm where Illuminarchs are anointed in “the Light of the Luminors”; Vaeryn tells Ezro about a family tradition of telling one’s burdens to a tree and feeling relieved when it looses it’s leaves (which is symbolizing surrendering one’s burdens to the Illuminant); Ezro doesn’t think that the Illuminant will answer his prayer due to the mark on his wrist; *Major Spoilers* When in the Etherium (holy realm of the Illuminant), instead of Vaeryn, Ezro is chosen to be the next Illuminarch (which he protests about, but Vaeryn supports); He goes through a test and receives the Illuminarch glowing marks on his skin *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of the Illuminant & his will; Mentions of “The Book of Illuminance” & reading it; Mentions of prayers & praying (to the Illuminant); Mentions of “Etherium” (a holy realm) & portals to it and other places; Mentions of the Illuminant’s people (“Luminors”) being anointed by the Illuminarchs; Mentions of those who believe in the Illuminant being hanged for their faith; A few mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of blessings;
*Note: Ezro thinks that “all hell” will be upon him and Vaeryn soon during their journey; The current queen is from “the netherworld”, called a “netherwitch”, is known to have a wicked personality, & expects others to worship her like a goddess (going as far as requiring people to honor statues of her in ceremonies); Some believe her to be a former helper of the Illuminant; There is a necromancer (which wears a deer skull) who traps spirits of those he has killed to do his fighting (he also has ghost-like coyotes; up semi-detailed); Normal weapons do not work against the necromancer or his spirits and require either the Illuminant’s light or nethermagic to defeat; Ezro is able to fight against the spirits and kill them, releasing the necromancer’s hold on them; *Spoilers* Ezro is able to defeat the necromancer and his bones are scattered and try to connect together again, so Ezro grabs the necromancer’s staff which tempts him with anything he wants, but ultimately sees the trick and rejects it, breaking the staff into two *End of Spoilers*; The guards for the queen and country are “marked” with a tattoo that includes a drop of magic from the netherworld so they can use certain weapons and tools to defeat the “netherbeasts” (monsters); Ezro uses the magic of the tattoo to ride a “terraglider” (motorcycle-like vehicle) & infuses he magic into his weapons to fight against the necromancer and his spirits; The tattoos usually make the wearer mean, but Ezro explains it only builds on the darkness inside of someone and increases an impulse to act on it (Ezro fights against the “wicked” thoughts that come from it; Vaeryn remembers a friend being angry with her which he said was because of the mark); Mentions of netherwitches, “witchlords” (which are the strongest rulers of the netherworld), one being trapped by a Luminor in a prison of pure light, & their powers that include physiological and psychological ones (such as reading minds and searching memories); Mentions of the necromancer & how he has trapped spirits of the people he has killed to fight for him (also called ghosts); Mentions of “nethermagic” (dark magic); Mentions of the “netherbeasts” (monsters) & how they are attracted to those who believe in the Illuminant (it’s believed that until all of the Faithful are wiped out, the beasts will continue to come from the netherworld); Mentions of evil & being tempted to do evil to others (in revenge); A couple mentions of luck & being lucky; A mention of a threat to send someone to “the Elysium” (implying killing the person).
