The Lost Sentinel by Suzanne Rogerson

Genre: Young Adult, High Fantasy, Magic

Pages: 473

Expected to be Published June 16th 2017 by Suzanne Rogerson

The magical island of Kalaya is dying, along with its Sentinel. With the Kalayan people turning their back on magic, can Tei help the exiles find their new Sentinel before it’s too late?

Kalaya is controlled by the Assembly – set up to govern but now under the control of Rathnor, who is intent on persecuting those who have magic, many of whom have taken refuge in the Turrak Mountains.

Tei has been raised to hide her magic, until her father, Migil, is visited by an old friend who warns them that they must seek refuge in the mountains.

On the journey, an enemy attack leaves her father mortally wounded. He sees her into the care of two exiles, Rike and Garrick, and on his deathbed makes a shocking confession that changes Tei’s life.

Tei must put her trust in these strangers, especially when mysterious Masked Riders seem determined to stop her reaching Turrak.

Struggling with self-doubt, Tei joins the exiles in their search for their lost Sentinel. But the Masked Riders want the Sentinel too, and time, as well as hope, is running out.

Can Tei help the exiles save the island magic and reunite the Kalayan people before their ignorance destroys them all?

My Thoughts

This book grabbed my attention, to begin with. A fantasy novel that revolves around an astral realm, the heroine is somehow connected to it and holds great importance. I smelled a quest! To which I shouted, yes, yes, yes!

Initially, I was so intrigued by the idea of this, Tei was a likable character and drew me into the story, but soon into the story more than a few characters were dropped in and I found the stories began to branch off. For me, this caused issues because I lost sight of the main story and at some points, I found myself a little frustrated because I wasn’t trying to remember what the premise is about. When it came around full circle back to the main story I enjoyed it, but the distraction of the supporting roles was just – well it was distracting.

The characters in a whole I felt needed more development, there were often unexplainable shifts in the character, they suddenly felt this way without any development that is seen. I like to read these developments and not just be told that it has happened.

If you’re not easily distracted as a reader then I don’t think you’d have the aforementioned problem like I did. Each character/side story is an interesting one, to be sure, that adds up to the main story. Each character is relevant, each character achieves something, but for me, it was just an overload.

As far as the world and mechanics of said world, it is explained and created wonderfully, without heavy info drops.

This is my second read by Rogerson and again, as before, I do applaud her work.

So if you’re into high fantasy, definitely consider this read.