Akarnae (The Medoran Chronicles, #1) in Aussie Readers

Jan 13, 2020 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, young-adult, first-in-a-series, 2015-release, own-read, fantasy

Farewelling her parents was never easy and this time was worse than most. Heading into her new boarding school, sixteen-year-old Alexandra Jennings sighed with resignation as the tormenting began immediately. But when she went to the headmaster’s office to fulfill the enrolment, the room she entered had an instant impact – it wasn’t a room. How did that happen? How was she in Medora? And how was she going to return to her own world?

Befriending Jordan and Bear turned out to be a savior to her san ...more

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Dec 04, 2014 Rachel (The Rest Is Still Unwritten) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: i-own, for-review, simon-and-schuster-sent, publisher-sent

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Thank you to both Simon & Schuster Australia and Pantera Press who send me copies of this book to read in exchange for an honest review!

Find this review and more on my blog The Rest Is Still Unwritten!

Akarnae is Harry Potter meets the Chronicles of Narnia in the first novel of Australian author Lynette Noni's debut series The Medoran Chronicles! A whimsical fantasy tale full of adventure and friendship, Akarnae is vividly descriptive, exciting and will leave you raring for more!

Akarnae follow's Thank you to both Simon & Schuster Australia and Pantera Press who send me copies of this book to read in exchange for an honest review!

Find this review and more on my blog The Rest Is Still Unwritten!

Akarnae is Harry Potter meets the Chronicles of Narnia in the first novel of Australian author Lynette Noni's debut series The Medoran Chronicles! A whimsical fantasy tale full of adventure and friendship, Akarnae is vividly descriptive, exciting and will leave you raring for more!

Akarnae follow's sixteen year old Alexandra Jennings whose life takes a interesting turn when she walks through a doorway on the first day at her new boarding school and finds herself literally in another world. Landing in the world of Medora, Alex discovers that there are more wonders and possibilities out there than she could ever have imagined, and the one person who could possibly help get her home is missing. Forced to wait until his return, Alex begins attending Akarnae Academy, a boarding school for Medorian's with amazing gifts; a school that will push and challenge her more mentally, physically and emotionally than ever before.

As she begins to embrace Akarnae Academy and find a home within the strange new world she could never have imagined existed, Alex makes begins to make powerful friendships and starts to discover just what she is capable of. And yet as Alex finds her place within Akarnae Academy, a mysterious individual finds her repeatedly along the way, and Alex can't help but realize something sinister is lurking behind his pretty face and beautiful eyes.....he has a plan to destroy Medora and he'll use Alex to do so, whether she wants him to or not.....

Akarnae was a very impressive debut! As the first novel in a new series, this story has been perfectly written, explored and planned. Author Lynette Noni has already established such a strong and well rounded world within the pages of this book. There's so much texture and layers to the story that I can't even imagine what Noni will do next, even though it's evidently clear that Alex's journey is only just beginning.

Alex's world literally changes when she walks through a doorway to Medora. She's stranded far from her world and her parents and everything she's ever know, and her only hope of getting back is a man who no one can seem to find. It'd be understandable if Alex gave into her fears and worry about being in Medora but instead she chooses to embrace her new life her and manages to pass the weeks and months by attending classes and honing her skills. Alex is quite down to earth and normal, but in true fantasy style, she's the kind of heroine who steps up when she needs to, even if she is Medora's only hope. Personally I really enjoyed following Alex and throught she was a worthy main character.

To be perfectly honest, the thing that manages to make Akarnae so great is that Noni weaves together so many different elements to make a fantastic story. Her writing is solid, and in the tradition of worlds like Harry Potter, Medora is vivid and fun and endlessly surprising. Akarnae Academy features different classes on the most different of subjects, all tasked with testing it's students, and Alex and her friends manage to get up to tones of trouble during the school year, managing to have more than one unexpected adventure.

