January 2023 Book Club: Ascendant (Ascendant, #1) by Craig Alanson

  

 My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult, Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean

 

The Wizard's Council of Tarador was supposed to tell young Koren Bladewell that he is a wizard. They were supposed to tell everyone that he is not a jinx, that all the bad things that happen around him are because he can't control the power inside him, power he doesn't know about. The people of his village, even his parents, are afraid of him, afraid he is cursed. That he is a dangerous, evil jinx. The Wizard's Council didn't tell young Koren, because they know what is best for him. Even after their silent deception destroys his life.
Crown Princess Ariana Trehayme will become queen of Tarador on her sixteenth birthday, if her weak, indecisive mother the Regent hasn't allowed their ancient enemy to conquer Tarador before then. Ariana wants her royal army to strike at the enemy, but her mother knows what is best for her, and the realm.
Together, Ariana and Koren can save Tarador, if the adults, who know best, will get out of their way.

I Listened to the audio version of this and I found it to be a very engaging story.  It's a very simple fantasy that doesn't bring anything new to the genre, but I still enjoyed listening to it while I painted. I could sympathize with the main character, Koren, and I found him to be a very likable character, along with several others. There were a few parts that pulled on my heartstrings, and there were times when I got really mad at the adults in Koren's life for not trusting him with information I felt he should have had. Unfortunately, this leads to some things happening that could have been avoided. 

One of the book's weaknesses is that there could have been more explanation of how the magic system works, but this being a trilogy, I feel like there is plenty of time to get to that. Initially, I wanted to continue on with this series, especially after the way this book ends, however, after thinking about it for a while, I decided against continuing. At least for now. I think if I had kids that might enjoy this series, then maybe it would be more of a priority for me to read, so I could share it with them. It's certainly something I think an older middle grader or younger YA reader would enjoy, but since it's just me, I would rather dedicate my time to other books.