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The Calling Chronicles #1
The Dreamwalker
Even among the Chosen, there is one who is more.
When 16 year old Kate Watzen sees her future in a dream, she can hardly believe the life of a Chosen could really be hers. Unlike the other teenagers on her home planet, she's had no training to draw out the legendary Gifts the galaxy's peacekeepers are known for. Despite her concerns, she goes to be tested anyway, only to discover she is exactly who the Chosen have been waiting for.Moving from her small farming community to study at a school full of hundreds of aliens, Kate's Gifts begin to manifest, drawing her into the focus of a ruthless man, Lord Ruark, who wishes to use her abilities to gain access to an object of great knowledge and power, the Book of the Golden One.Kate's unwillingness to help him leads to a confrontation endangering all those she loves, including her best friend, Ben, who will do anything to protect her, and the stranger who's been training her through dreams, James, whose mysterious past may lead her into more danger than she realizes.Through these trials, Kate discovers the strength that has been dormant within her, showing her that she is anything but ordinary, and the small town life she had was full of mystery, adventure, intrigue, and a betrayal far beyond anything she could have imagined.
When 16 year old Kate Watzen sees her future in a dream, she can hardly believe the life of a Chosen could really be hers. Unlike the other teenagers on her home planet, she's had no training to draw out the legendary Gifts the galaxy's peacekeepers are known for. Despite her concerns, she goes to be tested anyway, only to discover she is exactly who the Chosen have been waiting for.Moving from her small farming community to study at a school full of hundreds of aliens, Kate's Gifts begin to manifest, drawing her into the focus of a ruthless man, Lord Ruark, who wishes to use her abilities to gain access to an object of great knowledge and power, the Book of the Golden One.Kate's unwillingness to help him leads to a confrontation endangering all those she loves, including her best friend, Ben, who will do anything to protect her, and the stranger who's been training her through dreams, James, whose mysterious past may lead her into more danger than she realizes.Through these trials, Kate discovers the strength that has been dormant within her, showing her that she is anything but ordinary, and the small town life she had was full of mystery, adventure, intrigue, and a betrayal far beyond anything she could have imagined.
302 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 11, 2011
3 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Shelly Jarvis
63 books55 followersShelly Jarvis began working on speculative fiction thanks to a writing assignment in Mrs. Bettijane Burger's eleventh grade English class, but her passion for writing developed at seven years old when she wrote a Halloween tale about a witch and a ghost who became best friends.
An avid science fiction and fantasy reader, she spends a portion of each day dwelling in other worlds.
Shelly's biggest influences are Madeleine L'Engle, JRR Tolkien, Timothy Zahn, George RR Martin, & Patrick Rothfuss.
Shelly enjoys spending time with her wacky spouse, her wonderful nephews, and her rescue pups, Gimli, Butters, Fergus, and Pickles. She currently resides near Charleston, West Virginia, in the wild and wonderful mountains that have her heart.
An avid science fiction and fantasy reader, she spends a portion of each day dwelling in other worlds.
Shelly's biggest influences are Madeleine L'Engle, JRR Tolkien, Timothy Zahn, George RR Martin, & Patrick Rothfuss.
Shelly enjoys spending time with her wacky spouse, her wonderful nephews, and her rescue pups, Gimli, Butters, Fergus, and Pickles. She currently resides near Charleston, West Virginia, in the wild and wonderful mountains that have her heart.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 14, 2016
The Dreamwalker is an unexpectedly wonderful story that mixes science fiction with a new adventure, a la Hunger Games. It draws you into Shelly Jarvis’ magical new world and holds you captivated. Cathalia (what a great character name), or Kate Watzen, is a strong heroine who becomes part of the “Chosen”. You go along with her character as she starts out as a simple young girl, living with her single mother on a farm on the planet Reimer. Her dreams bring her to a point in her life where she decides she wants to be a part of the Chosen. This chance takes her into a new world where she discovers her new abilities, meets new characters and soon finds out she has a greater destiny. The book interweaves sci-fi action sequences with a fairytale theme that lights up the imagination of the reader. A highly recommended read!
May 1, 2015
DNF at 60%
See the full review Here
Here's what I thought about this book: DIVERGENT IN A BORING ALIEN WORLD.
When I first read the first few pages of this book, I knew there would be a certain ceremonial in choosing the 'Chosen' but never occurs to me that it would be a drink-this-poison-and-enter-the-'divergent-ish' test. It was just so similar that made me so hard to look pass it.
See? Pretty much describing the factions in Roth's book.
The other problem with the first 50% of what I've read was the fact that it lacked world and character building, either backward or forward. I mean, the story was basically just introducing me to a new character each pages with no significant plot. It seems that the writer really pushed the reader to know each and every character in the story that it had a certain section of introduction conversation between the characters that the actual story didn't begin until I don't know which page since it was so hard to continue. It was like seeing a construction site appears out of nowhere. Not just you don't know why and how it was there but also it wasn't making and progress. And after a while you think, "Ah, never mind."
The fact that it had so many similarities with Divergent wasn't what made me stop reading. It was the stagnancy of the story. The unclear plot. It just really hard to dive in when all you have were pages of yearbook with all of those names after names being mentioned without any characteristic events of each person beside their weird alien form.
Well overall, this is just my opinion about the book. Maybe it was a really great book, I can't tell since I didn't finish it. Most definitely I won't. I feel so bad writing a review about a book I DNF since as I said before I didn't see it as a whole picture.
See the full review Here
Here's what I thought about this book: DIVERGENT IN A BORING ALIEN WORLD.
”You will experience a series of events, which may frighten you. We do not know what events will occur until you are in the midst of them. Every test is different, Kate, so we don’t know what dangers you may face during this test, but you must remember that you are in control. Do you understand?”
“I am in control.” With this statement, the waters stilled, and warmed began to turn to Kate’s body.
When I first read the first few pages of this book, I knew there would be a certain ceremonial in choosing the 'Chosen' but never occurs to me that it would be a drink-this-poison-and-enter-the-'divergent-ish' test. It was just so similar that made me so hard to look pass it.
You turned from your mother into the unknown, That took Courage.
Your battle with the ocean verified your Resilience, and finding the island shows you have Hope.
".. And when you left the parlor, you came back to us without any prompting or assistance, which takes a great amount of Strength," the woman said.
See? Pretty much describing the factions in Roth's book.
“It’s there because you are different from the rest of them. You are one of seven, different in that you are more special than every one of the Chosen.”
The other problem with the first 50% of what I've read was the fact that it lacked world and character building, either backward or forward. I mean, the story was basically just introducing me to a new character each pages with no significant plot. It seems that the writer really pushed the reader to know each and every character in the story that it had a certain section of introduction conversation between the characters that the actual story didn't begin until I don't know which page since it was so hard to continue. It was like seeing a construction site appears out of nowhere. Not just you don't know why and how it was there but also it wasn't making and progress. And after a while you think, "Ah, never mind."
"Hello," it said. "I'm Fielder."
Hi , Fielder," Kate said, holding her hand out to shake his. "I'm Kate"
"Nice to meet you, Kate," a soft voice said. "I'm Jobaria."
Nice to meet you, too," Kate said
"Hey Bodhi," Tevan said
"Hey Tevan," he replied. "How is it going?"
"Pretty good," Tevan replied. "Have you met Kate?"
"Not officially," he said, holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you."
The fact that it had so many similarities with Divergent wasn't what made me stop reading. It was the stagnancy of the story. The unclear plot. It just really hard to dive in when all you have were pages of yearbook with all of those names after names being mentioned without any characteristic events of each person beside their weird alien form.
Well overall, this is just my opinion about the book. Maybe it was a really great book, I can't tell since I didn't finish it. Most definitely I won't. I feel so bad writing a review about a book I DNF since as I said before I didn't see it as a whole picture.
August 11, 2015
The first few pages of ‘The Dreamwalker’ venture into the dreams of Cathilia (Kate) Watzen, a six-year-old child, but end in tragedy. The imagery and language are those of fairytales and fantasy and they mesmerise you as though you’re part of the same dream. The story then leaps forward another decade and Kate with childhood friend, Ben is presenting for the Chosen testing at the Meeting despite having no formal training unlike other applicants. Kate must rely on her innate abilities to win a coveted place in the four-year training program. The testing soon reveals characteristics and gifts she has been unaware of while growing up in a small farming community with her widowed mother on the planet Reimer.
Shelly Jarvis has imagined a vast world that stretches well beyond the confines of Reimer. The asteroid, Wingat—2 provides a glimpse into a futuristic training facility and lays the foundation for an epic fantasy with creative characters whose intriguing stories and motives compel you to keep reading. Fellow students are drawn from all over the universe and they participate in a fascinating curriculum with subjects like Galaxography, Combat training and Words of Power.
I particularly enjoyed the dreamwalking chapters and those who inhabited this night world, including the enigmatic James, the Golden One and the shadowy Lord Ruark. Shelly Jarvis has created an imaginative and complex world and I’m eager to know the destiny of Kate and her fellow Nexus friends and their battle with the evil Lord Ruark. Readers of ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘Harry Potter’ will enjoy this entertaining coming of age fantasy.
Shelly Jarvis has imagined a vast world that stretches well beyond the confines of Reimer. The asteroid, Wingat—2 provides a glimpse into a futuristic training facility and lays the foundation for an epic fantasy with creative characters whose intriguing stories and motives compel you to keep reading. Fellow students are drawn from all over the universe and they participate in a fascinating curriculum with subjects like Galaxography, Combat training and Words of Power.
I particularly enjoyed the dreamwalking chapters and those who inhabited this night world, including the enigmatic James, the Golden One and the shadowy Lord Ruark. Shelly Jarvis has created an imaginative and complex world and I’m eager to know the destiny of Kate and her fellow Nexus friends and their battle with the evil Lord Ruark. Readers of ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘Harry Potter’ will enjoy this entertaining coming of age fantasy.
September 6, 2015
Knocks it out of the park.
The writing is elegant and evocative; a well balanced blend of sensory immersion, world building and action to propel the plot forward. And oh-what-a-plot there is. A pleasant mingling of the familiar to the unexpected.
This is the familiar part:
The story revolves around Kate, a seemingly average girl from a backwater world who is chosen to attend a special school for the gifted where her abilities can be fully trained. The school is a satellite in space where the students learn magic, geography/galaxology, alien inter cultural studies and a host of other fun subjects.
Fans of Ender's Game, Divergent, and Harry Potter will definitely enjoy the premise, but there is much, much more going on.
As Kate's abilities grow she is drawn into the mysterious and dangerous world of the Nexus, complications arise, villains conspire, consequences are meted out and revelations are revealed. The story culminates with an avalanche of superb twists in the third act that are most definitely *not* expected.
"Characters?" you ask.
"Characters, characters, characters!" I say.
Lots of them, each with distinctive personalities and quirks. Many of them are school age and all come from a variety of unique cultures/species with disparate goals which makes for interesting conflicts to define their intra-relationships. Sure, conflicts are horrible in real life, but oh they make for the best reading. That baby eating alien that licked Kate's hand in greeting was a particular gross-out-favorite.
Of course, no YA novel is complete without its romantic threads and The Dreamwalker really captures the vibrancy of youth (this is a polite way of saying lots of hot young kids jumping in the sack with each other--more humorous than anything, think American Pie). And it was fun to experience the immediacy of their relationships, the importance they placed on their friendships and (surprisingly) the various regrets of the generation before. Many unexpected gems in the cast, but much enjoyed.
Which really sums up how I felt about the book as a whole - an unexpected gem that was much enjoyed.
This isn't a 'good read' this is a favorite read and I'm looking forward to the sequel.
The writing is elegant and evocative; a well balanced blend of sensory immersion, world building and action to propel the plot forward. And oh-what-a-plot there is. A pleasant mingling of the familiar to the unexpected.
This is the familiar part:
The story revolves around Kate, a seemingly average girl from a backwater world who is chosen to attend a special school for the gifted where her abilities can be fully trained. The school is a satellite in space where the students learn magic, geography/galaxology, alien inter cultural studies and a host of other fun subjects.
Fans of Ender's Game, Divergent, and Harry Potter will definitely enjoy the premise, but there is much, much more going on.
As Kate's abilities grow she is drawn into the mysterious and dangerous world of the Nexus, complications arise, villains conspire, consequences are meted out and revelations are revealed. The story culminates with an avalanche of superb twists in the third act that are most definitely *not* expected.
"Characters?" you ask.
"Characters, characters, characters!" I say.
Lots of them, each with distinctive personalities and quirks. Many of them are school age and all come from a variety of unique cultures/species with disparate goals which makes for interesting conflicts to define their intra-relationships. Sure, conflicts are horrible in real life, but oh they make for the best reading. That baby eating alien that licked Kate's hand in greeting was a particular gross-out-favorite.
Of course, no YA novel is complete without its romantic threads and The Dreamwalker really captures the vibrancy of youth (this is a polite way of saying lots of hot young kids jumping in the sack with each other--more humorous than anything, think American Pie). And it was fun to experience the immediacy of their relationships, the importance they placed on their friendships and (surprisingly) the various regrets of the generation before. Many unexpected gems in the cast, but much enjoyed.
Which really sums up how I felt about the book as a whole - an unexpected gem that was much enjoyed.
This isn't a 'good read' this is a favorite read and I'm looking forward to the sequel.
August 27, 2015
Almost everyone wants to be chosen even if they don’t have a great understanding of what being chosen really means. For the first time even Kate wants to go to the meeting and take her chance at being called. Kate strives to understand her new situation and her new friends as she grows and learns about being chosen and more.
I found the story grabbed me immediately. This often happens early in a good book where there is a discovery phase. Often books that have a good discovery period tend to lose some of its momentum after the reader fully understands what the character becomes. The Dreamwalker manages to hold onto the reader until the end. There were a couple of leaps that I didn’t think were fleshed out well enough and I never like cliff hanger endings or this book would easily have been a 5 star. As it is a very good read and I recommend it to all.
I found the story grabbed me immediately. This often happens early in a good book where there is a discovery phase. Often books that have a good discovery period tend to lose some of its momentum after the reader fully understands what the character becomes. The Dreamwalker manages to hold onto the reader until the end. There were a couple of leaps that I didn’t think were fleshed out well enough and I never like cliff hanger endings or this book would easily have been a 5 star. As it is a very good read and I recommend it to all.
August 2, 2016
(Review of original 2011 version)
A fun blend of fantasy and sci-fi, with well-thought-out mythology and interesting characters. This suffers from a few common indie/first-novel problems (e.g. pacing, telling-not-showing, a few plot points that don't make sense, and most especially too many POV's) but I liked it overall.
The strongest writing I felt was in the first section, before Kate and Ben leave their home planet. After that, the writing is more uneven, with some of the strongest found in the "interludes" between larger chapters. These interludes have a much more medieval-fantasy feel to them, which makes me suspect the author has more of an affinity with that than with sci-fi. But in any case the whole is pulled off well and I plan to read Book 2.
A fun blend of fantasy and sci-fi, with well-thought-out mythology and interesting characters. This suffers from a few common indie/first-novel problems (e.g. pacing, telling-not-showing, a few plot points that don't make sense, and most especially too many POV's) but I liked it overall.
The strongest writing I felt was in the first section, before Kate and Ben leave their home planet. After that, the writing is more uneven, with some of the strongest found in the "interludes" between larger chapters. These interludes have a much more medieval-fantasy feel to them, which makes me suspect the author has more of an affinity with that than with sci-fi. But in any case the whole is pulled off well and I plan to read Book 2.
May 8, 2015
Loved it! I really loved watching the relationship between Kate and Ben change throughout the book, and James was a great introduction. There was definitely a love triangle feeling here, but it wasn't nearly as drawn out as in some other YA books.
Kate was likable from the shy farm girl all the way through the stronger girl who ends the book, and her transition felt realistic. I liked her interactions with the other characters/aliens and thought it was done at a good pace.
Overall it was really good and worth reading.
Kate was likable from the shy farm girl all the way through the stronger girl who ends the book, and her transition felt realistic. I liked her interactions with the other characters/aliens and thought it was done at a good pace.
Overall it was really good and worth reading.
June 18, 2015
This was a very exciting young adult fantasy series. I was hooked and finished it faster than I usually do with a novel. The story follows a group of teens, from different worlds, who are Chosen and have special abilities "gifts". The story focuses on Kate and her abilities. As she learns the truth about herself and her mother, she learns she is in danger and someone evil is coming after her.
August 28, 2015
I quickly became immersed in this fantasy Science-Fiction story. It was far better than I expected.
The characters are well fleshed out and interesting.
Normally I find myself flicking through parts of a book I find boring, but I cannot recall doing so with this book.
I enjoyed the unexpected twists, of which there are a few.
I congratulate the author for what is obviously a labour of love and will read more of her books.
The characters are well fleshed out and interesting.
Normally I find myself flicking through parts of a book I find boring, but I cannot recall doing so with this book.
I enjoyed the unexpected twists, of which there are a few.
I congratulate the author for what is obviously a labour of love and will read more of her books.
May 8, 2015
Although there are similarities between other YA books and this one, it definitely had a unique spin on the whole "special/gifted teen" thing. I liked the aliens created and thought this was a solid blend of sci-fi and fantasy, with enough momentum to carry me through to the end and leave me wondering what will happen next.
May 10, 2015
Pretty good. Quick, easy read. The beginning was easy to get into, it slowed a little while they were at school, but picked up again for the last 3rd of the book. The ending built enough momentum that I would read the next if it does turn out to be a series (it certainly wouldn't work as a stand alone, so I assume there's another coming). Decent read overall.
February 16, 2012
Meh. Adequate.
May 28, 2012
I read it, because the author was a friend, but I really enjoyed reading it, and I am normally not into fantasy. Defiantly want to read more from her.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews