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The Chronomancer Chronicles #1
The Last Chronomancer
Librarian's note: Alternate cover edition of ISBN 0997158719.
Follow Mae on a tumultuous journey as he is forced to confront the horrific memories of his past.
NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD Maestri Craft was perfectly content living in a small town in Aridete. A place he lived for nearly eight years now. His life was safe, simple and ordinary; none of which was ever enough for his best friend, Jace. Jace was turning two decades and in the eyes of munfolk, that meant he would become a man. Only Jace wasn't of mun and that put him in danger. It would possibly even end his life.
Knowing he would be forced to leave town, Mae was unwilling to let him go alone. He had secrets too, and it was time he did something about it. Their journey will send them on a unique quest. From being chased by a hag, to flying on winged horses and even a confrontation with a vampire, they come across friends and foes of all creatures. The only problem is, nothing is black and white, and not everyone is as friendly as they seem. Haunted by the curse that follows his bloodline, it soon becomes apparent to Mae that no matter what you do or how far you run, your past will always catch up to you.
The tale of two, cursed for destruction.
One with the strength to kill and the other, the courage to resist.
Follow Mae on a tumultuous journey as he is forced to confront the horrific memories of his past.
NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD Maestri Craft was perfectly content living in a small town in Aridete. A place he lived for nearly eight years now. His life was safe, simple and ordinary; none of which was ever enough for his best friend, Jace. Jace was turning two decades and in the eyes of munfolk, that meant he would become a man. Only Jace wasn't of mun and that put him in danger. It would possibly even end his life.
Knowing he would be forced to leave town, Mae was unwilling to let him go alone. He had secrets too, and it was time he did something about it. Their journey will send them on a unique quest. From being chased by a hag, to flying on winged horses and even a confrontation with a vampire, they come across friends and foes of all creatures. The only problem is, nothing is black and white, and not everyone is as friendly as they seem. Haunted by the curse that follows his bloodline, it soon becomes apparent to Mae that no matter what you do or how far you run, your past will always catch up to you.
The tale of two, cursed for destruction.
One with the strength to kill and the other, the courage to resist.
434 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2016
1 person is currently reading
1607 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
January 29, 2016
I had to make a goodreads because I HAD to review this book.
In my opinion, what makes this book truly magical, is the fact that the protagonist is aro ace. Being aromantic asexual myself, its hard to find good representation in media. Well actually, it's hard to find any representation. Positive representation. Most depict us as heartless and unfeeling. We're robots, aliens, villains (for example, Lord Voldemort), etc. Never human. Never caring. Heartless and cold. That is the way we're seen. Mae isn't like that at all. He's caring, good-natured, he's protective, he's a good friend. He leaves his home for his friend. He literally forces himself out of this protective shell he's built for himself because he's scared of the world, all for his friend.
In my opinion, what makes this book truly magical, is the fact that the protagonist is aro ace. Being aromantic asexual myself, its hard to find good representation in media. Well actually, it's hard to find any representation. Positive representation. Most depict us as heartless and unfeeling. We're robots, aliens, villains (for example, Lord Voldemort), etc. Never human. Never caring. Heartless and cold. That is the way we're seen. Mae isn't like that at all. He's caring, good-natured, he's protective, he's a good friend. He leaves his home for his friend. He literally forces himself out of this protective shell he's built for himself because he's scared of the world, all for his friend.
That's another thing. I LOVE how important platonic friendships are displayed. Romantic and sexual relationships are in no way more important than platonic friendships. Who are the ones who pick you back up when your SO breaks your heart? Who are the ones who are there for you when you're in lovey-dovey honeymoon mood? Your friends. Friendship is so important in life and in this book and I love the relationship between the two boys. They look out for each other and you can tell that they genuinely care. They're always making sure the other is okay. I love the friendship between Jace and Mae.
