Guardian

Series: The Caein Legacy, #2

Author: AJ Calvin

Genre: Fantasy

Book Description:

Alexander has been sent on a perilous journey through the Southlands, a pilgrimage all would-be magi must undertake in order to develop their abilities. His brother, Andrew, was named his guardian by the Oracle, a strange woman with the ability to see glimpses of the future. The brothers do not know the land or its dangers, but both understand the importance of the journey.

With the proper training, Alexander will become instrumental in opposing Colin’s tyranny in their homeland of Novania. Colin is king; he has reinstated the Mark Inspections and seeks to execute anyone born with the Mark of the Magi, whether they are trained to use their abilities or not. That his brothers escaped his grasp once is a source of ire for Colin, and he plans to make war directly on the magi to the south who harbor the fugitives.

The natural dangers of the land may not stop Alexander from succeeding in his quest, but the royal assassins sent to pursue Andrew might prove to be their undoing. Andrew to sworn to protect his brother no matter the cost to himself …

Even if he is the last of the dragon-kind.

Review:

This review is hard to start. In a lot of way, Guardian is very much like Exile, and in other ways it’s definitely different (as a sequel should be).

Like Exile it strikes a very reasonable balance between things sometimes do go wrong, and things going right a reasonable amount of the time. In fact, over all, very little goes drastically wrong. There are a few harrowing fights and escapes, and there are certainly raised emotions and quarrels between the characters in our party, yet for the most part the story is relatively slow and reflective. It meanders, showing us the internal thoughts and journeys of our characters – not just Andrew, but the others as Andrew sees them and as they relate to Andrew – and the different people, places, and colors of the world they journey through. We see the different shrines and their settings, meet mages with different personalities, magics, and interests and even spend time with their families, learn different pieces of ancient lore, and generally encounter a tiny but true vision of the people and the land that live in it.

Emmarie, the Merael (these seem to be an elf-life people) girl, was probably one of my favorite characters. She felt vibrant and real, and I could feel her personality and her love of adventure. But she’s also vulnerable and in need. I really enjoyed her relationship to the animals and her ability to speak to them, as well as the way Andrew and Alexander adopt her. I loved the way Andrew instinctively responds to her need for support and becomes protective of her. Throughout the story, one gets hints of her past, her history, and some of the sorrow that lies there, before it’s – mostly – revealed.

I found several other characters to be vibrant as well, but in general I struggled to connect to the characters and what was going on. I wonder if this is largely a result of the particular angle of Andrew’s first person narration. I think I may not be able to feel his personality in his narration, and so the fact it’s first person makes it feel distant and disconnected. I usually don’t mind first person, but for some reason this one really doesn’t work well for me.

I don’t know if that also plays into me finding other characters to be flat, and the changes in how Andrew perceives them and how they act, to be somewhat out-of-character. For example, I really didn’t like Chela and her responses, and they seemed to me to be more than could be explained by just having no tact and a sharp tongue. She always seemed a little untrustworthy to me, and a little forced. At the same time, I still really liked Rynn, the ice mage, and some of the other people Andrew encounters, such as Rynn’s family, or the twin brothers who are interested in dragons. But I sadly almost always find Andrew more distant than I’d like, though I really liked how he stood up to Chela when necessary.

I would also say this is as much a story of his journey and discovery of himself as it is Alexander’s. Everyone knows this pilgrimage is Alexander’s journey to discover himself as a mage, and through Andrew we glimpse some of his struggles, but it’s also a big journey for Andrew, who’s just discovering how to go on in life after a huge loss, as well as finding out a lot about who he is, both as Alexander’s brother, and as the last of the dragon-kind – and, simply as himself, as one sees in the way he adopts Emmarie. It’s not just Alex who has big things to handle, and this might almost be Andrew’s first chance to really think about and be challenged about what their relationship means, too. I’m happy to report it continues to develop in a very healthy way, and it is neat to see the ways that they are similar, and that their journeys reflect each other, as well as the ways they are not. For example, both of them have a very hard time with the idea sometimes they can’t be the protector they’d like to be!

But I also refuse to believe Chela that if a mage falls into the madness, their protector must let go. Sometimes, maybe. But does the fact something never’s worked before (that you know about) mean it can not be done now? It just seems wrong!

As for Alex, I really liked the concept of magic that requires a pilgrimage, a deep dive into oneself and one’s magic, to master, instead of a more learning based approach, though I wished I understood better. There’s a lot about the sites, and what happens at them and to the mage, that is really opaque, and I don’t want it perfectly explained, but I wasn’t able to get the general sense of it as much as I would have liked.

My enjoyment of the concept was also mixed. How did the first mages discover and learn their magic? I didn’t like how focused it was on the elders and the particular sites, and how focused it is on the teaching of the elders for those who have less unique magic types. I also like to imagine that the mages who go on pilgrimage to discover their magic within themselves get something for it, a mastery or understanding perhaps, that the ones who learn from others find it more difficult to achieve.

I will also mention that I felt like the book pinned too much of the evils of Novania all on Colin’s shoulders. I don’t mean it painted Colin as too despicable. Colin is despicable. But everyone seems to simply make the assumption that Colin does in fact have all the power that he claims – is truly nearly all-powerful over the lives of the people in his kingdom, even when he’d have almost no power at all if other people as evil as himself or nearly as evil didn’t obey him, and if everyone didn’t believe in his power.

I do think the eagles who come to great magic and bond to Alex are pretty awesome, though. I want more of the eagles! It was also really fun watching Andrew learn to enjoy flying with Emmarie.

Also, I still hate the Oracle. A lot.

Either way, I’m looking forward to Harbringer.

Review for Book One (Exile)

AJ’s Website