My SPFBO9 finalist review of Master of the Void is published at Before We Go Blog.

“Derrius stood, furtively wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. He was thirteen years old, he shouldn’t be crying a child.”

Master of the Void is the C.S. Lewis-inspired SPFBO9 finalist by Wend Raven, an epic fantasy and coming-of-age story that will capture the imagination of readers of all ages.

Wend Raven’s debut takes place in the magic-infused Seven Lands. The children of the Seven Lands are evaluated for their magical abilities precisely thirteen years following their birth.

The various magical abilities are categorized by color and connected to astrological symbols from the moment of their birth. Those few souls without magical abilities are imprinted with the dreaded Void Mark on their hand, making them outcasts in a world where magic means everything.

Master of the Void has a vibrant cast of characters, consisting mostly of young teenagers as they find their paths forward within this society. Although there are several points of view, the book features two main protagonists. First is Orimund Laetus, the third son of an archmage, who has studied diligently as he tries to meet the high expectations of his parents:

“At fourteen and fifteen, Orimund’s older brothers had already passed their testing and had begun to excel in their magical practices. Most days, the pressure of living up to their successes was only a nagging thought in the back of his mind. Other days, he thought he might drown in it.”

But when Orimund’s testing goes terribly wrong, he must make a new path for himself.

The other lead protagonist is Derrius Mendi, a poor boy with uncommon abilities who studies hard to build a better life for himself and his family. But an ill-timed disaster on the eve of his testing forces Derrius to reevaluate his plans.

Master of the Void also features an outstanding group of side characters, several of whom get point-of-view duties throughout the novel. I especially enjoyed reading from the perspectives of Orimund’s best friend, Imber, who has an arranged engagement to Orimund’s older brother, Arrin. Both Imber and Arrin are willing to exploit the engagement as a means to help the troubled Orimund.

Master of the Void is full of positive messages as the children overcome their challenges, gaining self-confidence and finding purpose:

“‘Eventually, I came to the realization that no one in the Seven Lands had the power to make me feel good about myself,’ his brother continued. ‘Even if Father had suddenly decided to hug me and tell me he was proud, or the prettiest girl in school decided she was crazy about me, it wouldn’t mean anything if I wasn’t already happy with who I am.’”

These personal journeys are set against a rising evil that threatens to destroy the only world the children have known.

Master of the Void embraces all the well-worn tropes of middle grade and young adult fantasy. There are also the usual themes of friendship, familial relationships, overcoming adversity, and finding joy in a time of suffering, as well as an innocuous love triangle. Yes, all of this has been done before in countless other novels. But Wend Raven accomplishes everything so compelling in Master of the Void that I really can’t fault her for her embrace of classic tropes.

Master of the Void is a wholesome fantasy that parents can give to their middle-grade children without worrying about objectionable content. Wend Raven even captured my imagination as an adult reader who has seen these tropes innumerable times, providing a truly entertaining read that I am delighted to recommend.

Most of all, I’d consider Master of the Void to be a perfect gateway book for introducing young readers to fantasy, which could very well foster a lifelong love of reading. Honestly, I can’t think of any higher praise than that.

Master of the Void is the first book in a planned trilogy. The story continues in Book Two: Creature of the Void.62 s Mark LawrenceAuthor 73 books53.6k Read

An SPFBO finalist here, still only on 40 ratings! Try it out - you could be among the first to discover a gem :D

I've not read this yet, but it's the first finalist for SPFBO 9, one of 10 finalists to be chosen from the 300 entries this year.

That's got to mean it's good - so give it a go.

Check out this year's contest here:
https://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/...

See this year's finalist table here:
https://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/...

Read up on the SPFBO in general here:
https://mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/...


.57 s1 comment Esmay Rosalyne1,085

Read for SPFBO9 as part of team Fantasy Book Critic. This is just my personal opinion, group verdict may differ widely.

7/10

Filled with loveable young characters, great magical school vibes, rich diverse cultures, exciting sea voyages, intriguing astrologically influenced magic, and a little dash of teenage angst, Master of the Void is coming-of-age fantasy done right!

Welcome to the Seven Lands, a world where magic is everything. At the passing of their thirteenth birth moment, kids are tested for their magical ability and sorted into one of the five groups of power. At least, that is how it is supposed to happen. The lives of the two young boys Derrius and Orimund are completely shattered when they receive the shocking results of their tests, setting them both off on similar yet terrifyingly different journeys of tumultuous self-discovery.

Right from the start, the high levels of intrigue and wonder really captured my imagination, simply forcing me to keep turning the pages. Not only was I captivated by the smooth introduction of the multifaceted magic system, but the setting of the Seven Lands also quickly felt very immersive to me and I really enjoyed exploring this epic world in all its glory from so many different perspectives.