I was thrilled with the friendship's and relationships Alex builds during this first book. Akarnae students Jordan and Bear are two of the first people Alex meets upon her arrival in Medora and they welcome her into their fold with open arms. Both boys are cheeky and entertaining and come to care deeply about Alex as a friend; making for some endearing moments between the three as their friendship becomes as solid as humanly possible.

Alex does struggle to connect with many of her other classmates at first but towards the end of the novel makes some serious strides with her roommate D.C. and her Combat classmates; particularly Declan, a big burly guy and Kaiden, a charming young man who unexpectedly makes Alex's heart race. Alex also manages to interact wonderfully with her professors and Akarnae staff, including Fletcher, the head of the Med Ward and the person Alex sees when she is injured. Sporting more than her fair share of injuries over the course of her stay in Medora, Fletcher is more than good to his most frequent patient. Honestly I could go on and go.....

From mysterious new friends, to talking suits of armor, and even a Library that's quite literally alive, Akarnae has it all. Lynette Noni sets up her fantasy world perfectly and will without a doubt sweep you up into the world of Medora. Leaving you begging to join Alex on her next advendure in Medora, Akarnae is sure to be a hit with fantasy and adventure lovers alike!

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Feb 07, 2016 Tien rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, australian-author, fantasy, own, signed-by-author, mm-16

Stepping through a doorway to a magical world is fairly well used trope and employed well, it can blow the reader’s mind away. On another note, I think, it’s really quite tough to come up with something completely original these days so you really have to be quite open and / or tolerant with books you read. I saw a lot of promise in Akarnae and found it to be a fun read.

The cover is so pretty (Pantera Press seems to have the most gorgeous covers for their books!) and Lynette Noni was so sweet at ...more

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Sep 05, 2017 Bree T rated it liked it

Shelves: arc, series, fantasy-sci-fi, young-adult, aww2017

Alex has just turned 16 and is being dropped off at an exclusive boarding school while her parents go on an 8 month archaeological dig where she won’t be able to contact them. Instead of opening a door to the Principal’s office, she opens a door to literally another world, almost a parallel Earth but with differences. She is almost immediately confronted by someone who assures her that he’s been waiting for her and that together they will rule the world. It seems she’s stepped onto a school camp Alex has just turned 16 and is being dropped off at an exclusive boarding school while her parents go on an 8 month archaeological dig where she won’t be able to contact them. Instead of opening a door to the Principal’s office, she opens a door to literally another world, almost a parallel Earth but with differences. She is almost immediately confronted by someone who assures her that he’s been waiting for her and that together they will rule the world. It seems she’s stepped onto a school campus and so while she waits to figure out how to get back to her own world, she enrolls at Akarnae Academy, a school for the gifted. Although she struggles at the start, confused as to why the mysterious procedure has enrolled her in high levels of certain courses, Alex soon starts to settle in at Akarnae. She makes two solid friends who are with her every step of the way and it seems that the mysterious Library of the college is not only much more than it seems, but it has also Chosen her in some way. In fact Alex’s entire appearance in Medora seems to have a specific and important purpose and some of the choices she makes will be incredibly important. Actually the whole future of Medora could hinge on them.

On the whole, I found this quite an enjoyable story. It’s a little bit like Narnia – a young girl opens a door and finds herself in a completely different land and there are Things Happening. I didn’t mind Alex as a main character. She certainly has the ability to be beaten and to stand up and take it over and over again. She deals pretty well with her foray into a foreign world and doesn’t go into hysterics or constantly whine about wanting to go home. She does have moments of wondering if she’ll ever be able to, or will she see her parents again, which was normal but she didn’t spend the entire time thinking about ‘why me?’ and stuff like that. I liked the way she threw herself into her new school subjects at Akarnae, even when they seemed way above her abilities and the teachers were brutal. It actually seemed like a really fun school – unorthodox but fun. And the technology ideas were quite interesting. I enjoyed a lot of the secondary characters as well. I also really liked the idea of Medora and the set up and also Medora’s history. I found that really interesting and would’ve liked even more about that, which I suppose will come in future books as Alex herself learns more, especially in regards to her role for the future.

