The Prior Quest (The Bookania Short Stories)

Title: The Prior Quest

Series: The Bookania Short Stories (#1)

Year: 2012

Author: Kendra E. Ardnek

Summary: How far will a man go to repay a debt made in his youth? Push au Kim’s life was spared by an enemy soldier, and he vowed to someday repay the man. When he finally finds him again, he finds that he has just died, leaving behind three sons.

Well, on to plan B. (from Goodreads)

Main Characters:
~ Boy
~ Push au Kim

Review: This reads just like a fairy tale! For some odd reason, my brain wants to register it as a fairy tale retelling, but I can’t be sure. *adjusts librarian glasses* Well, whether it is or not, it’s still wonderful. I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed some of Kendra’s other short stories, but I would still recommend it to other readers.

Once upon a time, there was a miller-turned-soldier who had but one son — his pride and joy. While in the war, he caught a young enemy who pleaded to be let go as he, also, was his father’s only son. He also promised to repay the miller-turned-soldier for this kind deed. Moved with compassion, the miller-turned-soldier let him go. The war ended, peace was restored, and the miller-turned-soldier went home to find he had another son! Then he had a third some time later just for good measure. However, the wife died before telling anyone the last son’s name, so instead of renaming him, they just called him “Boy.”

And that’s where it starts. Years later, when the miller is dead, Push au Kim (the young enemy) returns to pay his debt and insists on helping one of the sons since he cannot help the father. The older two sons want nothing to do with this odd foreigner, so naturally, in the normal fairy tale style, it’s the third and youngest who gets chosen. With Boy at his side, Push is determined to repay that debt to the umpteenth degree… and Boy is quite astonished at how it all plays out.

Advisory: Push does some, ah, less than nice actions to gain wealth and status for his young master (i.e. dumping people in ovens, lying) which I would not recommend for anyone to copy, but everything is in a very decidedly fairy tale atmosphere.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
 

Click here to buy The Prior Quest on Amazon!

Sew, It’s a Quest (The Bookania Quests)

Title: Sew, It’s a Quest

Series: The Bookania Quests (Book #1)

Year: 2011

Author: Kendra E. Ardnek

Summary: Robin and Robert are royal twins. They are the only two to have received a Fairy Godmother gift in nearly a century, an amazing honor. Soon it was clear that their gifts had been switched and a search began to find the Fairy Godmother to right the mistake. When she is finally sighted by a knight, the family learns that the pair must find her for themselves and they only have until their 18th birthday … only 4 months away. Will they be able to find her in time? (from Goodreads)

Main Characters:
~ Robin
~ Robert
~ Rosamund
~ Doranna

Review: Sew, It’s a Quest is the first in Kendra E. Ardnek’s Bookania Quests, a series you’re not going to want to miss. Right off the bat, we’re introduced to two very usual royals – twins Robin and Robert Locksley – with unusual gifts. Much to everyone’s dismay, their Fairy Godmother mixed up their gifts at their birth, and while Robert has impressed the court for years with his skill with a needle, Robin spends her days practicing expertly with a sword. When the emissary arrives and brings them news of the Fairy Godmother (Fallona), along with the announcement that if Robert and Robin wish to reverse their gifts, they must undertake a quest to find Fallona before their eighteenth birthday.

Kendra writes in a fun, easy-to-read, very fairy-tale-ish style that truly compliments the story, considering it is a sort of fairy tale retelling. But it’s more than just one fairy tale… instead it’s like two or three (or four) all mixed together in a fantasy land. Doranna’s story brings in part of the Mountain Princess, Rosamund is the Sleeping Beauty, and even Robin Hood makes a very decided entrance. I rather liked seeing them altogether like that. Each subplot wove cleverly into the others, and by the end, you’re really wanting the next book in the series, Do You Take This Quest?

Robin and Robert and their friends made excellent heroes/heroines. They start off by pretending to be your cliche princes and princesses, yet each one has his or her own quirks to make them unique. Personally, I love Doranna’s math talk, and I laughed every time Robin stuck her opponents’ swords into ceilings, or trees, or whatever might be on hand. I can’t wait to read more of these characters further into the series.

This story is a light one, so don’t expect much more than a fairy tale. At times the plot seemed to meander a bit; there were a few conversations or scenes that didn’t add to the storyline, but that’s just to be expected from such a book. What stuck out to me the most was the fact that Robert and Robin began the quest to seek out their Fairy Godmother, and while they do search for her, their quest seems to flounder a bit when they stay for days/weeks at castles and forest camps. If they were in such a hurry to find Fallona (they had merely four months in which to reverse the gifts), why did they spend the time so leisurely? That just seemed a little odd to me.

Advisory: Some light romance and fantasy action.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Click here to buy Sew, It’s a Quest on Amazon!