I love that there is romance in this book that literally has nothing to do with Mae. There is no love triangle. Mae doesn't get distracted every other page with how attractive someone is. He literally sees people as people, and I think he only ever calls one person beautiful. Or maybe two. But its in an aesthetic way, like appreciating a painting. You can like the way something looks without wanting to do anything with it. I also think he's a bit of a shipper himself. He understands that those feelings of attraction are important to other people, despite not being important to him. He doesn't understand what it's like, but he still wants his friends to be happy. He's NOT robotic, cold, or heartless. We see him cry, we see him hurt, we see him care, we see him literally risk his life because he LOVES. FRIENDS CAN HURT YOU TOO, OKAY. They hurt you the most, and this is literally so important.
THERE IS ALSO A BLACK GENDERFLUID CHARACTER AND A MIXED DISABLED BAD ASS FEMALE THIEF WHO ARE BOTH SO IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT but I also can't say anything without giving things away okay just read the book.
Mae is just so important to me and I want to see how this series continues.
July 19, 2016
The Last Chronomancer was an amazing book, and I utterly loved it! I won it in a giveaway, but what originally drew me to it was the fact that the main character is asexual/aromantic. I have seen few mentions of asexuality in modern literature, and a book having a main character who is asexual is such a refreshing thing to finally see. This is also the first book I have seen that mentions romantic alignments.
The presence of other characters who are also LGBT in the book is another refreshing thing. The bigender character Coin is another first I've seen, but I hope that more authors follow Hardy's lead.
All the characters in the book are well-developed, from the main characters Artemis, Jace and Rhiannon to the background characters, they are all very three dimensional and realistic. I especially loved the character Rhiannon, but that could be due to bias, as she is the first main book character I've seen with my name.
The plot itself is very interesting, with the main characters travelling to various regions in this world Hardy has created. There are evident roots from Greek, Roman, and Celtic mythology, which add another real-world connection to the book. The pace is very successful, emotional moments and action are woven together seamlessly.
There were two issues I had with the book, but I did not think they justified putting the book at four stars. One issue is the various grammar and punctuation errors I found scattered throughout the book. There were enough to bother me, but not enough to subtract from the reading experience. Another is certain descriptions that occurred throughout the novel. Sometimes, I could not understand how one thing suddenly happened, as it seemed like a large jump between the actions right before, and I had to guess a lot to attempt to fill in the gaps. One instance is when Some further description is occasionally required.
I am very excited for the second book!
I'd like to thank Goodreads and Mellor Publishing House for the free book!
The presence of other characters who are also LGBT in the book is another refreshing thing. The bigender character Coin is another first I've seen, but I hope that more authors follow Hardy's lead.
All the characters in the book are well-developed, from the main characters Artemis, Jace and Rhiannon to the background characters, they are all very three dimensional and realistic. I especially loved the character Rhiannon, but that could be due to bias, as she is the first main book character I've seen with my name.
The plot itself is very interesting, with the main characters travelling to various regions in this world Hardy has created. There are evident roots from Greek, Roman, and Celtic mythology, which add another real-world connection to the book. The pace is very successful, emotional moments and action are woven together seamlessly.
There were two issues I had with the book, but I did not think they justified putting the book at four stars. One issue is the various grammar and punctuation errors I found scattered throughout the book. There were enough to bother me, but not enough to subtract from the reading experience. Another is certain descriptions that occurred throughout the novel. Sometimes, I could not understand how one thing suddenly happened, as it seemed like a large jump between the actions right before, and I had to guess a lot to attempt to fill in the gaps. One instance is when Some further description is occasionally required.
I am very excited for the second book!
I'd like to thank Goodreads and Mellor Publishing House for the free book!
June 8, 2016
I received an ARC, courtesy of the author, in exchange for an honest review.
An interesting but often frustrating read.
The good: Fascinating characters with loads of personality, including the aro-ace protagonist--I never felt like the orientation of the character was belabored or brought up at an awkward or inopportune moment. Lots of well-paced action, too, which helped moved the story along.
The bad: IT'S SO WORDY.
Now, I realize I got an uncorrected proof, so I can safely ignore the little things like misplaced commas and spelling errors and all that, but I can't see the story going from proof-stage to publication and getting the kind of heavy editing it would take to fix this problem.
