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The Sword Of Light (The Four Keys Book 1) – J.C. Lucas

Synopsis

Bloodthirsty creatures. A vindictive Queen of Elves… And a fierce teenage girl, willing to take them all on.

Andie didn’t expect to be orphaned. Now she has no parents, no Nan, no one but Anne, the weird social worker who carries on conversations with old books and empty purses.

Anne takes her to a small town in Texas to live with her new guardian, Celeste, an eccentric figure among many who seem to know something that Andie doesn’t. One evening, the woods behind Celeste’s house spirit Andie away, and she discovers a secret so incredible that she can scarcely believe it. Her destiny is to find the four Keys that will save the Tuatha de Danann from annihilation.

Worlds collide when two of her new friends from school, the sweet, helpful Teagan and the rude bad boy Hunter, join her on her journey to reach the mysterious place known only as Finias in search of the first Key, The Sword of Light.

As they flee the wicked Fomorians and battle with the Queen of Elves, Andie and the boys forge new alliances and make more adversaries. Will Andie and her friends rise to the challenge, or is the magical realm as good as gone already?

Review

“One is always watching out for who they love, even if they are no longer around…”

Andie was a nerd (I’ve always considered one myself, but she beat me with the beanie ? which by the way I hated but now I love). She didn’t have real friends because people in her school just used one another.

A lot of the time, I found that reading books was better than being around most people.

I couldn’t agree more with Andie.

She was raised by her grandmother since she was two years old, when her mother died and her father disappeared. Now, with sixteen her Nan passed away, and she is “adopted” by Celeste, an old friend of Nan’s that Andie had never heard of.

She smiled warmly and seemed genuinely happy that I was there. It seemed strange that someone would willingly open their home to a sixteen-year old teenager who they’d never met before. For all she knew, I could be a serial killer or a thief who would rob her blind.

Celeste does her best to help her feel comfortable. And in the new school she meets some nice people like Teagan. Although she also meets some weirdos like Hunter.

After following a weird boy into the woods near her new house, Andie finds a sort of library inside a giant tree where she meets Balwyn, a Brownie, and Erin, a fairy. Since this moment her life turns upside down as she finds out every mythical creature is real. In fact, her grandma and mother were Fae, and her father was a Warlock. She was supposed to be the one destined to find the “Four Keys” and save the world with the help of the powers that would wake up inside her.

Bending closer, I placed my hands on the rough bark and saw that the warm light spilled out from a hole in the tree.
What the heck?
Leaning close, I peered through it. Gasping, I backed away. Okay… I must have hit my head really hard, and right now I’m knocked out, and this is all a dream, I rationalized. There was no way what I saw through that hole could be real! Ribbing my eyes, I held my breath and looked through it again.

At least she would have help. Her new friend Teagan ends up being a Warlock and her stalker Hunter was a Were Shifter. Now the three of them, together with Charlie, the “parrot” and Emric, the Phooka. I’ll stop a second here…

How I pictured Emric (I know, I’m an artist)

Andie’s team have to find the first key, The Sword of Light before Freya does it. Freya is the Elf Queen who became evil and joined the Fomori, horrible creatures. Together they are trying to destroy what is left from the Fae world, and probably the human world as collateral damage.

I’m kinda upset with the fact that Andie was a nerd in all her glory and after she begins her mission she loses her glasses and beanie. I honestly couldn’t imagine her as a heroine but I got mad when the book agreed with me (I’m weird, I know). Still, I would have liked the change. Although glasses are not too compatible with adventures… just look at Harry Potter.

There was too much information at the beginning. But the book is narrated by Andie, and she received the information like this so it kinda makes sense.

What took a lot of me at the beginning was Andie. She was clumsy and useless, a damsel in distress that literally almost died in their first day of mission. Granted, if I was sent in a mission like this I would probably be in the same place. I didn’t feel identified with her at the beginning, but turns out we are more alike than I would like to admit. This is how a girl that is sent to save the world should actually be. An absolute failure that learns on the way.

Guess I’m going to have to wing it like before. If I died, so be it, but at least I tried.

Still, I don’t know how can you save the world when you almost die climbing a mountain or murdered by a flower…

Anyway I learned to love her. Except at the times she decided to run away from the group: “I’m in a dangerous mission, let’s run alone to the forest. What could go wrong?”

Also, I smell a love triangle. And even though right now I love Hunter, I’m scared because I always choose the sweet best friend that stays alone.

I’m not crying, you are.

Hunter is the typical bad guy with a sarcastic character but who has a golden heart. And I love golden hearts…

“Watch out, Andie. Lizard to your left,” Hunter called form behind me, causing me to jump a foot in the air and scramble away. Hunter cracked up, and I stopped running to turn and look at him. He was still laughing, and there weren’t any lizards where I had been.

Teagan has a golden heart that is not hidden. If this is a love triangle he’s so doomed already ?

He reached forward, grabbing the backpack off my shoulder, casually slinging it over his as if it weighed next to nothing. Stunned by this gesture, I stared. He seemed to think nothing of it and turned to head down the hall.
Chivalry wasn’t dead!

The book has a basic scheme. A girl destined to save the world. A bad guy who is good. And a guy too good to be true. Clichés? Yes. As I always say, do I care? Nope. It works perfectly fine for me.

It was a nice, light and fast read. It would be suitable for any age except for the gore, like… Freya is pretty sick. But is not unbearable. It ends in a cliffhanger of those that make you want to trow the book away. Fortunately I have the second book so my Kindle survived.

PS: After doing this review I’m even more impressed with the book because I was sure a lot of creatures were J.C. inventions when in reality they are from different mythologies. RESPECT.

Bye bye ?

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