Author: Lynette Noni
Genre: Portal Fantasy
Source: Pantera Press
Goodreads
With just one step, sixteen-year-old Alexandra Jennings's world changes—literally.Review by Nara
Dreading her first day at a new school, Alex is stunned when she walks through a doorway and finds herself stranded in Medora, a fantasy world full of impossibilities. Desperate to return home, she learns that only a man named Professor Marselle can help her... but he's missing.
While waiting for him to reappear, Alex attends Akarnae Academy, Medora's boarding school for teenagers with extraordinary gifts. She soon starts to enjoy her bizarre new world and the friends who embrace her as one of their own, but strange things are happening at Akarnae, and Alex can't ignore her fear that something unexpected... something sinister... is looming.
An unwilling pawn in a deadly game, Alex's shoulders bear the crushing weight of an entire race's survival. Only she can save the Medorans, but what if doing so prevents her from ever returning home?
Will Alex risk her entire world—and maybe even her life—to save Medora?
I was told that Akarnae was young adult, and I guess technically with the ages of the characters it was, but it reads much more like a middle grade novel, and I would suggest readers go into the book with the mindset that the target audience is for middle grade or younger end of YA.
The reason I say the book felt more like a middle grade novel was that the writing was quite straightforward, with most things being stated outright rather than the reader having to read between the lines. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, because it did mean that the book was a very casual read and despite its length, could be read quite quickly.
I did feel that the book dragged on a little, and the story could have been condensed to give a more coherent plotline. There were a lot of descriptions about the Akarnae Academy's various classes that I felt didn't have to be included (for example if you think about Harry Potter, they don't go through every single class there, only the ones that are relevant for the plot to move forward).
I thought overall, Akarnae was a great introduction to the Medoran Chronicles series. I'm looking forward to seeing where the rest of the series takes us.
Liked it
RatingsOverall: 7/10
Plot: 3/5
Writing: 3/5
World Building: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Cover: 2.5/5
