Its sad that there is so little of a selection of Christian Fantasy and the books that are out there are somewhat hard to follow and require motivation to pick back up to read again. I found this book in the teen section and decided to give it a shot. Gotta say, I absolutely loved it. Loved it to the point of buying the entire series including the first of the Children of the Bard series continuation. I read through all the negative reviews and don't see how they apply to the book at all. Thumbs down to all that gave this book a bad review and spoke ill of Bryan's writing style. I thought it was perfect. Perfect blend of detail, suspense, and other emotion allowing you to connect with and feel the characters with little to no problem. I highly recommend it to young adults who enjoy fantasy and anyone else who is looking for and adventurous ride. This series is worth a shot.