I won a copy of this novel from Goodreads First Reads in the middle of March, 2011.   

Synopsis from Goodreads: “Secrets and mysteries are locked within an ancient tower that the wizard’s apprentice must guard with his life. One simple slip-up puts the fate of the world in the power of a desperate King’s Mage, threatening to destroy peace and harmony throughout the world. Time is running out, and Galax Hanz is the only one with the magical arts to lead a collection of unlikely allies to retrieve the precious Keys of Fate. But when Galax is pursued by the evil Mage’s Bloodwyns—the half-man, half-bird shadowy creatures of darkness—he soon realizes he has been drawn into a monumental struggle that challenges the foundations of his tradition. Galax will be forced to test his faith and training, which will guide him into the unknown regions on the road to the discovery of the alchemistic formula of life, death, and destiny.”

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I’m sorry to say that I am not a fan of Randolph’s book.  I really had a hard time finishing it.  The cover is beautiful, and the synopsis sounds intriguing, but the writing style seems hard-pressed and is not for me in the least.  There is very little character development and the storyline jumps from scene to scene with sparse explanations, making it difficult for me to follow.  Galax is the main character, but little information about him is presented, so I never felt drawn to him, or to any of the characters for that matter.  Galax actually comes across as a chauvinistic narcissistic male; he believes he is wonderful, and conceited characters really don’t win my affection.  Had more time been spent developing each character and telling their story, I feel like I would have enjoyed the novel much more.

I am still not sure what period this novel is supposed to take place within.  Originally, I thought it was set in the “olden days” in an alternate universe based on the dialogue, but then the dialogue began to shift back and forth between modern slang and older proper language.  This was disheartening because the change was so vast, and it continued throughout the entire novel, making it very difficult to read.  The dialogue became trite as the characters spoke to one another, and I really just didn’t enjoy it. 

The names used throughout the book were interesting as they were mostly exotic, but I again came across disunity within the plot, as one of the characters was names Keith.  Having such a commonplace name in the midst of exotic ones, such as Galax and Silvica turned me off from the novel and makes me feel like Randolph was unsure of the presence she wanted her novel to have.

Although I did not enjoy the novel, I feel like this might be something middle grade students may like, especially since they may not notice all the errors and inconsistencies within the novel, but I can’t be certain.  One star.