I'd like to share a quote that exemplifies the style of the novel:
"I had to move quickly and I didn't even think my actions through -- I didn't have time to think about my actions. I only had time to act.
I ran toward the Witchfen..."
Twenty eight words across two sentences in that first paragraph, one simple and one compound. Feels repetitive, doesn't it? Especially when the point is the lack of time. If I were the editor:
"With no time to think or plan, I had to move fast.
I ran toward the Witchfen..."
I managed the same message with twelve words (less than half the original) in one sentence. And the whole book is that way, heavy on adverbs and repetition and stage direction. Earlier in the book, it takes half a page for a character to wake up and get out of bed. I'll admit, that made me cringe.
Another problem I found was a lack of cohesive world-building. The prologue introduces elements from Greek mythology, specifically the Gorgons (all three by name, even) and characters with the names Apollo and Artemis. But then as the story progresses, we get dragons that apparently look exactly like humans except for their eyes (I'll come back to that), vampires, werewolves, drowned hags, and winged horses (okay, Pegasus, that's Greek again, but they stay called "winged horses" or just "horses"). And by page 128, when the first "new" creature is introduced (the Witchfen Worm), there's never any explanation given for why all of these vastly dissimilar creatures exist in the same mythical world. And the Worm is the first one that's physically described in any meaningful way. Okay, I guess we can assume a lot of things about vampires and werewolves, and there's some loose description of the hag, but the Dragon King is essentially human when we meet him, early on--he's got feet and elbows and hairy legs. So why is he constantly referred to as a dragon? How does that work, and why couldn't that be explained right away?
Oh, yeah, and apparently there's elves, too, because then we get introduced to a half-elf. Who has a distinctly Japanese name and wields dual sai, a traditional Japanese weapon. So there's Japan in this world? Is that where the elves are from?
Which brings me to how there's very little sense of place. Names of places are just that--names, with no history or description attached, no map in the front leaf to look at in order to orient the reader (okay, self-publishing makes that more difficult, I get it,) and little or no context for understanding why the characters are going there, want to go there, or are discussing the location. But even the places in the story that aren't far-off lands don't have a lot of distinguishing features. Mae's house is...a house? And Newacre is...a village? With a marketplace. And there's a forest nearby. I can fill in a lot of detail on my own from box-standard fantasy settings I'm already familiar with, but that means this world looks like every other box-standard fantasy world.
And I wanted more than that.
An interesting but often frustrating read.
The good: Fascinating characters with loads of personality, including the aro-ace protagonist--I never felt like the orientation of the character was belabored or brought up at an awkward or inopportune moment. Lots of well-paced action, too, which helped moved the story along.
The bad: IT'S SO WORDY.
Now, I realize I got an uncorrected proof, so I can safely ignore the little things like misplaced commas and spelling errors and all that, but I can't see the story going from proof-stage to publication and getting the kind of heavy editing it would take to fix this problem.
I'd like to share a quote that exemplifies the style of the novel:
"I had to move quickly and I didn't even think my actions through -- I didn't have time to think about my actions. I only had time to act.
I ran toward the Witchfen..."
Twenty eight words across two sentences in that first paragraph, one simple and one compound. Feels repetitive, doesn't it? Especially when the point is the lack of time. If I were the editor:
"With no time to think or plan, I had to move fast.
I ran toward the Witchfen..."
I managed the same message with twelve words (less than half the original) in one sentence. And the whole book is that way, heavy on adverbs and repetition and stage direction. Earlier in the book, it takes half a page for a character to wake up and get out of bed. I'll admit, that made me cringe.
