I went into this book completely blind. I have never read this author before and I was captivated from the first page to the very last page. Descendants of Avalon takes the reader on a journey, literally, with 4 close knit friends who have no idea where life is taking them.
Mei, Beth, Genie, and Whit are all best friends and they are the type of group of friends that you could have in high school, if you were into that sort of thing. But this friend group is as close as sisters and they are each other’s support, cheerleaders, and can also be blunt without the other ones getting too mad.
Most of the story takes place in Avalon but the story also has a secondary setting of a small town and the author does a phenomenal job of describing both places that makes the reader really imagine themselves with the characters. I kept thinking this story would make such an amazing movie or tv series for teens and even adults who enjoy a good, clean, fantasy story. Sorry, no aliens here, just knights and sword of the real kind.
Descendants of Avalon felt like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and The Babysitter’s Club had a baby and it was the result. It had magic like Harry, adventure like Lord of the Rings, and it had the close friendship of The Babysitter’s Club all rolled into one. The fact that it was female led and driven throughout, made the story even better. Who doesn’t appreciate girls taking charge and kicking ass?
There were small moments in the book that had me rolling my eyes but I do that with most of the YA books because, Oh EM Gee teenagers can be soooo damn dramatic. I know I was never that dramatic… totally, 100% not dramatic, at all. Nope. Do you believe me? Well, you probably shouldn’t because I was dramatic as fuck when I was a teen. Don’t wish to go back to that timeframe, ever. With that being said…
The author does an amazing job with getting into the heads of teenage girls and being completely authentic to that age. There is nothing worse than a YA book with immature girls that all of a sudden developed deep philosophical meaning of life at 16. Yeah, I don’t buy that. Even though I didn’t care for the dramatics, I also had to remind myself they are teenage girls.
The story is told from two points of view; Beth and Genie. The story begins with Genie but as the story progresses, Beth’s adventure seems to take ahold of the reader’s attention and leaves the reader wondering what is going to happen next. Genie’s POV does that as well but in a different way. You get more of her adventure to something while Beth’s adventure is all her own.
I can’t say too much without spoilers and I feel this book is worth going into completely blind. However, if you want to know more, continue on…
Most people would pick this book up and immediately know it is about King Arthur because of the name, Avalon, I was not one of those people. The most I know about King Arthur is that there was a sword, a rock, and a really hot guy named Arthur played by Charlie Hunnam in a movie that was directed by a hilarious director, Guy Ritchie. I definitely did not remember an Avalon or any other stories surrounding this legend. If you are the type to love this legend and can pull out facts about the origins, Excalibur, etc, I will not be the one that can tell you whether or not this author kept to the authenticity or took liberties with the legends nor can I tell you what is actual fact vs embellishment by the author. Sorry, I only watched the movie because Charlie Hunnam and he didn’t have a shirt on. Anyway, back to the book….
What I CAN tell you is that J. Lynn Else does a great job giving a mix of the legend as well as making the focal point of this book about the 4 teenage girls and the adventure they embark on, all while introducing side characters that add more depth and appeal to the book.
The only small criticism I really give this book is 1. The cover could be more interesting. Fantasy covers need some intrigue on the front to make the reader go and pick it up. The author has such a great story inside, it needs a cover to show that. Some brighter colors instead of it being so muted, smaller or different font with maybe the female holding the sword could really make it pop! 2. There were times in the book where I was told, rather than shown what the character was feeling/doing, which always pulls me out of a book. This is 100% a personal thing and if that doesn’t bother you, great, but if you are like me and it does, I will say, the story is so much more than that and you will get over it pretty quickly.
I really want to go into the adventures of the girls, the magic of the story, and the companionship they meet along the way but then it would give too much of the juicy details away and I don’t want to do that to whoever reads this. Instead, I am going to give words without any context and when you do (because you better) read it, you will know what it means.
Wishing well. Dungeons. Griffins. Friendship. Gay. Knights!
Okay, that was fun. Overall, I give this book as solid 9.2/10 Which is my highest rating for a fantasy since writing reviews for Scribbleworth so that should tell you how much I enjoyed reading this book. I will be anticipating the next in the series AND this one did not end on a cliffhanger, it was wrapped up in a pretty little bow.
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