Genre: High
Fantasy/Young Adult/Coming of Age
Description:
“Spring fever has struck after a snowy winter in Death's End. The
friends head out on a risky mission in Lyesfare, a known hotbed of activity by
the malevolent Wizards of the True Faith.
Loaded up with enchanted artifacts, revived energy, and last summer's
experience to aid them, they are joined by allies new and old. Prophecies will
be fulfilled, and heroes will rise on the side of magic.
In a perfect world, all endings would be happy. But Ayzwind is not a
perfect world.”
Author:
“I'm Chris Africa, a mom, wife, author and project manager living in
Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Someone told me once that I have a superhero name, and I love that
description so much that I repeat it as often as possible. (Superhero Name.)…
I also have a Political Science degree, decades of web project
management experience, and a successful job at a digital agency. I live in
Michigan with my husband, Mike; daughter, Olivia; cats Ninja and Artemis; and
Harvey the dog.”
To learn more about Ms. Africa check out her blog.
Appraisal:
What an interesting world these characters live in. I got the feeling
it was an old world setting, but full of magic in unexpected places. The
magical people would happily remain hidden. The tale centers around three main
characters. Chassy, a sixteen year-old whose magic hasn’t revealed itself yet,
his best friend Nita, whose magic is so strong it tattoos her skin, and her
older brother Andrev. They left their homes in Waet Tree Village, the only
place where wizards are naturally born, seeking adventure last year. Apparently
they had one in book 1, which I haven’t read. I think the author did a nice job
filling in the backstory when needed. After spending the winter recuperating at
the cleric Xander’s home in Death’s End, they are anxious to get back to their
adventure. Except for Andrev. He spent the whole winter in Xander’s library
reading books. He came across one full of blank pages and told it was written
in the old god’s language and he is not wise enough to read it yet. So he’s not ready to leave the library.
However, he is reluctant to let Nita leave without him.
The next adventure awaits them when they enter the township of Death’s
End to pick up things from the marker. The plot gets all twisted up, and new
characters are brought into the mix. There is also a Prophecy looming over our
three heroes. Most of the story is fast-paced, until the author slows things
down as to enter into a character’s thoughts that can go on for pages. I
considered them stumbling blocks that interfered with the tale’s pace and put
me to sleep. I can only suppose this book wasn’t for me because I did have
trouble connecting to the characters. Chassy was an interesting character, he
has some magic but didn’t recognize it as such. He collected rocks that spoke
to him, he called them face stones, they shared their names with him and offered
advice. Nina denied her powers and was loathe to use them. William seems to be
human but is wise in his rich kid ways. Cherise is an odd character, I couldn’t
quite figure her out.
This small troupe of characters sets out to take down the malevolent
Wizards of the True Faith, Gnarkvetch. Some characters are not who they seem
which leads to a very huge cliffhanger. I was gob smacked! I think high fantasy
readers would find this series enjoyable, possibly even enthralling. However,
this story wasn’t for me.
FYI:
The
Shapeshifter's Fate is book 2 in Ms. Africa’s, Deathsworn Series. I
think The Shapeshifter’s Fate stood
well as a standalone, as I haven’t read book 1 of the Deathsworn Series, The Elf and the Amulet.
Format/Typo
Issues:
Nothing significant in proofing issues.
Rating:
*** Three Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 75-80,000 words
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