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a form of ‘shut up’, and six forms of ‘stupid’; Other in-world/fictional phrases or curses are said: a ‘noble’, a ‘stars be dimmed’, two ‘graces know’, three forms of ‘how/who/what in the lands’, four ‘stars know’s, five ‘stars’, and eleven ‘graces’; Some eye rolling; Some lies & lying (due to safety concerns and Vaeryn asks Illuminant for forgiveness; Ezro wonders if lying counts when it is to protect someone else and thinks about his mother who lied to protect him years prior); Killing and Fighting (against people, spirits, monsters, & the necromancer), Knocking others out, Pain, Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, & Passing out (semi-detailed); Seeing killings, fights, someone being stabbed, someone being choked, blood/bleeding, & passing out (semi-detailed); Monster-like beasts are seen on-page & fought, attacked, & killed (up to semi-detailed); Vaeryn recalls seeing the bloody death of a close friend & feels major guilt over his death (semi-detailed); Ezro thinks he is going to die & accept the possibility (due to possibly entering a sacred place with netherworld magic in his blood); Ezro’s grandfather hits & threatens him (barely-above-not-detailed); Ezro has the thought of how easy it would be to inflict pain back on his grandfather for all the beatings and treating him like a slave, but doesn’t do it because he knows he would be arrested for it; Many mentions of monsters & the monsters killing and attacking people; Mentions of deaths, bodies, & grief (including Ezro for his mother & Vaeryn for a close friend which she feels guilt over); Mentions of the possibility of deaths (including suicide, drowning, and hangings) & dying; Mentions of executions (hangings) & arrests (of those who believe in the Illuminant); Mentions of slaves & masters; Mentions of thieves/bandits & stealing (including Vaeryn stealing something from her father); Mentions of injuries, pain, blood/bleeding, poison, & passing out (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of alcohol, drunks, & taverns; Mentions of lies, lying, & deception; Mentions of hatred; Mentions of tattoos; A few mentions of a man being crippled from a wolf attack; A few mentions of hunting; A mention of a wife who ran away from her husband;
*Note: Ezro’s father and grandfather mistreat and abuse him (such as Ezro thinking that his father doesn’t want him and talks to him as if he’s “a waste of space”, Ezro wanting to stick weapons through them instead of making the weapons, Ezro feeling like a slave and not a family member, his grandfather throwing stuff at him, & Ezro recalls his grandfathers beatings that left scars (all up to semi-detailed); Mentions of Ezro’s grandfather’s hateful words and violent outbursts); Ezro has negative thoughts about himself and being worthless to others; Vaeryn recalls snapping at her mother (because she didn’t like what her mother was saying) & feels guilt over it.
Sexual Content- A border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kiss; Remembering a kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Warmth, Flutters, & Nearness (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes; Noticing & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); Ezro and Vaeryn almost share a room at an inn (which Ezro thinks he will be sleeping on the floor), but get a second room instead; Ezro has to loosen Vaeryn’s clothes when she’s ill, but she wakes up to do it herself; Mentions of a controlling and unhealthy relationship; Mentions of crushes; A couple mentions of jealousy; Very light love, possibly falling in love, & the emotions.
-Ezro, age 18
-Vaeryn
1st person P.O.V. switches between them (Epilogue in another’s)
252 pages
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My personal Rating-
This book was a bit of a wild card for me. All I really knew about it going in was that it was Christian YA Fantasy, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Personally, I ended up liking some parts and not enjoying other parts.
For the beginning part of the book, I was pretty confused different details, like the setting and what time period this book was supposed to be set in. At times it felt historical or medieval because of the guards and blacksmith mentions, but the mentions of a “terraglider”—which uses the magic of the world to work—confused me. I think there could have been a hundred more pages to build and explain the world more. It took me a while to get into this book because of this, but I kept reading to see if I would enjoy it more. Eventually I hit my stride and was able to just go along with the plot.
While I liked some of the faith content elements, I did find it odd that their “The Book of Illuminance” would have their past rulers’ pictures in it. That was needed for the plot, of course, because of Vaeryn but actual Bibles don’t have that, so some of the faith content wasn’t a perfect match to actual Christianity and other parts were more of a representation of Christianity—though Jesus or a version of His name is never said. I think I would have preferred one or the other rather than I mix of the two, but that’s a personal preference.
I wasn’t sure about the romance part of this story because I can’t say I connected with the main characters for the first half of the book, but by the end, I liked how it was going and Ezro’s sweetness towards Vaeryn.
I don’t really have any major content notes to share for this book, but there is definitely the theme of Light vs Dark, Good vs Evil throughout the story and world. I’m leery about anything that has to do with witches or necromancers, so I was very hesitant about continuing this book once those entered into the plot. It’s definitely shown as evil, which I appreciated, but also didn’t love reading about. You could almost say there was a spiritual warfare element to the book because of that.
Overall, this book was very different than I thought it would be, but I did like the ending and what all happened. There’s also not a big cliffhanger either, so that was a nice surprise since this is book one in a trilogy. I think this book may have been a miss for me, but other readers who are more adventurous in their fantasy reading or like spiritual warfare elements would probably enjoy it much more.
See y’all on Wednesday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
