Have you read The Aylosian Chronicles?

[Craig]

This series seems to be an undiscovered gem right now. Mr. Jeffrey Collyer has two books in the series out. He's writing book 3, which may be big enough to make it 3 & 4.

I'm going to post my review below. A little mild spoilers, but I don't give a whole lot away.

Aylosian Chronicles = Wheel of Time meets The Last AirBender.

Book 1: Dreams & Shadows:

This is a wonderful tale of magic, where weaving is the magic--much like elemental magic of Airbender, except in more depth. There is more than fire, water, earth, and wind. There are Soul Weavers, Bow Weavers, Sword Weavers, Fire Weavers, etc. I would say the magic is a mix between Airbender and The Wheel of Time, how they weave spells together.

I will warn you, this book starts slow, very slow. At first as I was reading, I thought I was going to give this book a 3 star or below. Then it hit hard, with the introduction of Michael into this new world, meeting many different weavers, including a woman whom you're rooting for Michael to become more involved with. That's when it gripped me in. It moved up to four stars in my book. As I continued reading, I began furiously tearing through chapters, intrigued with the magic and the story. It is very complex and a wonderful fresh take on fantasy. The story has a wonderful conclusion, very satisfying, and I can't wait to read through book 2 in the series.

So why 3 stars at first?
I'll talk a bit about the cons of this book. The title? Dreams & Shadows didn't really do it for me. It seems a common title for a tale so incredibly epic. Dream Weaver, Shadow Weaver, I think those would have presented the idea behind the story better. The cover? It doesn't capture the image of what this story is. When I see the cover, it makes me think of Percy Jackson, and that isn't quite how this book goes at all. I think a more tradition epic fantasy cover that could capture the magic of weaving would have brought me more into what this book held.
The beginning is rather slow. The introduction chapter is a dream, a very important dream which is mentioned for its importance throughout, but it didn't capture me. After that it went on slow, with a lot of repetitive mentions of how Michael is an orphan and desperately wants to find his mother. It goes on like this for a long while, and it's quite frustrating. I get it. He's an orphan, he wants to know if his mother is out there, he feels she is out there. It's too focused on that to enjoy much of the beginning, until he ends up in a new world with the weavers, that's where it kicks off. The reunion with the person he believes to be his mother I feel is short lived, not quite as frustrating as Beth Revis's Across the Universe Series where you wait until the 3rd book before she introduces the main character's parents, barely has any contact with them, and swiftly murders them off. Not quite that bad for this book, but it still seems short lived. There are several mentions of how he wasn't named after his father, however his father never comes up. Even when he meets the person who claims to be his mother, claiming the oddity of her not naming him after his father. Yet, he never asks where his father is. I found that strange.

However, the story took off in such a way, the characters developed, and I never wanted to put the book down after getting through the beginning. I can't wait to read book 2!



Book 2: Woven Peril

This is a wonderful tale of friendship and magic. Book 2 of The Aylosian Chronicles is a page turner, especially after having finished book 1, book 2 is hard to put down. You're wanting to learn what else a Time Weaver can do, and as always (being a fantasy reader and writer) I'm intrigued with Sword Weaving and Bow Weaving. The introduction of Shadow Weaving is another interesting concept I felt Mr. Collyer pulled off rather nicely. Let me try and think of the other magic weavers.. let's see there's Plant Weavers and Stone Weavers, Sooth (Truth) Weavers and Soul Weavers, and that's all I can think of right now. The magic of these weavers, elemental in a way, but truly unique, is very fascinating. He has done a wonderful job foreshadowing, though I wonder if it is too much, because I had a suspicion of who the voice inside his head truly was, in both senses, long before the revelation. However, it was done in such a way, that the revelation still came as an emotional reading full of interest.

I can't wait to see what new weavers Mr. Collyer brings to the next book as well as plot and how he can defeat the darkness once and for all.

Fans of Airbender, Wheel of Time, and the Godling Chronicles will love this tale of hope, love, and friendship.

I look forward to reading the next book!




Has anyone else read this series?
What are your thoughts?

[Kathi, There’s no such thing as too many books!]

Nope, never heard of this one.

[Craig]

If you ever read it, I'd like to hear what you think. I love audio books, and the audio for the first one just came out, so I grabbed it to listen to as well. I don't think I've been as captivated in reading a fantasy since reading through Wheel of Time. It's a slower pace read, but not as slow as Wheel of Time, laugh out loud.