The Archon's Apprentice

by Neil Breault

As the apprentice to the Archon, Mikol spends all his time split between learning the art of runic magic and martial training, eager to take his place in the annual sword tournament. Mikol watches helplessly as his brothers take up arms against a warlord that has united the Savage Kingdoms. Discovering a secret 3000 years forgotten, Mikol must choose between the immediate safety of his apprenticeship and a quest that will take him deep into the Savage Kingdoms that could change the world forever.

Genres: Fantasy

345 pages, Paperback

Published November 12, 2015

Reviews

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the author's basic idea was solid and had a lot of potential. After reading it, I still think it's a good idea but one that's very poorly executed. The quality of the writing was sub par for most of the novel. It read more like a draft than a finished work. There was a lot of awkward flow and SPAG errors. Even when those weren't present, there was hardly any feeling behind the writing. It was a lot of "He said this," or "Then they went here." He also kept re-using the same word a lot, which was probably the most distracting thing about his style.

As far as story content, he tried to pull off a lot of George R. R. Martin style deaths, but the characters were flatter than the paper they were written on and got so little "screen" time that it didn't really matter to me that they died. There were some characters that I didn't remember until their death and I had to go back and re-read their introduction scene to figure out their significance. Inconsistencies and poor research also plagued the story, and the "twist" at the end had been obvious from about chapter 2.

All in all, it's a basic predictable story that tries shock but falls short for a lot of reasons.

[Stephen Levesque · Rating 1 out of 5]

As the apprentice to the Archon, Mikol spends all his time split between learning the art of runic magic and martial training, eager to take his place in the annual sword tournament. Mikol watches helplessly as his brothers take up arms against a warlord that has united the Savage Kingdoms. Discovering a secret 3000 years forgotten, Mikol must choose between the immediate safety of his apprenticeship and a quest that will take him deep into the Savage Kingdoms that could change the world forever.
A read that is underwhelming and point of fact boring in a lot of places. The action has a good pace and very bloody. while reading it, I was feeling underwhelmed and let down. The sense of discovery was nil and void.. You have a very powerful artifact waiting to be discovered, when it is, you feel underwhelmed and say "That's it?" The same goes for the ending! I have said before writing reviews on books, saying a waist of my time, but this time it was the biggest waist of my time. I do not recommend this for anyone!!!!!!!!!! Don't waist your time like I did.

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although I feel the Author had some good fantasy ideas, there were many inconsistencies (they were obvious enough and often enough to distract the reader). The balance of power, both the hero's and the world in general was not consistent. It was difficult to relate to the main character as actions did not correlate to what you would expect from his upbringing/training. I read through the whole book but i wouldn't recommend it. I do believe the author has promise, yet i would recommend to have the book reviewed and amended prior "publishing".

[John G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like a first draft

First I'd like to say hats off to you for writing. It was poorly edited. The sentence structure at times was cumbersome. Entire words were missing at some places. All of this could have been easily over looked if the story was good. Pieces of the story seemed to be missing or poorly explained.

[Douglas Hull · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different outlook

While I am giving this book a four , the ending seem to be very pickable. This seem to be a dark tail. Also seems the ending was rushed . on the Plus side the approach to magic and blood magic seem well thought out.

[Christopher Loftis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Archon's Apprentice began strong, but tapered off in the second half of the book. The story is intriguing, but the lack of editing gets in the way of a smooth read. Without the errors, I'd give this four stars easily.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't get into it

Not quite sure what it was about the story, but at a third of the way through it I decided not too finish.