Normally I prefer to follow a smaller cast of characters, but I actually found that the frequently rotating POVs gave this story a deliciously addictive ‘just one more chapter’ quality. It does admittedly take a while to get a good sense of how all the separate plot lines are going to connect, but trust me when I say that the eventual convergence is simply masterful and oh so satisfying.

I do have to admit that I ended up preferring certain character perspectives over others, and sometimes I found myself wondering if we really needed all the POVs we got. For me, Orimund’s storyline was easily the most captivating, especially once he embarked on his quest of self-discovery and came in contact with all kinds of intriguing people, cultures, and creatures inhabiting this world.

Both the breadth and depth of the world building really impressed me, and I loved that there were so many mysteries and conflicting ideologies organically woven into the narrative. There are plenty of exciting reveals and clever twists and turns, which is exactly what made Master of the Void such a wonderful page turner.

That said, I can’t sit here and pretend that the pacing didn’t feel a bit rocky to me in certain parts. Not only was the passage of time rather unclear to me at times, making it hard to gauge the believability of the levels of character- and relationship development, but I also thought the middle section was just quite slow in general.

Fortunately, everything did ramp up again after certain reunions happened, and I was thoroughly amused by all the little bits of teenage angst, familial banter, and romantic tension dripped into the narrative. Moreover, there’s a looming sense of dread present throughout the entire novel, which ends up exploding in a truly exhilarating final sequence that had me on the edge of my seat.

It is truly beyond me how Raven managed to weave all the threads of this sprawling and highly ambitious story together in such a satisfying way, but here we are. In a way, Master of the Void could almost be treated as a standalone, but then there’s that damned mystifying and intriguing epilogue that will virtually demand you come back for more.

All in all, I had a really fun time with this story, and I am honestly surprised by how easily I breezed to this beautiful chunker of a book. Equal parts comfortably familiar and excitingly unpredictable, Master of the Void will offer much to love for both fantasy veterans and complete newbies to the genre!indie-and-selfpub spfbo920 s Deborah1,438 34

I received a gifted copy of MASTER OF THE VOID by Wend Raven from the author for the purpose of reviewing it for #SPFBO9 for the team created by @coverswithcassidy.

MASTER OF THE VOID is set in a world of magic. When youths reach their thirteenth birth moment they can be tested to determine their magical proficiency and their worthiness for entry into a formal magical education. Orimund has been raised in a powerful and magical family and he has spent his whole life studying to follow his older brothers into University. When his testing day comes and he is told he is without magic and branded a void, he is embarrassed and heartbroken, leaving home behind to strike out on his own.

Derrius is another young man who dreams about entering the University. He’s been raised in a working class family and works hard to study with any resources he can lay his hands on. He hopes that magic will give him an inroads to improving his family’s life. When an unavoidable disaster interferes with his testing moment, he must fight to determine if he can still be deemed magical.

I really quickly fell into this book and loved my time with it. The book takes on a lot and I did worry at times if it might be a case of taking on too much and not fully fleshing everything out, but I soon learned to trust the author. I think the book did a fantastic job of building out the world as the story progressed with good descriptions without giving too much at once. I do think the book might benefit from a glossary in the back as I found myself making some notes to keep the different types of magics straight with their different names, associated colors, and various powers, but the book also does well at reminding you when you do need to know something.

I found the world building to be really interesting, particularly when it came to the magic. The concept of one’s birth moment being so crucial to their magic in addition to other factors in their lives was very interesting. The premise of being labeled a void and how that comes about in someone also added some mystery to the story. We get glimpses of a dark figure as well with magic of his own between the chapters of the main plot which also had me making guesses about what was going on (not all of which were right).

The cast of characters is well built out. In addition to Ori and Derrius who are our main two POVs, we also witness the world through a few other eyes in various positions. As the book goes on, Ori’s brothers and his best friend try to follow in his footsteps and track him down. This gives us a good understanding of what is happening in different places in the world while Ori and Derrius are more centered on their own identities and struggles. I think the author did well at building out different personalities between characters, even in the supporting cast.

In terms of plot, there is a lot going on in the book and it really kept me wanting to pick it back up. It really gelled with my preferences in terms of balancing action and character development. I had a lot of questions about where the plot was heading early on and I made a few accurate guesses, but the author did manage to make some twists I didn’t expect.

Overall this was a book and a writing style that really worked well for me. It added a lot of complexities to the world and the characters and raised a lot of questions about morality and identity. I did see that this was recently added to Kindle Unlimited, so it is definitely worth picking up for the fantasy fans!

We already know that this was nominated by Sandra @gotathingforthings as a semi-finalist for the team from @coverswithcassidy and it was definitely my favorite read among my allotment of books for the team, so it gets seconded as a semi-finalist for me as well!20 s Julia Sarene1,428 174

Read for SPFBO, this is just my *personal* opinion, group verdict might differ widely!
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