Book Review: The Lost Sentinel by Suzanne Rogerson

itle: The Lost Sentinel (Silent Sea Chronicles #1)
Author: Suzanne Rogerson
Publisher: Suzanne Rogerson
Genre: Fantasy
Book format: Digital
Sweet Strawberries:

Description: The magical island of Kalaya is dying, along with its Sentinel.
The Assembly controls Kalaya. Originally set up to govern, they now persecute those with magic and exile them to the Turrak Mountains.
Tei, a tailor’s daughter, has always hidden her magic. But when her father’s old friend visits and warns them to flee to the mountains she must leave her old life behind.
On the journey, an attack leaves her father mortally wounded. He entrusts her into the care of the exiles and on his deathbed makes a shocking confession.
Tei joins the exiles in the search for their new Sentinel who is the only person capable of restoring the fading magic. But mysterious Masked Riders want the Sentinel too, and time, as well as hope, is running out.
Against mounting odds it will take friendship, heartache and sacrifice for the exiles to succeed, but is Tei willing to risk everything to save the island magic?

*Free copy provided by author for review…

Review: Wow, after reading this book I am emotionally drained…but in a good way. ‘The Lost Sentinel’ is the first book in the ‘Silent Sea Chronicles’ fantasy series and is an amazing read!

The book starts by introducing us to a young Tei who has the ability to walk the Astral Plane but has a terrifying experience while there. Nine years later and Tei’s life is shattered when she and her father have to flee their home in order to be safe. At first the story was easy to get into. The action surrounding Tei running away and what happens when meeting with Rike and Garrick was exciting to read and I really got into this book right away but as the tale progresses we are introduced to more characters and more viewpoints and the story becomes more complex and interesting.

The book is written in the third person but jumps about between several different characters throughout the story. Although this was hard to grasp at first, it felt like a movie. Everyone’s tales are different with most stories happening on the island of Kalaya, but not all. Each story seems unconnected to anyone else’s at first, but as the plot progresses the connections are revealed and each story is an exciting one on its own.

The plot is really dark. There’s an undertone of darkness and fear already, with what Tei experienced as a child and the overall fear of being caught, but the whole book really has a dark edge with a lot of death including some key characters which leaves you shocked and upset and maybe even crying…I actually had to take a breather when reading these moments as it was so unexpected. But these deaths soon make sense to the plot and I am amazed at how unpredictable and good this book is to read.

Being a darker fantasy read there’s some violence and deaths but very little swearing with a rare few uses of the b words and only one use of the s swear word. There’s nothing else offensive in this book. Although the story has a really dark undertone with shocking moments, I really enjoyed it. I love a dark plot and this book really doesn’t disappoint with shocks and surprises throughout. I do have one criticism though and it’s a shame as it’s the only reason I give this four rather than five strawberries. As I’ve said the book changes viewpoint often which makes it more exciting and really pushes the overall plot forward, however this viewpoint switching happened too often in the beginning. While Tei’s storyline was easy to follow and grasp in my mind, as the first chapters were only about her (meaning I got to know her well and the characters she meets), I struggled to remember the other characters and their storylines. I did have to put down the book for a day as life got in the way, which didn’t help, but getting back into everyone’s stories except Tei’s was hard as I forgot who was who at first. It wasn’t until I was about a quarter of the way into the book before I really started to enjoy it and solidified all the characters and their individual stories into my mind.

Overall this is an amazing and gripping fantasy read. It’s a long book but filled with a lot of great action and a perfect fantasy setting ( there are no fantasy type creatures just humans). The world of Kalaya is rich and dark and I’m amazed at how sucked into the action I was reading this, and how unpredictable and dark the storyline is. The ending is a satisfying one but the story is far from over, it’s only beginning and sets up questions for the next book in the series and I can’t wait to read it!

Do you like this book? What about fantasy novels or trilogies in general? Let me know what you think in the comments below 🙂