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Ingenairii #1
Visions of Power
The opening book in the Ingenairii Series introduces Alec the Healer, in the days when he worked as a menial helper in a traveling carnival that toured the great cities of the magic land of the Dominion. Alec's carnival makes a fateful decision to visit lands in the wilderness, where he is exposed to violence and fear, and where he is forced to scramble for survival. When Alec and Natalie plunge into the ruins of Riverside, the adventures begin to come fast and furious, and before he knows it, Alec will acquire new abilities to heal the injuries of other in miraculous ways, and then be pressed to exercise those abilities to save the most powerful noble in the Dominion, the Duke of Goldenfields!
Saving the Duke, and discovering that his act of healing will become a political act that plunges him into court intrigue, brings Alec face-to-face with new challenges and new people - allies and adversaries who seek to control him and his powers.
With his change in abilities, change in status, and his uncertainty about what he wants to do, Alec has to decide who to trust, and how to protect himself in a complex world.
Saving the Duke, and discovering that his act of healing will become a political act that plunges him into court intrigue, brings Alec face-to-face with new challenges and new people - allies and adversaries who seek to control him and his powers.
With his change in abilities, change in status, and his uncertainty about what he wants to do, Alec has to decide who to trust, and how to protect himself in a complex world.
310 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 6, 2008
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179 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 6, 2012
I started reading this myself and ended up getting into a bedtime routine with my kids by reading this to them. The book is pretty good for kids except for the fact that there are plenty of times where even I had a hard time understanding what was meant by a particular part of the prose. Many times large words are used and makes it a bit hard for the kids to understand those things as well there were just times where the sentence itself was just hard to understand... then again they would ask questions and learned more due to it.
Personally I found the book a bit too long for what actually happened. I found that the introduction to the 'mythical' beasts at the start of the book was way overdone for what we got to learn through the story. I think... more rumors and less impending doom at the start would have helped that, although that change also may have made the beginning a bit boring as well. I found it odd that every moment at the start they ran for their lives, then suddenly they were able to just stop and start living in a town without much care in the world. I thought at any moment they would be attacked, but no.. that did not occur. Maybe there is a very good explanation that I missed, or that will become apparent in later books (it is an extensive series) that explains the apparent stopping of the attacks.
I certainly like the spiritual implications in the story. A world that looks at prayer as a recreational thing and someone that gets the wild hair to really start effectively using it in healing and such. Very cool story of a rekindling in faith for all those around Alec as he called for things that were effective yet scoffed at from the start.
Alec's rise to power was interesting... parts slow that I thought could have been quicker and as well vice versa for others. One thing in particular that I was tired of reading (keep in mind I read most all this book aloud to my children) was the very detailed accounts of healing others. Very hard words and as well very repetitive things in each instance. A few were certainly important for the story at hand, but others either just created unanswered questions or just did not matter enough to be as detailed as they were.
The first section of the book really pulled me in, when they got to Goldenfields I began to get very bored of the story, until the last few chapters as Alec began to deal with political (these seemed to come from no where, but in the end all made sense even in the fact that Alec was surprised by them as well, truly I liked it this way even if all of it annoyed me due to the trouble it caused Alec) and extreme growth in power creating totally other political problems as well. Without those chapters I may not be as interested in future books, and as will I must admit when I finished and mentioned to by daughter that I was done with the first and that there was just an excerpt from the second book left; she immediately said "Ok, get the second then".
So, even though there were times I just wanted to quit reading and then rushed through just to finish... I can certainly see myself getting the other books and reading them to my kids as well.
Personally I found the book a bit too long for what actually happened. I found that the introduction to the 'mythical' beasts at the start of the book was way overdone for what we got to learn through the story. I think... more rumors and less impending doom at the start would have helped that, although that change also may have made the beginning a bit boring as well. I found it odd that every moment at the start they ran for their lives, then suddenly they were able to just stop and start living in a town without much care in the world. I thought at any moment they would be attacked, but no.. that did not occur. Maybe there is a very good explanation that I missed, or that will become apparent in later books (it is an extensive series) that explains the apparent stopping of the attacks.
I certainly like the spiritual implications in the story. A world that looks at prayer as a recreational thing and someone that gets the wild hair to really start effectively using it in healing and such. Very cool story of a rekindling in faith for all those around Alec as he called for things that were effective yet scoffed at from the start.
Alec's rise to power was interesting... parts slow that I thought could have been quicker and as well vice versa for others. One thing in particular that I was tired of reading (keep in mind I read most all this book aloud to my children) was the very detailed accounts of healing others. Very hard words and as well very repetitive things in each instance. A few were certainly important for the story at hand, but others either just created unanswered questions or just did not matter enough to be as detailed as they were.
The first section of the book really pulled me in, when they got to Goldenfields I began to get very bored of the story, until the last few chapters as Alec began to deal with political (these seemed to come from no where, but in the end all made sense even in the fact that Alec was surprised by them as well, truly I liked it this way even if all of it annoyed me due to the trouble it caused Alec) and extreme growth in power creating totally other political problems as well. Without those chapters I may not be as interested in future books, and as will I must admit when I finished and mentioned to by daughter that I was done with the first and that there was just an excerpt from the second book left; she immediately said "Ok, get the second then".