Another problem I found was a lack of cohesive world-building. The prologue introduces elements from Greek mythology, specifically the Gorgons (all three by name, even) and characters with the names Apollo and Artemis. But then as the story progresses, we get dragons that apparently look exactly like humans except for their eyes (I'll come back to that), vampires, werewolves, drowned hags, and winged horses (okay, Pegasus, that's Greek again, but they stay called "winged horses" or just "horses"). And by page 128, when the first "new" creature is introduced (the Witchfen Worm), there's never any explanation given for why all of these vastly dissimilar creatures exist in the same mythical world. And the Worm is the first one that's physically described in any meaningful way. Okay, I guess we can assume a lot of things about vampires and werewolves, and there's some loose description of the hag, but the Dragon King is essentially human when we meet him, early on--he's got feet and elbows and hairy legs. So why is he constantly referred to as a dragon? How does that work, and why couldn't that be explained right away?
Oh, yeah, and apparently there's elves, too, because then we get introduced to a half-elf. Who has a distinctly Japanese name and wields dual sai, a traditional Japanese weapon. So there's Japan in this world? Is that where the elves are from?
Which brings me to how there's very little sense of place. Names of places are just that--names, with no history or description attached, no map in the front leaf to look at in order to orient the reader (okay, self-publishing makes that more difficult, I get it,) and little or no context for understanding why the characters are going there, want to go there, or are discussing the location. But even the places in the story that aren't far-off lands don't have a lot of distinguishing features. Mae's house is...a house? And Newacre is...a village? With a marketplace. And there's a forest nearby. I can fill in a lot of detail on my own from box-standard fantasy settings I'm already familiar with, but that means this world looks like every other box-standard fantasy world.
And I wanted more than that.
September 19, 2016
I read this book as a request from the author and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was able to get my hands on an advanced copy and I couldn't put it down. I rooted for Mae from the beginning, and despite being from different worlds, I could relate to a lot of the struggles he faced. Security and normalcy is all he wanted, he wanted to be safe because he was scared. But his friendship with Jace is a lot stronger, and he puts that above his fears. Through a lot of this book, Mae's actions are because of Jace. They're reactions, and he's not a very proactive protagonist, but it's realistic because Mae doesn't want to be there. He left Newacre because of Jace, and it makes sense that he'd only do certain things because of Jace. Mae does come into his own, though, and I am looking forward to the series continuing.
February 28, 2023
I really enjoyed this YA fantasy novel. I don't normally read YA anymore, but this one makes me want to read more in the future. It was a great story about friendship and family! I loved the Dragons in the story line. It flowed smoothly all together. I never found myself having to reread any pages or chapters to understand what was going on. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
January 5, 2019
Well this was just a great book. I loved every second of it. I dont even know what negative to say about it.
Only one thing though is that the mention of different places without any backstory to them and all of a sudden info dump in certain places of the book was kinda weird and out of place but it didn't bother me a lot. Also the author used a lot of dinkuses, which are the little "****" to separate paragraphs to transition time or whatever. I found it a little bit annoying how time suddenly jumped all of a sudden and apparently the protags were still in the same place but I guess it makes sense when you read the title of the series which is called "Chronomancer Chronicles".
The characters were great. I loved my boy Mae and his best friend Jace. And then all the other cast that joined them. The book had dragons in it which was a nice surprise. It had acearo rep, lesbian rep, genderfluid rep. The cast was diverse as heck.
The book made me laugh and made me tear up. The pace was great and the setting and the plot. Everything was just really good. Im definitely reading the sequel. Go read it if you wanna have fun time.
Only one thing though is that the mention of different places without any backstory to them and all of a sudden info dump in certain places of the book was kinda weird and out of place but it didn't bother me a lot. Also the author used a lot of dinkuses, which are the little "****" to separate paragraphs to transition time or whatever. I found it a little bit annoying how time suddenly jumped all of a sudden and apparently the protags were still in the same place but I guess it makes sense when you read the title of the series which is called "Chronomancer Chronicles".
The characters were great. I loved my boy Mae and his best friend Jace. And then all the other cast that joined them. The book had dragons in it which was a nice surprise. It had acearo rep, lesbian rep, genderfluid rep. The cast was diverse as heck.
The book made me laugh and made me tear up. The pace was great and the setting and the plot. Everything was just really good. Im definitely reading the sequel. Go read it if you wanna have fun time.
August 1, 2017
I won this book in a giveaway and finally got around to review it.
A young boy named Artemis drags his brother along into a cave. Their guardian is killed, his brother abducted. At eleven he leaves his identity behind, flees, is taken in by a nice men and becomes Maestri.
He lives among Munfolk that means normal people. But his best friend Jace is not one of the Munfolk. When Jace nears adulthood he has to flee as the humans would surely kill the now able to transform werewolf, despite having taken him in when he was a kid. Artemis does not want to leave his best friend alone out there so they go together. But they seem to attract trouble wherever they go. At first they just want to go somewhere, but soon their quest truly begins and on their long and dangerous journey they make friends, enemies and many memories. And then there’s also Maestri dad, the Time Keeper who left his kids alone when he was six years old.
While the storyline and the characters were good, often scenes seemed to drag on for too long thanks to the immense wordiness of some sentences. Plus I didn’t feel as if there was enough word building to truly satisfy me. Plus the fact that especially in the beginning everything seems a bit thrown together (first we get his background story, then he is with the Dragon King and then he lives in Newacre) which makes it kind of hard to read and so I took a very long time to finish the book. Plus the world building did not always make sense, it would have been interesting to get to know more about what world they live in and why all those mystic creatures even existed.
Still it definitely had some very good sides. I especially enjoyed the diversity which was simply there and not made a big deal out of. Maestri is an ace aro boy who had never had any interest in a relationship. A main character who does not fall in love or have any romantic subplots is always a nice thing and I enjoyed it. There was also a bigender character and much racial diversity.
I also liked the characters and I think even the side-characters where nicely written.
All in all a satisfying read, but not an outstanding one. But the fact that it’s one of the first fantasy novels that I’ve read that includes an ace aro character makes the book very special and I will definitely read the second book when it comes out.
A young boy named Artemis drags his brother along into a cave. Their guardian is killed, his brother abducted. At eleven he leaves his identity behind, flees, is taken in by a nice men and becomes Maestri.
He lives among Munfolk that means normal people. But his best friend Jace is not one of the Munfolk. When Jace nears adulthood he has to flee as the humans would surely kill the now able to transform werewolf, despite having taken him in when he was a kid. Artemis does not want to leave his best friend alone out there so they go together. But they seem to attract trouble wherever they go. At first they just want to go somewhere, but soon their quest truly begins and on their long and dangerous journey they make friends, enemies and many memories. And then there’s also Maestri dad, the Time Keeper who left his kids alone when he was six years old.
While the storyline and the characters were good, often scenes seemed to drag on for too long thanks to the immense wordiness of some sentences. Plus I didn’t feel as if there was enough word building to truly satisfy me. Plus the fact that especially in the beginning everything seems a bit thrown together (first we get his background story, then he is with the Dragon King and then he lives in Newacre) which makes it kind of hard to read and so I took a very long time to finish the book. Plus the world building did not always make sense, it would have been interesting to get to know more about what world they live in and why all those mystic creatures even existed.
Still it definitely had some very good sides. I especially enjoyed the diversity which was simply there and not made a big deal out of. Maestri is an ace aro boy who had never had any interest in a relationship. A main character who does not fall in love or have any romantic subplots is always a nice thing and I enjoyed it. There was also a bigender character and much racial diversity.
I also liked the characters and I think even the side-characters where nicely written.
All in all a satisfying read, but not an outstanding one. But the fact that it’s one of the first fantasy novels that I’ve read that includes an ace aro character makes the book very special and I will definitely read the second book when it comes out.
February 2, 2016
Let me start saying the author sent me an e-book copy of her book in exchange of an honest review.
As most fantasy books, there’s a chosen one (Mae), there’s a curse, there’s a quest, there are mythical creatures (vampires and werewolves, but also elves and dragons and other monsters) and there’s a great evil power trying to rule over everything and everyone.
