Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Akarnae (The Medoran Chronicles #1) by Lynette Noni

4 "Harry Potter Who?" Stars

 
Back Cover Blurb -
 
With just one step, sixteen-year-old Alexandra Jennings's world changes--literally.
Dreading her first day at a new school, Alex is stunned when she walks through a doorway and finds herself stranded in Medora, a fantasy world full of impossibilities. Desperate to return home, she learns that only a man named Professor Marselle can help her... but he's missing.

While waiting for him to reappear, Alex attends Akarnae Academy, Medora's boarding school for teenagers with extraordinary gifts. She soon starts to enjoy her bizarre new world and the friends who embrace her as one of their own, but strange things are happening at Akarnae, and Alex can't ignore her fear that something unexpected... something sinister... is looming.

An unwilling pawn in a deadly game, Alex's shoulders bear the crushing weight of an entire race's survival. Only she can save the Medorans, but what if doing so prevents her from ever returning home?

Will Alex risk her entire world--and maybe even her life--to save Medora?
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I think that if Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia were to get it on and nine months later pop out a little by-product, Akarnae would be it. In this debut novel by Lynette Noni, part one in a five part series, Akarnae weaves a tale of magic, intrigue, fantasy, hidden secrets and fun that enraptures and delights, hooking you from page one and leaving you screaming for more at the end. 

Alexandra “Alex” Jennings is not your average sixteen year old teenager. With archeologists as parents, Alex has bounced from place to place with them, never staying in one place long enough to really make friends or create a social life for herself. All that changes though, when her parents are offered a once in a lifetime job opportunity and are forced to leave her behind for the next eight months, leaving her all alone for the first time while also starting a new boarding school. Starting a new school is nothing new to Alex, but when on her first day things go terribly awry and she finds herself in a new world, nothing could prepare Alex for the surprises in store for her.

This book captured my attention from the very beginning and kept me captivated until the end. A lot of fantasy young adult novels are very hit or miss for me. I have come across so many that read incredibly too juvenile for my taste and cannot hold my attention, while others can be too mature in content and lack the juvenile innocence one looks for while reading it. Neither of those were a problem in this book and Ms. Noni does a fantastic job of creating loveable characters that you find yourself wanting to go on this journey with. I cannot wait to see how Alex and her “gang” mature through this series at the same time waiting to see what mischief they get into next. 

Overall, I say that you definitely need to put this book on your to-read shelf. It is so fun and entertaining without being too predictable or immature. Though listed as a YA novel, I think this book is age appropriate for anyone, there is not any content that I found too violent or “R” rated, but there is just enough chemistry and content to keep it entertaining. My only complaint that I have about this book is that it’s over and I don’t have my hands on Raelia (The Medoran Chronicles #2)!! I want.

 Happy reading, until next time…

I would like to thank NetGalley and Smith Publicity for the ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

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