So, even though there were times I just wanted to quit reading and then rushed through just to finish... I can certainly see myself getting the other books and reading them to my kids as well.
November 24, 2017
If it had been mentioned that the whole magic system is based on a religious belief system that is crudely based on christianity, I would never have touched the book. So thanks for wasting my time.
If you are into a naive protagonist, magic based on religion and cannot wait to read about christianity, the lord and his savior son in an alternative world, please go ahead and knock yourself out.
If you are into a naive protagonist, magic based on religion and cannot wait to read about christianity, the lord and his savior son in an alternative world, please go ahead and knock yourself out.
September 25, 2015
Very good. I look forward to the other books in this series.
August 8, 2018
Christian apologia, always mildly revolting to encounter.
In addition to the usual tripe, this particular god plays around with some mind-rape and such happy things.
In addition to the usual tripe, this particular god plays around with some mind-rape and such happy things.
August 23, 2019
too slow and predictable
March 4, 2017
What a classical story, but oh so enjoyable!
July 31, 2015
By the point I write this review I'm in the middle of the 6th book, which is like the end of the series.
There is more but that is a "character forgot everything and starts over in a new land" situation.
Anyways I liked the series in general, the idea of a healer is pretty good and the way it played out was great.
There are a lot of characters and relationships, the MC is strong but there are still many challenges and a lot of action.
Now to some negative points, though its generally a good thing when there is a lot of things happening this series felt a little ?unsettling?. I read all the books pretty much one after the other and there was just to much happening without any pauses. For the character perhaps there were but for me it was just one sentence "he lived in the palace for 3 months" and BAM! something happened again.
I would have liked a little more everyday life, like there was in the beginning.
Especially the whole "you lost your powers, oh and now you got them back, and lost them again"
I understand that that was maybe needed for the challenge but it felt a little silly to repeat this so often.
That may sound like a lot of negative but don't get me wrong it still was really really good.
But the single most frustrating and annoying thing was the romance, I already saw that in the healing spring series of this author but man. That poor MC so much potential romance and it never really played out. Even for me as a reader it was really frustrating, even when he got the girl he really didn't.
So even through there is some romance here it is more frustrating than fulfilling, in my opinion at least.
Basically a little more "happy end" or "happy interlude" would have been nice it felt like it was "all work and no fun" for the MC, even through he really deserved it.
To conclude I found the series very good and the only reason that I wrote so much about negative points here is the fact that I think it could have been perfect if not for that.
There is more but that is a "character forgot everything and starts over in a new land" situation.
Anyways I liked the series in general, the idea of a healer is pretty good and the way it played out was great.
There are a lot of characters and relationships, the MC is strong but there are still many challenges and a lot of action.
Now to some negative points, though its generally a good thing when there is a lot of things happening this series felt a little ?unsettling?. I read all the books pretty much one after the other and there was just to much happening without any pauses. For the character perhaps there were but for me it was just one sentence "he lived in the palace for 3 months" and BAM! something happened again.
I would have liked a little more everyday life, like there was in the beginning.
Especially the whole "you lost your powers, oh and now you got them back, and lost them again"
I understand that that was maybe needed for the challenge but it felt a little silly to repeat this so often.
That may sound like a lot of negative but don't get me wrong it still was really really good.
But the single most frustrating and annoying thing was the romance, I already saw that in the healing spring series of this author but man. That poor MC so much potential romance and it never really played out. Even for me as a reader it was really frustrating, even when he got the girl he really didn't.
So even through there is some romance here it is more frustrating than fulfilling, in my opinion at least.
Basically a little more "happy end" or "happy interlude" would have been nice it felt like it was "all work and no fun" for the MC, even through he really deserved it.
To conclude I found the series very good and the only reason that I wrote so much about negative points here is the fact that I think it could have been perfect if not for that.
March 5, 2016
A decent coming of age fantasy novel.
The writing while simple, was enjoyable. The plot wasn't too deep or complex but still interesting, although its pace felt slow at times.
My main gripe was some oddities in the plot and the characters' actions and dialogues weren't always believable.
The references to Christianity, the verses in latin, also felt wrong to me in a fantasy setting. But maybe it's an alternate future ? The importance of religion and spirituality in the plot was a good idea, but I feel it could have been better if not obviously based on our own world.
The writing while simple, was enjoyable. The plot wasn't too deep or complex but still interesting, although its pace felt slow at times.
My main gripe was some oddities in the plot and the characters' actions and dialogues weren't always believable.
The references to Christianity, the verses in latin, also felt wrong to me in a fantasy setting. But maybe it's an alternate future ? The importance of religion and spirituality in the plot was a good idea, but I feel it could have been better if not obviously based on our own world.
July 30, 2013
Its a good book with some flaw. Its not really a page turner but I enjoy reading it over time. The background story is severely lacking, many are left unexplained. I'm quite fond of the MC, he's a good character but lack of flaw make him somewhat have a vast fortune or less humane.
October 29, 2011
This story starts off a really good series, although this book itself is a little slow at times, building up the magical world, the politics and the characters.
November 19, 2012
Enjoyed...all the series are page turners.
June 21, 2013
Awesome read...moving on to book 2
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews