Dawn of Wonder: Volume 1

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Despite the book adhering to many of the coming of age tropes, having dead parents wasn't one of them - the relationship between the father and son in this book is extremely complex. Despite seemingly caring for his family (in his own twisted way) the father is extremely verbally and physically abusive to his wife and son. It's left the main character with PTSD, a topic I don't see brought up in fantasy, let alone YA. The story ends on a note that leaves us in no doubt that we're in for something spectacular come the next entry in the series. Jonathan Renshaw has crafted a remarkable piece of literary art with some powerful underlying themes. So much of this book was impressive but what stands out so brightly to me is the excellent character development Renshaw exhibits for his characters. The depth of Aedan’s brokenness is astounding to read. And it’s not just him. Aedan’s friends are each seen as having a moral core but they've all got some serious vices, such as racism and kleptomania. There are always 2 sides to a coin and Renshaw never fails to show us both. Even the villains are given moments to reveal something other than villainy.

Dawn of Wonder is many things that regular readers of the fantasy genre will both recognise and enjoy. It is a coming of age story and much of the narrative follows Aeden's training to become a Marshall at a military Academy. I know that this is something otherreaders will love as the schooling part of a fantasy book is, in my opinion, always a winner - think Roke from Le Guin's Earthsea, Hogwarts from Rowling's Harry Potter, the University from Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles. Although to be honest, Aeden's training and environment put me in mind most of the Cavella Academy featured in Robin Hobb's slightly lesser known work, The Soldier Son trilogy. These educational/military institutions are where the lead character meets good friends and good teachers, enemies and bad teachers, they get into scrapes, always risking expulsion, and all the while… coming of age. I have always loved this element of any fantasy story and will always continue to do so. Another impressive element within thisstory ispainstaking research that must have gone into the making of swords and bows - the detail here is very impressiveand I cannot think of any other book that explained the complex methods involved in creating these weapons so well. We have this game,” she explained. “We try to guess where people are from by using clues. I guessed Rinwold, and Aedan guessed a coastal town like Falls Harbour. Did we come close?”I was interested in scenes with Aedan's new horse, his wild young colt (stupid name Aedan gave him). However, the training of a ranger's horse — and the tight relationship between horse and rider — is better described in The Ruins of Gorlan. I don’t know. Maybe he got a good promotion through a friend, and he’s actually spent most of his life doing something shady in one of the seaports. That would explain his bad manners. And there’s something else about him. Something I can’t put into words. Something that worries me. If this slave business actually turns out to be real, I don’t think I want him in charge.” This is highly personal and subjective, and is closely related to the similarity and "like-mindedness" between the reader and the author. I can't say I got too invested in the characters or the story. Emotional investment is important since it makes me (the reader) care for outcomes in the story, get excited about the obstacles and weep for the deaths of friends. Needless to say, I never wept, or lost sleep because of the excitement. There is one exception: the first 5 -10% of the book is more intriguing and interesting than the rest of the book and actually gave me some higher hopes about the book, unfortunately the quality declined after that. Writing Style!: Beautiful. Simply beautiful. Where other authors fail and over-describe things, Jonathan Renshaw manages the sweet spot of lyrical descriptions without loosing tension and pacing. Long time since I've liked a writing style this much. Aedan had been in no war, but he had known what no child should know, and the damage was much the same.

P.S. Please make sure you get the latest edition of this book! The first editions have some missing content and it caused lots of confusion when the book was taking me down one road and the audio was taking me down another. That was DRAMA. There is enough different going on here that kept me listening to an extra chapter here and there throughout most of the book. I did find a few lulls at points in the middle however. So was this book a gem? An author worth mentioning in the previous list of names. Sadly .... Not. However, it was not a completely bad read. So let me break the book down: The momentum and pace is start-and-stop. Aiden sees something quite strange and frightening, but then... life goes on. This occurs several times.I'm glad I did, I liked this book overall even though there are some things that kept me from giving it 5 stars.