Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This book is amazing. In order to get the most from this review, you need a base of what kinds of books I enjoy. I love Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive is my favorite series currently), The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss, and The Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch to name a few. Now on to why you are here. This book has many elements that I have been looking for. Too many fantasy authors attribute an all powerful character to an interesting one. Within 50 pages, the author has the character besting 5 other trained individuals and by the end of the series, they might as well be facing the army by themselves. Another problem is creating intensity. How do you have down time when an army is invading your land or something troubling is happening? It is hard on the reader to stay in a consistent stressful time. More for the sake that we start rolling our eyes and say "Of COURSE that would happen now". This book does not have those issues. The reader ages with the main character. The initial thoughts from the character are a mixture of immature and insightful. This is the delicate balance of writing a 13 year old character. You have to write them including things that they would do at that age, yet still be interesting and believable. This book stays true to it's character as he ages. He has flaws and moments in the book where you laugh and cringe for him. For all those interested, the female characters in this book are well-written as well. They aren't in need of saving and aren't a guy in a woman's body. In short, this book has as realistic characters as a fantasy book can come with page turning intensity mixed with laugh out loud moments. I believe the author said it took 10 years to write this book (with a job on the side) and you can tell he put it to good use. I am so excited for the next 3 in the series.