He’s dark and powerful, a magical anomaly. She’s inexperienced and untrained. Can they set aside their differences in time to save themselves?
Mysterious disappearances at a popular national park force authorities to organize a university-led expedition, and they’ve invited undergrads to compete to be included. As a talented Arete, Austin is a natural shoe-in. And he’s not the only experienced … experienced student competing. Nicole struggles a great deal with her powers, but she knows she has what it takes, and she’s determined to prove that she can produce Wind magic.
With the help of her friends and advice from professors, Nicole pushes the limits of her magical abilities. As the competition heats up, however, she finds out that the trip she’s fighting for may be a one-way ticket…
Discern, Mosaic Chronicles Book One tells a captivating story of adventure, fantasy, and romance. If you like break-the-mold paranormal fiction, romance, and fast-paced adventure, then you’ll love the first book in Andrea Pearson’s groundbreaking and award-winning series!
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I just went back and reread this book! I forgot how great it was! It’s a great story about magic and learning to use powers. There’s also some edge of your action packed in as well!
I really enjoyed this book. It is only the beginning of the main character’s life, but it is finished within the book. I literally could not put this book down. I felt satisfied at the end and yet, can hardly wait for the next in the series. This series is definitely a “read in order” series.
I originally purchased Discern, Book 1 in the Mosaic Chronicles series, as part of the the Angels and Demons book set which is why this may not show up as a verified purchase. I’m not quite sure why it was included in that series since there are no true angels nor demons in this book, but I read it anyways.
Discern is set in a typical college setting except it’s specifically for magic wielding students (or Aretes). It’s easy to read, and has a decent length to it. The concept of Pearson’s new magical world is interesting. The plot is intriguing from the start and Pearson develops her main characters well within the expanse of the story. This first book does begin slowly but gradually picks up in excitement by the end of the book. I describe it as Young Adult because the maturity level of the main college student characters is high school/maybe college, there is some romance although it’s PG, yet even the violence towards the end of the book isn’t quite graphic enough to classify it for an older audience.
Unfortunately I do think there are character flaws that are substantial enough to notice and bother some readers. There are things that happen to the main characters of the book and their reactions are far from normal. I can understand how since they are not normal humans therefore their reactions should not be normal, but it still doesn’t condone their reactions or lack thereof. Although the new concept of Pearson’s magical world is interesting, I do feel she can take things too far out of the realm of the creation of plausible paranormal fiction. Especially by the end of the book. It’s almost as if she jumped into hyperdrive in the weirdness scale while leaving many loose ends. I agree with other reviewers who have said the first part of the book begins as paranormal/urban fiction and the second part of the book takes a turn for horror/science fiction. It is a perfect explanation of what happens.
Overall, the book was intriguing enough that I checked the price for the other books in the series, and when I saw I could purchase all 5 books for just $.99, I decided what the heck and gave the other books a chance.
You will want to reread this one
I really loved Discern. Ms. Pearson creates a world that is totally believable and really brings you in. Well thought out characters and storyline. A little bit of magic, a little bit of romance and a lot of suspense; who can ask for more? I can’t wait for the next installment! *I received a free eBook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
A wonderful book of magic and the tale of a couple working with each other and there teacher this is a great read she really brings out the characters the main character Nicole faces a lot of challenges but tackles them well I highly recommend
Shauna
As usual, Andrea has kept me interested from the first to the last page. I love the way she can keep a love story going without the unnecessary garbage that many writers feel they have to include. I also like the way she can have a put down for someone without the trash mouth words. Great skill as a writer. Keep them coming Andrea!
Well written, with strong and well developed characters. A paranormal story with leads who are students at a university that teaches magic, with a romance element that fits into but didn’t dominate the novel. Well done fun. Definitely worth the read.
Enjoyed very much. Filled with adventures and gaining powers and learning how to use them. Dealing with outside influences and so much more. Highly recommend reading for everyone.
