Beginning Of A Hero (Legends of Windemere Book 1) by Charles E. Yallowitz

Blurb

Take a step into the magical world of Windemere where history is forged by brave adventurers.

Luke Callindor was born into Windemere’s most decorated family of adventurers. Since his birth, he has been treated with the greatest amount of respect and awe. Now, with a lifetime of training and the reckless cockiness of youth, Luke has set out to prove that he deserves the admiration that comes from being a Callindor.

Luke gets his chance when he convinces a royal messenger to hire him to protect the heir of Duke Solomon. This future leader is secretly attending Hamilton Military Academy, an esteemed school run by the former mercenary, Selenia Hamilton. It is a dangerous secret mission requiring that Luke pretend to be an average student while keeping an eye out for any sign of danger. Unfortunately, Luke has no idea which student the heir is and a demonic assassin is already several steps ahead of him. Finding himself in over his head and constantly in trouble, the young warrior realizes that the only things he has on his side are some new friends and his unwavering courage.

My Perspective

I downloaded this eBook for free on Amazon awhile back (like the eBook, Everville: The First Pillar) and i figured that it was high time that i read it as book three in the series is already out, which i have been helping promote, and i hadn’t even read the first book!

The story is about Luke Callindor, a young forest tracker, who is trying to establish his place in the world. He yearns to be known for more than his name, having come from a lineage of warriors, so he sets off looking for adventure. Having little success, he comes across a messenger of Duke Solomon. The messenger is in need of a protector to the heir to the throne as their life has been threatened. Exaggerating his skills and triumphs, Luke is accepted into the Hamilton Military Academy where the heir is residing to go undercover as a student. Problem is that Luke has no idea who the heir is. Will he find out in time to fulfill his mission and protect them before it’s too late? And will he even have the skills to defend himself against the evil that is not only threatening the life of the heir but the entire kingdom as well?

The story drew me in immediately, and kept me turning the pages right until the very end. It was well paced throughout apart from a couple of scenes of dialogue that i felt were ill timed as it slowed the pace down a bit at crucial points.

The characters were really well developed and all so likeable! (apart from the baddies obviously). Luke was extremely likeable with his down to earth attitude and you couldn’t help but root for him right from the beginning. I will be honest that some of the female characters annoyed me a little bit however they weren’t all bad. I really commend the author on his characters, i think that’s what made the book – it was a great cast and i feel like I’ve made a bunch of new friends.

In terms of fantasy, this novel is quite unique in that almost every mythical creature that you can think of lives in Windemere. Including Zombies. They don’t play a major role but they are definitely a part of the world of Windemere. I have no professional problem with this, i just personally am not a fan of Zombies in general. I think it was more the term, “Zombies”, rather than just the term “undead”. When i think of Zombies i think of all the crap that is out there at the moment (movies, TV, apps, games etc.), which distracted me slightly (which in no way is the fault of the author that the world has been saturated with a Zombie obsession). Apart from that i was fascinated by the different mythical creatures that were introduced.

I’m sorry to say that there were a few spelling errors and grammatical mistakes throughout. Not enough that the book as a whole was terrible, there were just enough to make it noticeable. This didn’t detract from the story, it had an excellent plot and storyline.

I really enjoyed the mystery of figuring out who the heir was. The author lead you down a few different paths to really get you thinking. There were also some great twists and turns throughout.

The book had all things a great fantasy should have: strong characters, both good and evil; a quest; mythical creatures; battle scenes; and even some romance. At first i found myself rolling my eyes a bit at the romance however by the end of the book it really fitted in well and i was happy about where it was going.

Overall i really enjoyed the book and I’m sorry it took so long for me to read it! I am really looking forward to getting into book two now (and book three after that!). I would definitely recommend this book if you like fantasy and/or adventure.