The characters are unique and complex (ones more than others, but people are just like that). Our main character is an ace aro kid, and it isn’t just hinted or said just that one time, Mae is always talking or thinking about it, and even joking with his best friend, Jace - also, amazing friendship there and greatly built. Oh, and there’s also a genderfluid character.
My main problem with the book was the world building, it was lacking information. I could see where they were, the city and the florests, but I wasn’t able to picture the world as a whole. Aridete is a place on Earth or other place entirely? What’s the time period? Because for the most time it looked like a medievel time but they also have hot showers and eletricity and stoves.
Overall, it was a great adventure with lovely characters and a few surprises, and I’m curious to see what will happen with some of the characters on the next book.
As most fantasy books, there’s a chosen one (Mae), there’s a curse, there’s a quest, there are mythical creatures (vampires and werewolves, but also elves and dragons and other monsters) and there’s a great evil power trying to rule over everything and everyone.
The characters are unique and complex (ones more than others, but people are just like that). Our main character is an ace aro kid, and it isn’t just hinted or said just that one time, Mae is always talking or thinking about it, and even joking with his best friend, Jace - also, amazing friendship there and greatly built. Oh, and there’s also a genderfluid character.
My main problem with the book was the world building, it was lacking information. I could see where they were, the city and the florests, but I wasn’t able to picture the world as a whole. Aridete is a place on Earth or other place entirely? What’s the time period? Because for the most time it looked like a medievel time but they also have hot showers and eletricity and stoves.
Overall, it was a great adventure with lovely characters and a few surprises, and I’m curious to see what will happen with some of the characters on the next book.
January 19, 2016
I'm honestly really glad that I got the chance to read this book, because I wound up loving it. The characters are really interesting, and I wasn't questioning why they were there because they all served their purposes in great ways. I don't always like main characters, but I was rooting for Mae the whole time. I'm not great at this whole reviewing thing, but I really dig this book, and I'm excited to see what else happens in this series.
March 13, 2024
I read this book quite a few years ago, and I was delighted to read a fantasy novel that not only had good world-building, but also some fantastic representation (among others, multiple LGBTQ+ identities). I’m also a sucker for some Greek mythology, which is peppered into this story very nicely.
I was especially happy with the portrayal of an aro-ace (aromantic asexual), especially to have them as a protagonist and prove that fantasy books work just as well without the main character following a romance arc! Mae’s relationships with other characters were explored really beautifully and I don’t think I’ve seen that accomplished as well by (m)any other writers incorporating aro/ace characters.
My main sticking point - and the only reason I haven’t re-read it since - was the writing style. As someone who often accidentally repeats myself, I sympathise with the author’s similar tendency, but it did completely take me out of the story every time. I think a bit more editing could have really helped polish this book up.
I’d still recommend it - especially for any fellow aro-ace folk looking to see themselves represented in a really honest, unpatronising way that doesn’t centre their existence around explaining asexuality to strangers. Just keep in mind you may need to skip ahead sometimes when the writing gets too wordy or redundant.
I was especially happy with the portrayal of an aro-ace (aromantic asexual), especially to have them as a protagonist and prove that fantasy books work just as well without the main character following a romance arc! Mae’s relationships with other characters were explored really beautifully and I don’t think I’ve seen that accomplished as well by (m)any other writers incorporating aro/ace characters.
My main sticking point - and the only reason I haven’t re-read it since - was the writing style. As someone who often accidentally repeats myself, I sympathise with the author’s similar tendency, but it did completely take me out of the story every time. I think a bit more editing could have really helped polish this book up.
I’d still recommend it - especially for any fellow aro-ace folk looking to see themselves represented in a really honest, unpatronising way that doesn’t centre their existence around explaining asexuality to strangers. Just keep in mind you may need to skip ahead sometimes when the writing gets too wordy or redundant.
December 25, 2017
I think the biggest movement when Jace turned to wolf and when artimis almost killed him until the last part when He learned the his best friend is still alive. After that part the main plot and story of this book begins up until the last page. I like the ending but I'm hoping to get another switch of the story, if what happens to King Solomon, and his son, as well as the other dragons. It seems that there's should be a sequel of this book to continue on what happened and to get a different ending.
