Odriel’s Heirs by Hayley Reese Chow

A fun young adult fantasy adventure that delights with its supporting cast of magical animals.

Three heirs, gifted with powers by Odriel, which combined are powerful enough to defeat the mighty necromancer, Nifras. The time heir; a powerful healer. The shadow heir; able to become invisible. And the dragon heir; who wields the fire that can destroy the Lost.

Seventeen year old Kaia is the first born of Tam, and therefore shares his powers as the dragon heir, but if she’d only been born seven minutes later, her fraternal twin, Bram, would have taken her place and her responsibility. A fact she considers, and is reminded often of by Bram.

When Nifras returns to attack once again, Kaia, her ragehound Gus, the shadow heir, and a collection of imaginative, magical creatures, must make a stand to save their world from the darkness.

Kaia is a compelling character, and the dynamic with her twin, Bram, is interesting. The complimentary powers of the different heirs is well thought out and described. The world where they live is a joy to discover, populated with diverse people and magic.

While I liked Kaia and enjoyed seeing her grow over the course of the book, what really made the story for me was the range of supporting characters, including the animals. From the ragehound, Gus, who keeps Kaia’s fire from burning out of control, to the Dalteek, deer like animals they rode, to the shape changers that lived in the forest, and Mackie, who could speak to the animals, not to forget the magi! It was the secondary characters that filled out the world and added the layers of depth that I love in a second world fantasy.

The book excels in the scenes with less characters, such as when Kaia is on her own or with a few others. Unfortunately, I found the battle scenes somewhat lacking in details for my satisfaction. I realize that it is aimed at a young adult audience, so I understand the lack of blood and gore, but I found Nifras much more threatening when Kaia was traveling in the woods than when she was facing him on the battlefield.

I recommend this book to fantasy lovers, especially those who like the works of authors such as Garth Nix. As the ebook seems to be free today, it would be a shame not to snap it up.

I award Odriel’s Heirs…

Odriel’s Heirs is available free today as an ebook and $6 print book on Amazon.

I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.