Book Review: One Realm Beyond {BookLook Bloggers}

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One Realm Beyond by Donita K. Paul*

ISBN: 9780310735809

Paperback, 414 pages

Publisher: Zondervan

Retail: $12.99

About the book (from the back cover):

Cantor D’Ahma waited his whole life for this day. Born with a gift to jump between worlds, the young realm walker is finally ready to leave his elderly mentor and accept his role as protector and defender of the realms.

But mere hours after he steps through his first portal, Cantor discovers that his job will be more dangerous and difficult than he ever imagined. The realms are plagued with crime and cruelty, and even members of the once-noble Realm Walkers Guild can no longer be trusted. To make matters worse, his first assignment - finding a dragon to assist him on his quest---has led him to Bridger, who is clearly inept and won’t leave him alone.

With the help of his new friends Bixby and Dukmee, Cantor must uncover the secrets of the corrupt guild before they become too powerful to be stopped. But his skills aren’t progressing as fast as he would like, and as he finds himself deeper and deeper in the guild’s layers of deceit, Cantor struggles to determine where his true allegiance lies.

About the author: 

Donita K. Paul retired from teaching and took up the mantle of grandma. She loves her new career as author of stories her grandchildren devour. Winner of multiple awards, she lives in Colorado, enjoying friends and family, pets, and beautiful scenery. Her favorite part of writing is the readers.

My thoughts:

I didn't like the book to start. It definitely was not a case of judging a book by its cover because it looks very interesting. In the end I liked the book enough to recommend it to my 14 year old son. I thought it entertaining for the majority but shallow in many parts. The main character was likable to start with, then goes through an arrogant streak followed by likable again. Some other characters aren't really developed as well as others; perhaps they aren't supposed to be? One of my comments to my son was that it's a teen book, apparently it is supposed to be a little weak. 

The scenery is well done but the plot is a little confusing. Since this is a trilogy, I would guess there will be more light to be shed on the whole thing in subsequent books. The dialogue is just fine and even has some annoying traits that I suppose people may really have. I didn't get Bixby's clothing quite as well as I think it was intended to be had. Also the descriptions of the dragons while they talk, smile, dress {wait, did they actually "dress"?}, walk, fly, and just in general was not happening in my imagination. 

I will say that it really didn't let me down by being predictable. There really seemed no true direction in this so there wasn't a way to think "oh, this is going to happen next." It's a surprise almost every turn. 

**Disclaimer: I received this book free from BookLook Bloggers for the purpose of an honest review. All opinions are my own. See Disclosure/Policies**