Seeking Sorrow (Guardians of Terath #1)

EPIC FANTASY:  The town of Sorrow, on the planet Terath, has suddenly disappeared and all that is left of the buildings and its citizens is a fine ash. A hand-picked team is tasked with investigating the evil behind the disappearance. The team consists of Arc, a master archer, Izzy Gin, a reader of people, Luc, a mana handler, the justice, and Will, one who shows promise as a military leader. They head out to neighboring towns to ask the residents if they’ve seen or heard of anything different going on. While on their journey, they encounter creatures that look half-human, half-something else. They possess incredible strength and come at them by the thousands. Will they find the evil being that incinerated Sorrow, or will it continue to incinerate random towns as it wishes?

The four main characters are fully fleshed out and very captivating. It is fascinating to learn about Terath and the many regions, such as the freezing Apex and the slightly warmer Sub-Apex. The concept of mana as a renewable resource that can be altered into anything by the mana-handlers, or manahi, is also fascinating. That a town can suddenly be turned to ash is terrifying, especially when no one knows how it was done or by whom. Sadly, the story is marred by too much detail. It becomes bogged down and fails to progress as it should and becomes easy to put down. On a brighter (and more hopeful) note, however, the plot twist in the end is pure genius! 

Belinda Wilson