The magical island of Kalaya is dying, along with its Sentinel.The Assembly controls Kalaya. Originally set up to govern, they now persecute those with magic and exile them to the Turrak Mountains.Tei, a tailor’s daughter, has always hidden her magic but when her father’s old friend visits and warns them to flee to the mountains she must leave her old life behind.On the journey, an attack leaves … the journey, an attack leaves her father mortally wounded. He entrusts her into the care of the exiles and on his deathbed makes a shocking confession.
Struggling with self-doubt, Tei joins the exiles search for their new Sentinel who is the only person capable of restoring the fading magic. But mysterious Masked Riders are hunting the Sentinel too, and time, as well as hope, is running out.
Against mounting odds it will take friendship, heartache and sacrifice for the exiles to succeed, but is Tei willing to risk everything to save the island magic?
If you like character-based fantasy, then you’ll love The Lost Sentinel – Book 1 in the Silent Sea Chronicles trilogy.
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Forced to hide her magical powers from the ruling Assembly of Kalaya, Tei and her father are warned that they must flee to stay safe. Embarking on a journey to seek out other exiles, Tei’s father is mortally wounded. Leaving her in the care of the exiles, the young woman discovers that her new companions have high expectations of her. Agreeing to help the search for the new Sentinel, Tei is thrust into a world of masked riders, magic and adventure.
While I will say the audiobook is superbly narrated by George Ellington, I did wonder why the author (presumably) chose to include sound effects – they detract from the skill of the narrator and, for me at least, added nothing to the story. That aside, the story is well told, and the characters are an interesting lot, with vivid descriptions of the people and scenery. The usual issue I have with fantasy tales is the author’s tendency to stick to a fairly standard format – young person with magical powers finds him/herself thrown into a situation which they alone can resolve. The Lost Sentinel doesn’t break any new ground here and while Ms Rogerson is a very competent author, it would’ve been nice to see something different. Perhaps because fantasy isn’t one of my favourite genres, I expected too much, but having read a variety of imaginatively written fantasy stories (such as those by Ernesto San Giacomo and Jean Lee), it’s clearly not impossible to break the mould.
All whinges aside, this was an enjoyable book that held my attention well, albeit mainly due to the narrator’s skill in bringing the authors work to life.
If you know me, you know I jump at the chance to read a new fantasy book, so when The Lost Sentinel became available, I knew I needed to read it. I’m really glad I did!!
Let’s start with the world building, which is very important in a fantasy novel. Suzanne Rogerson excels at it. The world is incredibly detailed, and I could imagine myself there.
The characters are really good. Most were developed really well, and I was able to distinguish between them. My only critique is that some of the secondary characters felt a little flat. However, because this is a series, I imagine the growth will happen throughout and I am not too upset about this. The fact is, Suzanne Rogerson was able to have the reader follow several stories and jump between characters without confusion.
I highly recommend checking this one out. It’s addictive, fast-paced, with some really fantastic world-building. I can’t wait to continue in this series!
Very interesting premise
Kalaya is a land where magic has been forgotten and now it is dying. The people with magic have all been driven to the mountains and there they are trying to live, away from the normal people. The magical people are led by the Sentinel and now the Sentinel is dying.
Tei is the MC and she has been trained to hide her powers all her life. Her journey to find the next Sentinel and find a way to save the island along with her friends, makes the entire story.
The world building was amazing. The lands of Kalaya and Tei’s powers of astral projection were so vividly described that it was beautiful to read about it.
Tei’s journey and the twist in the end added to the enjoyment of the story. Liked it.
I don’t know how I came about this story but I am glad I did. Prepare yourself for a rip roaring adventure over the seas and by ways as these stories intermix to bring you a rip roaring clean adventure. There is plenty of action and chaos as the standing Sentinel comes to the end of his reign. Finding the new sentinel will come to be emotional as the loss of life touches close to home. Taking daring actions against those that mean to do harm will keep you turning the pages for more. No the story doesn’t end here and that will give you reason to prepare for a long adventure with this new to me author. Her characters have much to lose and the battle wont be easy. New friends and old foes all come together in this wonderful fantasy story. I have not read this author before but I can’t wait to continue the adventure.
I loved this character-based fantasy.
I’m not going to go into the plot as the synopsis does a much better job of it than I could, but I will say the storyline was brilliant.
The wide and varied cast of characters, both the good and the bad guys, were multi-dimensional individuals and most were easy to connect with. A lot of the characters had interesting back stories which added to the storyline and made their actions understandable.
The world building and visual descriptions were amazing, I could always see the surroundings in my mind, whether it was the barren island of Stone Haven or the wonderful home of the ‘exiles’ in the mountains.
All in all, it was a well written, fast paced book, with plenty of action that kept me turning the pages.
Suzanne Rogerson has created a wonderful world, and thankfully I was able to dive straight into the second book of the series.