Roc Isle: The Descent by Alex James

I absolutely adore novels of fantasy. Stories of kings and queens, lords and ladies, knights and the honor that so defines them. And to me, any great fantasy novel has a certain feeling to it. It is an elegant feeling, a regal feeling. One that makes me sit straighter and hold my head high. One that makes me feel as if I have awakened in the land itself and have become one of its very characters. It is a feeling that is indescribable at best and which, when experienced, is never forgotten for the rest of one's life. And this book definitely brought that feeling out in me...in bits and pieces...but nonetheless I did feel something, and that is a start.

Roc Isle: The Descent focuses mainly on the lives of two characters. The first one introduced to readers is a boy named Ankah, who lives in Clenly Village with his father. When an honorable decision on Ankah's part turns into a ploy to steal money from a champion Knight, opportunity will arise for Ankah to leave his village and possibly become a Knight himself. But he will realize in his learnings that he wants something more...

The second one is a boy no older than 14 at his introduction. His parents are slaughtered and his temple attacked, causing him to take his father's place as Lord of his people. He will be faced with disdain and mocking, and in his years as a man, traitors and enemies who want him gone.

Both will be united in a war that could either end in substantial good or disheartening peril. And both most certainly will find their true allies during the fight.

While the storyline was very good, quite exceptional really, I felt there were times in the beginning where things didn't mesh well. To me, good transitions are everything in making a story flow beautifully, and sometimes I felt that the writing was a bit choppy. I also felt that while many parts did have that regal, elegant feeling that I mentioned at the beginning of this review, there were parts that could have been reworded or maybe a sentence or two added to enhance that feeling in the rest of the story.

This book is wonderful and well worth the read.