Sunday 15 May 2011

Chosen Sister by Ardyth Debruyn


January 2009, Wild Child Publishing
102 pages, ebookk
Review copy 

Children's, Fantasy

Different sorts of wizards, hybrid monsters, quest, chosen one, magical tests, powerful weapons, bonds between siblings, runes, deception, tragedy, tissues are needed 


When the Gold Wizard comes looking for the Child Warrior in Reina's village, it's no surprise he's only looking at the boys. However, when the wizard magically selects her younger brother as the warrior prophesied to defeat the Red Wizard, Reina has mixed feelings—jealousy and concern. Austyn is only six.
Allowed to accompany her brother, Reina soon finds they're in deeper trouble than she thought. The Gold Wizard's fake beard is ripped off by attacking harpies, revealing he's only seventeen, not to mention his magical demonstrations tend to go awry. Unfortunately, with the Red Wizard's harpies and snakewolves on their trail, finding a new (and better) wizard mentor is hardly an option. If anyone's going to find a way to track down the elusive Sword of Chivalry for Austyn and get him into the Red Wizard's castle to fulfill whatever the obscure prophecy insists must be done, it's got to be Reina.

Reasons for loving Reina

Is there another character that deserves a special mention? Austin hides qualities which Reina doesn't see until the end. 

How evil/nasty is the enemy? The monsters were very evil, more evil than the Red Wizard (whose final battle was way too short and easy)

Are there plenty of plot twists and surprises? There were quite a few sprinkled in which were rather funny and clever. 

One of my favourite parts was...any moment which Reina protected her brother. 

I give it 9/10 

You can find out more about Ardyth on her website

Suggested read
The Spitting Cobra by Jill Harvey - another brother and sister adventure


The Children of the Lost by David Whitley - not brother and sister, but Lily and Mark do look out for each other.


2 comments:

Ardyth said...

Wow. Both those two other novels look terrific and I haven't read them. Now I'm going to have to.

Thanks for such a great review. I'm glad you enjoyed my book.

Nayuleska said...

Yup! Your work is good. Keep writing!