Review: The Exiled Heir

This is one of the books I got at the Decatur Book Festival.  It's the first in a new series by a brand new author: Jonathan French.  From what I remember when he and I spoke, he plans on either 6 (or 9) books in the series and hopes to release one a year.  The series is "Autumn's Fall", the book is The Exiled Heir.

In all, a very well written fantasy story.  With Red Caps (evil goblins), piskies (pixies), humans and more fighting the ultimate battle of good versus evil.  The story centers around 4 different characters.   Padric - a human, Rosheen - a piskie, Deglan Loamtoes - a gnome and Pocket - a changeling. This book gives the background primarily of Padric and Pocket, with just enough of the other two to keep it going.  It also sets the stage for the next book.

It moves fairly quickly, it certainly works to keep your attention.  As you would expect, it's hard to tell at the beginning just how the individual stories will intertwine and at the end it leaves you hanging to find out how they will stay that way.  I can't say I was hugely surprised by the ending, though.  I'm definitely looking forward to the next in the series.

I won't give the synopsis of the story here, you can check that out at the author's web site.  I will say it is a good read from a new author.  I would recommend that for my friends with younger kids, read it first before handing it over to your kids.  I will let my kids read it, though.  For my fantasy reading friends, worth the time to check it out if you can.