There were a few small quibbles – nothing major, the writing at time felt a bit simple and the dialogue could be a bit clunky. I think at times it was really like the friendship between Alex, Bear and Jordan felt a bit forced, like they were still getting to know each other but sometimes their interactions felt like they’d supposedly known each other for years. It didn’t always come off as natural and at times the jokes and ribbing felt a bit too much too soon. It’s also quite long but it’s not really jam packed with happenings, so a lot of it is kind of just repetitive stuff at the school and Alex continually getting hurt and going to the school’s medical ward. At times it felt as though the book kind of lost its way and meandered a bit. However these weren’t enough to turn me off at all and I’m quite keen to read the next book in the series, Raelia to see where it goes from here.

**Copy received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review ...more

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Jan 29, 2023 Kaitlynne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I read this book, because I'm desperately wanting to feel the same things I felt when I read The Prison Healer trilogy.

Did I? No. Not yet at least. It was a very slow moving book (but so was The Prison Healer) So with at least 4 more books in the series, I'm hoping it will start to pick up.

It has a lot of potential, so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.

I liked Alex's friendship with Bear and Jordan, and even DC, however there were a lot of timing things that were off a little and had me all ...more

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Apr 19, 2019 Tanya rated it liked it

Gosh, I'm really conflicted about how to rate and review this book.

I have multiple friends raving about this series, and so went in with high expectations. Perhaps that was the problem? All I know, is for me this book didn't live up to the promise.

When arriving at her new boarding school, Alex walks through a door but instead of entering the Principal's office, she finds herself in the middle of a forrest with no clue where she is or how to get back to where she was. She then finds herself as a ...more

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Jan 17, 2020 Rina rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2019-tbr-jar

2.5 stars.

I had mixed feelings about this book. It was a bit tropey, and there were so many details that were underdeveloped and bugged me. Overall, the story was quite enjoyable once I could move past the details.

This was the usual fantasy school story, with the protagonist being a Chosen one and had some ‘gift’ which others didn’t have without having to do anything to deserve it. She was just born with it. Having said that, the book redeemed itself with the Combat classes sub-plot, as the hero 2.5 stars.

I had mixed feelings about this book. It was a bit tropey, and there were so many details that were underdeveloped and bugged me. Overall, the story was quite enjoyable once I could move past the details.

This was the usual fantasy school story, with the protagonist being a Chosen one and had some ‘gift’ which others didn’t have without having to do anything to deserve it. She was just born with it. Having said that, the book redeemed itself with the Combat classes sub-plot, as the heroine had to work really hard and not wait for things to be handed to her. This one, I liked.

The world itself was quite underdeveloped. I did like the advanced technology and multi species factor (although not explored in depth yet in this book, I assumed it was preparation for the next books). The whole stepping-into-portal-door thing was also plausible enough for me to enjoy. However, I really didn’t like the explanation on how Medora and Freya (our reality) were originally similar but branched out into different realities and got to where they were (one with magic, one without) after millennia of different continent movements, only to have the same climates and seasons as the earth we knew today. This was quite impossible. Different continent movements would have resulted in different climate territory! Moreover, the calendar system and school years were ‘magically’ the ‘same’, ignoring the fact that calendar system and school years weren’t even the same everywhere in ‘real world’ (I’d like to know why Akarnae chose to adopt Gregorian system than, say, Chinese Lunar Calendar?). This seemed to be too simplistic for my liking.

Having said that, the characters were likeable enough. I also liked the strong friendship factor amongst the kids (teachers and general adults were pictured as useless as usual). So points for that.

All in all, I think the book was miscategorised as YA, when it would’ve made more sense as Middle Grade. I would’ve been a lot less critical had this been targeted for younger readers. ...more

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