But over all I did enjoy reading this book. Hope to read more books from the author. Thank you!
P.S.
I also want to know on what happen to Jace's love story with vampire. It's familiar but It'll be better to have an ending note about it.
But over all I did enjoy reading this book. Hope to read more books from the author. Thank you!
P.S.
I also want to know on what happen to Jace's love story with vampire. It's familiar but It'll be better to have an ending note about it.
February 20, 2020
Wordy, angsty, and confusing is how I'd describe this book.
April 7, 2016
I've never reviewed a book before but I've known Reilyn for a while and I promised I would once I finished it. In all honesty, I liked this book more than I thought I was gonna. I'm not much into the high fantasy stories (rather watch the movie), but the characters were all very well developed, and the story was told in a way that I often forgot that I was reading a fantasy. Electricity is something not really found in high fantasy books and that was something she chose to include which I thought was cool. The world of Aridete seems much like ours, but not a complete mirror. Relatable and easy to visualize, but not to the point of urban fantasy. Also heavily influenced by mythology.
Mae's friendship with Jace was something that surprised me, and I can't begin to explain how thankful I am that there's no romance subplot for the MC. I'm sick of the best friend turning into a love interest of the MC and I'm sick of everything needing to be romantic or sexual, like being friends isn't good enough or something. Relationships aren't more important than friendships. As much as I love my girlfriend, I don't care about her more than I care about my best friend. They probably aren't going to see this, but no offense, I care about him more and if I had to, I'll put him first, and most SOs are ok with that. A lot of us would be nowhere without our friends checking up on us, speaking from experience. I wouldn't be here without my best friend. So an important friendship portrayal without it turning into something else was refreshing to see.
There were some errors but I've found errors in a lot of the books I used to read throughout school so I didn't care really. People make mistakes, it's a debut novel and it was a great story. Knowing the author, Hardy will just work harder with the next one. That's how she is.
I'm more curious than I thought I'd be about what happens next. I hated the ending. It wasn't a bad ending, I just wanted more so I can't wait till the sequel comes out. I need some answers.
Mae's friendship with Jace was something that surprised me, and I can't begin to explain how thankful I am that there's no romance subplot for the MC. I'm sick of the best friend turning into a love interest of the MC and I'm sick of everything needing to be romantic or sexual, like being friends isn't good enough or something. Relationships aren't more important than friendships. As much as I love my girlfriend, I don't care about her more than I care about my best friend. They probably aren't going to see this, but no offense, I care about him more and if I had to, I'll put him first, and most SOs are ok with that. A lot of us would be nowhere without our friends checking up on us, speaking from experience. I wouldn't be here without my best friend. So an important friendship portrayal without it turning into something else was refreshing to see.
There were some errors but I've found errors in a lot of the books I used to read throughout school so I didn't care really. People make mistakes, it's a debut novel and it was a great story. Knowing the author, Hardy will just work harder with the next one. That's how she is.
I'm more curious than I thought I'd be about what happens next. I hated the ending. It wasn't a bad ending, I just wanted more so I can't wait till the sequel comes out. I need some answers.
April 30, 2016
Ok so I usually don't write reviews because I suck at this but since Reilyn J. Hardy is an indie author, I feel inclined to because I want to be supportive. I read through the other reviews first and I agree with most of them when it comes to the good and bad but for me, I felt like the wordiness of the writing worked? I mean, Mae undergoes a lot and people aren't always thinking clearly. Their thoughts are everywhere, scattered, sometimes overthinking. Hardy is definitely a wordy writer but I don't know, it worked for me. Matter of personal preference I guess?
What I thought was great is definitely the inclusivity. You rarely see aro ace characters, bigender characters, characters who aren't white. Miko's background makes me wonder if there will be any Japanese influence in future novels? I think it's awesome that Hardy wasn't just influenced by one culture. Our world is so diverse and to pull from different parts of it is a good idea imho and I can't wait to discover more of Aridete as Mae discovers it. The electricity thing was definitely different but that's another thing I thought just worked, especially for an entirely munfolk town. I wish there was more given about Aridete but that probably would've worked more if it was in third person rather than first so for now I can wait till Mae shows us the rest of his world.
