Taking Flight, Tomes of Ascension by A. G. Charlton is a captivating fantasy story of good against evil.
Syline is the second eldest daughter of the nation’s greatest general, Peter Patranski. He is the leader of the border guard defending the nation from creatures that come from the North.
Syline is 17, of noble birth and has lived a sheltered life with her family in Russenholde. With her journal, spell book, sword and wand, she leaves home to walk to the King’s palace and the great library to meet her tutor, Anatoly, for her nightly lesson.
As the blizzard worsens outside, Syline decides to stay the night at the library.
The sound of glass shattering awakens her and a window has broken. Knowing the damage wild weather can do to books she investigates.
Finding an open spellbook in the Petrov family holding, with the wind blowing snow inside, Syline makes a decision to fix the window with a quick mending spell. This saves the book from being ruined. Surely Jane Petrov, a learned mage would thank her for saving the book, as who knows how many years worth of curated spells were in it.
Idly Syline flicks through the pages. As she reads her stomach sinks as these spells are illegal, spells that carry a death sentence just for recording them.
When Jane appears Syline realises that Jane is not going to arrest her or ask for recompense — she plans to kill her.
Holding the spellbook tight, and casting a spell Syline escapes and thus begins her journey to stay alive. She needs to survive the harsh winter and the hunters pursuing her. She needs to get the spellbook to the King and alert him of the danger Jane is to the kingdom.
Syline ponders her fate, as all she was trying to do was to do the right thing.
What lengths will Jane go to force her to return the book, and will Syline survive?
There are twists and turns along the way as Syline meets other interesting characters. Who can she trust?
The writing style makes the book enjoyable and easy to read. Syline is a courageous and likable character. The suspense and mystery keep you turning the pages.
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Taking Flight by A. G. Charlton. You can read their comments below, or add your own review.
I love to read, any book on any topic. I now love ebooks as they are easier to store, I was running out of bookshelves! My other interests are family, gardening and our beautiful King Charles spaniel dog who is my reading companion.
Taking Flight by A.G. Charlton ( Shawline Publishing Group) is a fantasy adventure story filled with wizards, monsters, mages, vampires, gods, devils and competing religions and cults of every description.
The first part of the book introduces all these beings and their followers/cults. It is initially rather confusing wading through all the back stories to finally hone in on the main characters, and for the main narrative to begin. However once it does the story flows well.
Syline is the noble daughter of a family of soldiers and warriors, whose prowess with the sword is well know, but Syline’s passion is for magic. She dreams of having adventures and perfecting her magic… and an adventure full of magical challenges is definitely what she has when she finds herself being hunted and her family’s lives threatened.
An entertaining story, full of action.