Andrea Pearson begins her Mosiac Chronicles series with the intriguing, Discern.
We are drawn into a world where magic plays a significant role as young adults mature. Nicole is struggling at her magical colkege and Austin become an important partner in helping her find her way.
This is an angsty tale of wishes that sometimes come true!
It’s very difficult to find good clean books to read these days. One of the important characteristics I enjoyed about this book is the fact I didn’t have to cringe at a swear word or uncomfortable sex scene as I turned each page. It was an added bonus that this was a book about magic and adventure. And just so I could get a few more of this author’s books, I signed up for her newsletters. I’m hoping my need to read more of her books will be sated, at least a little, until I’m finished with those.
It was a wonderful book. The story was a great story and allocate twists and turns were great! I can’t wait to read the next one!
CAN YOU SMELL TROUBLE???
This book was wonderfully written. The characharacters are beautifully brought to life. The way Andrea imagination spends a story is fascinating. You really have read this series. I can’t wait to get to the next one.
To start, I did not have high hopes for this book, only reading it to see if it was good enough to purchase books 1-5 in a set which is currently free on Amazon. Boy, was I wrong!! Here I was, expecting a 14 chapter urban-fantasy novel to only amount to the typical fun, magic adventure full of college romance drama with a brief amount of character and world-building, only to instead discover an INSANELY UNIQUE magical world with a story that is, roughly, the baby of the movie “Kong: Skull Island” and SyFy’s channel’s “The Magicians” series (it’s literally what popped into my head when reading this). Yes, in only 14 chapters, the story goes fast, but it was a wild and thrilling ride nonetheless!! Although I did thoroughly enjoy the book, I’m am not left with that obsessive pull that we readers feel when we meet a book that has literally changed our lives. Normally, this would give me cause to only rate this book with 4 stars, however I am so floored and impressed by this book that I had to give it a 5, especially if I’m still smiling after only finishing it minutes ago. I will be reading the rest of this series, so look out for my reviews!
Normally, the average urban-fantasy novel is chock full of first-person inner dialogue, detracting from the story because it takes away room where the author could have otherwise used it to go into character and world-building. But this is EXACTLY what this book doesn’t do!!! The balance between events, characters, world-building, and inner-dialogue is perfect, leaving me feel satisfied with comprehension about this new magical world and it’s characters without feeling frustrated that more information wasn’t given, because this can also make a great story go bad. Obviously though, a longer book would have allowed for more world and character development and probably would have pulled me in even more than it already did. This book also isn’t written in first person, so there is a lot of dialogue between characters instead of inner-dialogue from the main character, which adds to this magical world, and reminding me of my college days!
I thought the author did an excellent job of introducing two plot formations, finishing one (the Utah expedition) with this book and showing that the other (the leather book) will be yet another adventure that Nicole goes through in the next installment of the series. Introducing two intriguing problems also helped keep the pace of the book upbeat and action packed!
I think another reason why I liked this book so much is because I could very much relate to Nicole in her need to be the best that she can be despite her initial short-comings. No, Nicole is not a kick-ass fighter like we normally see in books these days, but she has a great deal of power and potential that she doesn’t use to her advantage. She reminds me of Tris, from the Divergent series, never giving up, showing an immense amount of bravery, and showing that you don’t have to be strong on the outside (or advanced in this book’s case) to make a difference. I did enjoy the romance subtlety in this book, but would have liked to see a little more character development with Austin, as his transition from this closed off dude, to a dude with emotions after one kiss and conversation was a little awkward. Honestly, even after confessing a hard past to Nicole which led to more interactions with him throughout the rest of the book, I felt that his dialogue was emotionless and abrupt. I hope I get to see more of his personality as the series continues.
A great read for someone who likes characters who have magical abilities. Andrea starts slowly setting the stage for the book and slowly turns the the excitement up so the reader speeds up his reading and is turning the pages faster and faster to see what happens next. You’ll really like this book!!
check this book out its worth it