I read on Hardy's website that she'll be rewriting TLC in Jace's point of view and I'm SO excited for that. Jace is my favorite and I need that book like now.
What I thought was great is definitely the inclusivity. You rarely see aro ace characters, bigender characters, characters who aren't white. Miko's background makes me wonder if there will be any Japanese influence in future novels? I think it's awesome that Hardy wasn't just influenced by one culture. Our world is so diverse and to pull from different parts of it is a good idea imho and I can't wait to discover more of Aridete as Mae discovers it. The electricity thing was definitely different but that's another thing I thought just worked, especially for an entirely munfolk town. I wish there was more given about Aridete but that probably would've worked more if it was in third person rather than first so for now I can wait till Mae shows us the rest of his world.
I read on Hardy's website that she'll be rewriting TLC in Jace's point of view and I'm SO excited for that. Jace is my favorite and I need that book like now.
November 12, 2016
We need more diversity in literature.
That's not really an opinion anymore -- that's a fact. Especially in terms of YA novels that lean more towards fantasy, when I look for a novel, I crave something different. Hardy's The Last Chronomancer satisfied this.
With their colorful new universe and diverse cast of characters, The Last Chronomancer is truly one hell of a read. From the very start you are drawn into Mae's world and are introduced to side characters with their own stories and their own purpose that don't all revolve around our protagonist. That was probably what hooked me the most -- the characters were their own people.
I had the pleasure of reading this book ahead of time and watch it progress. I am incredibly proud of Hardy and the hard work they put into delivering a story that is not only entertaining, but inclusive. It seems that there is a character for everyone.
Now, being a first novel, of course there were some moment where the world did not feel as fleshed out as it could have been. World building is something the author will have to work on, but without a doubt I know that they will only get better from here.
Can't wait for the rest!
That's not really an opinion anymore -- that's a fact. Especially in terms of YA novels that lean more towards fantasy, when I look for a novel, I crave something different. Hardy's The Last Chronomancer satisfied this.
With their colorful new universe and diverse cast of characters, The Last Chronomancer is truly one hell of a read. From the very start you are drawn into Mae's world and are introduced to side characters with their own stories and their own purpose that don't all revolve around our protagonist. That was probably what hooked me the most -- the characters were their own people.
I had the pleasure of reading this book ahead of time and watch it progress. I am incredibly proud of Hardy and the hard work they put into delivering a story that is not only entertaining, but inclusive. It seems that there is a character for everyone.
Now, being a first novel, of course there were some moment where the world did not feel as fleshed out as it could have been. World building is something the author will have to work on, but without a doubt I know that they will only get better from here.
Can't wait for the rest!
September 5, 2018
This was a really good book, the plot, world, characters, and representation was amazing! I was especially happy that there was an aromantic/asexual character, it's the first time I've ever seen a character confirmed to be the same sexuality as I am. My only issue is the way new information is given, sometimes it's not clear what's going on or who's who, and I got confused because I forgot some information given before. I enjoyed reading the book a second time through a lot more, because I was able to understand what was going on a lot better
June 11, 2016
3.5 stars mostly because of the ending.
when will goodreads introduce half stars and make everyone's lives a little bit easier
the premise was great and i loved the characters!!! but the way they spoke sometimes was annoying. and half the time artemis escaped quite easily/through dumb luck from dangerous traps and beings
also accurate representation of asexuality (!!!!!) i might just cry
when will goodreads introduce half stars and make everyone's lives a little bit easier
the premise was great and i loved the characters!!! but the way they spoke sometimes was annoying. and half the time artemis escaped quite easily/through dumb luck from dangerous traps and beings
also accurate representation of asexuality (!!!!!) i might just cry
November 12, 2016
gonna write this later but Rhiannon is my fave and must be protected!
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