Fantasy Read #3: A Quest In A Magical Land

Hey there! So this is the third and last book in the series of my fantasy book recommendations (after all, adults also need some ‘fairy-tales’ to go by!), and obviously, it’s not the least. I’d rather say it’s the best of all three! But do check out the first and second recommendations I published before, too!

3. The Last of the Firedrakes by Farah Oomerbhoy – Wise Ink Creative Publishing

Image credit: goodreads.com

This is the first book in The Avalonia Chronicles Series, of which the third one is scheduled to release by the end of this year.

Aurora Darlington is a sixteen-year-old orphan. Having lived with adoptive parents who cared for her as much as they could for fourteen years, she can't bear the hate and ignorance of her aunt, cousin, and uncle who she has been forced to live with, after her parents perished in a car accident two years ago.

She knows nothing about her birth parents and her only link to them is the small golden medallion she has always worn around her neck. Bullied at school by her own cousin and without any friends, her life is pretty drab and miserable.

Until one day when she is suddenly whisked away—with a short leave from school especially secured by her uncle, no less—on a trip to a country house called Redstone Manor on an official business of his. It is strange, because their family never took her along on any such trip before.

But the enchanting three hundred-year-old house invites her to explore its deepest parts and she ends up in the massive library that has a beautiful tapestry, depicting a moonlit lake and forests, covering an entire wall.

However, when her uncle suddenly barges in, instinct moves her to hide and she watches, astonished, as he touches the tapestry and it begins to ripple and come alive! Then, she sees a rough-looking man emerge from the painting as if it were only a curtain!

Shocked beyond words, Aurora listens to their conversation about ‘the delivery of a girl at midnight’ to the man her uncle is addressing as Lord Oblek, and with a chill, she realizes that they are talking about her. All of a sudden, she is discovered, and Lord Oblek wastes no time in dragging her though the portal while her smirking uncle is knocked dead by a strange white beam from Oblek’s hand.

Betrayed by her only family and sold like a slave to the vicious man, Aurora can’t see how things could get worse—until they do.

Left in a Dungeon in a castle in the new, magical world she is brought into, Aurora finds a friend in a fae—a fairy-like creature and a prisoner with her—and a mysterious, handsome young man who helps them get away. But their struggles have just begun, and in their quest for survival, Aurora realizes that Avalonia is actually her rightful home.

Suddenly, the dreams she had been getting since she turned sixteen—of a woman she presumed to be her mother, being chased and finally stabbed by another woman wielding a dagger—begin to make sense.

Because Aurora is the descendent of some of the most powerful mages Avalonia has ever seen—and it is her destiny to reclaim the throne and bring peace back to all the seven kingdoms of Avalonia by vanquishing the evil Queen Morgana, the woman who stole everything from her.

My comments:

This book is my favourite in this genre. Period.

The elements of romance, humour, fantasy, action and adventure are beautifully balanced in the 403-page novel, the first of the series. Once you start reading it, it will keep you so hooked that you’d find difficult to leave it!

I especially love the part where Aurora learns to unleash the magic hidden within herself.
The language is pretty easy to understand, the descriptions are truly magical, and all in all, you just can’t miss this book if you’re looking for some of the best fantasy reads of all time. Icing on the cake—it’s by an Indian author!

The first and second book in the series can be found here:

Image credit: amazon.com and amazon.in, edited by me.

https://www.amazon.in/Last-Firedrakes-Avalonia-Chronicles-Book/dp/1940014719/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+last+of+the+firedrakes&qid=1559699608&s=books&sr=1-1

Thumbnail image credit: pinterest.com