The Alchemists Academy Book 1: Stones to Ashes by Kailin Gow
Publication: 7th January 2011
Publisher: The Edge
Pages: 198
Genre: Fantasy
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
What do you learn here...at the Academy? Wirt asks. Magic? The responsibility to use your powers responsibly? Uh...something like that, his roommate Spencer said. More like how to rule worlds. Wirt, is used to being shuffled from foster home to foster home, adopting a devil-may-care attitude toward the world along the way. Now he s in a school he can t escape, learning to develop his latent magical abilities, for what use, he doesn't know...to save his world or to destroy it...
My Thoughts...
The Alchemist's Academy is another winning series for Kailin Gow.
Every series that I've read so far has such different characters and storylines, and I always love delving into a new book to see what new and exciting world Kailin has come up with.
This time we have Wirt (a very unique name and a nice change having a male protagonist) who discover's he has magical abilities after he 'accidentally' transports himsefl to a school for magical children, but don't mistake this for a Harry Potter knock-off, the basis for the magic in this story is the legend of King Arthur and Merlin.
With the help of his roommate Spencer, Alana (the girl that they both have a crush on) and Miss Lake (a well known person from the Arthurian legend) the try to find an Urn which is a magical artifact stolen from the school, and not a good thing to fall into the wrong hands.
I really liked the descriptions of the school and all the different magical subjects that the students can enrol in.
A really fun, fast paced read, now onto the next one.
I give this 4/5.
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The Alchemists Academy Book 2: Elemental Explosions by Kailin Gow
Publication: 25th July 2011
Publisher: The Edge
Pages: 220
Genre: Fantasy
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
A new student has entered The Alchemists Academy, and he brings with him an explosive power that threatens the Academy and the legend of Merlin. Wirt thought he was the only bad boy at the Academy, but he was wrong. Not only is Roland Black worse than Wirt, but a new teacher had replaced one of their beloved teachers, and she has more planned for Wirt and his friends than just lesson plans. Alana, his crush has grown prettier, and now he is rivals for her attention with not only his best friend Spencer, but newcomer Roland, as well. On top of that, it is their second year, and the year where all the students must pass a test to move on to the Elite Class at the Academy. The Elite Class is the only class in the third year at the Academy, and the students who fail will be sent home, others will face something even deadlier.
My Thoughts...
The second instalment in the series finds Wirt with a new roommate, new kid Roland Black who isn't very friendly towards Wirt or Spencer but seems very interested in spending time with Alana.
Wirt feels that there is something that Roland is hiding but he can't quite put his finger on it until one night in their dorm room he hears Roland having a conversation with someone about what his plans are while he's at the school and it's not good, but with Alana infatuated with him and Wirt and Spencer not spending that much time together Wirt is determined to find out what's going on with Roland himself.
And if that wasn't enough to keep Wirt on his toes, the Headmaster announces that exams will begin to pick the fourteen students who will commence into the Elite class next year, whoever doesn't make it will be sent home.
The ending of this book was frustrating only for the fact of the way we were kept hanging, I need to get my hands on the third book, this was definitely my favourite of the two books so far and I look forward to continuing on to see what happens next.
Another Kailin Gow series highly recommended.
I give this 4/5.
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Author Kailin Gow
Kailin Gow is the award-winning, international bestselling author of over 80 distinct books.
Kailin Gow is also the President of a media company, a media personality, and has been writing full-time since she was first published. Holding a Masters in communications management and leadership positions in Fortune 500 corporations, she puts her leadership abilities, her experience, and desire to help others into her fiction books. As a result, she has written the forthcoming, Finding the Heroine in You book which is also a national tour. She is a mother and spends whatever spare time she has volunteering at the Red Cross, Battered Women's Shelters, and other organizations.
Currently her Frost Series is in development for a major international MMO Game, and she has over 14,000 and growing Frosters on her facebook fan page.
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