I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Kyle Prue. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Four families were touched by the light in order to protect the city of Altryon: the Vapors, able to teleport and turn their enemies to ash, the Celerius, with super speed and the ability to heal from any wound, the Taurlum, with skin like steel and godlike strength, and a fourth family whose members have perished due to the constant rivalry among the four families. The inhabitants of Altryon live inside an impenetrable wall, and are governed by an emperor. The different members of the family are busy trying to kill each other when they find out that there is somebody who is going after all. Will it be possible to reunite the families and fight against this new danger or is their rivalry too strong for this?

Despite the short age of Kyle Prue when writing this book I have to say that this is a quite decent fantasy book. The world building is well done, with original ideas, and a consistent story line. I missed more depth in the characters but I think it is completely normal due to Prue's age and inexperience.

I enjoyed the different abilities the families had and the relationships among the family members. I would have appreciated a bit more character development but there were many characters and would have made for a longer book. There is a lot of action, and a couple of unexpected twists that I did not see coming.

I found curious that only children and teens could survive the attacks. It is very convenient for a YA book but somehow I do not find it very realistic.

I was intrigued by what was outside the wall, and I expected to have some more information about it, apart from rumors. Usually in this situation writers have someone from the outside suddenly arriving and spreading some information. This would have been interesting here, but I understand that not even Prue knew what was beyond the big wall. We will have to wait for the next book to find out.

Jon Eric Preston delivered a great narration and character interpretations. He used clearly differentiated voices for the characters and his speech was very clear.

This was an entertaining YA story, and I think it was very well written taking into account how young Kyle Prue was back then.

3.5 stars

3.5

I felt this was a nice, well-rounded fantasy novel that kept a nice pace and kept me intrigued enough to finish the book.

However, I do feel that for a fantasy novel it was severely lacking in its world-building and characters. It felt a bit empty and at times it did feel as if I were reading a children’s novel and not a YA.

I feel very strongly about the two deaths near the end, which in my opinion were unnecessary and due to the writing style, it didn’t invoke any feelings aside from annoyance.

I think for a fantasy novel the names were very ordinary and a little boring and the characters themselves lacked any sort of concrete personality.

The writing style was quite simple, a little monotonous and not full of much feeling but it wasn’t a distraction.

I would like to find out what happens next but I don’t think this series gripped me enough to pick up the next instalment. The ending of this book will suffice!

I hated this book. It was chosen by one of the teens in the teen book club but it was so bad! Everything was so bad! The writing, the awful writing of female characters... it was all bad.

Great read! This work introduces you to a world of feuds and family-specific magical powers. The characters were well-developed and engaging. Masterfully done!
I received a complimentary copy of this work through Voracious Readers Only in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was sent this as a free book. I was very excited from the short synopsis provided.
I loooove multi character fantasy novels.

The story is about three feuding families, and like most long held feuds, no one really knows the reason why just that you must hate who your parents tell you hate.

The male Characters are very fun to read. Our Raven is smart, quick witted and fun to follow. Our Bull is a little slow and really relies on his size, but has a heart probably the size of him.

Then we have Lilly, shes a very interesting character. She kind of goes against most YA female fantasy characters. Shes a badass and skilled fighter, but not because shes a Tomboy or "one of the guys" like most. She's very girly in fact. Its very refreshing to find a female character such as her.

The book is very hard on the feeling. The emotional distress the characters suffer through is almost too much at times. I would have to take a moment to gather my thoughts.

The descriptive word used are very nice. I love authora that can describe easily and not over do the description. Prue does a fabulous job at this. His phrasing is spectacular. He is straight to the point on most of it, without being too short. It takes a certain line of person to do that.

I give the a five stars because
A) The story is interesting and the power system is unique.
B) The phrasing and descriptions are not over done.
C) It was just a very entertaining book.

I highly suggest this book for fantasy lovers everyone. Also, anyone looking for refreshing female characters will be pleasantly suprised I believe.