Author: Hayley Reese Chow
Rating: 2/5
Porter would much prefer spending time doing normal things than embrace his destiny as the Kotalla kan. When he gets sucked into a portal with his cousin, he learns to become a better wielder of his powers.
Spoilers ahead.
Detailed Summary
Twelve-year-old Porter is the Kotalla kan, responsible for keeping the world safe from bad spirits who live in Pericael. He is resistant to this responsibility, preferring to play football and be “normal.” His cousin Ames comes to stay. His magic teacher tells him the Raspurn is trying to get through. Porter and Ames rush to the site, unable to get in touch with Porter’s mother who’s a doctor. Porter and his teacher try to fend off the Raspurn. His mother finally gets there and summons a portal but Ames and Porter disappear into it too, into Pericael. They befriend a group of children whose village gets raided. They travel around Pericael, several mishaps happening along the way (like Ames getting bitten by a monster). In the end, Porter defeats the Raspurn with a friend named Fira’s help. Fira becomes Porter’s study buddy and learns from the same teacher.
Plot and Pacing
I’ll be honest: the main reason I read this book was to tick off a square on the r/fantasy Bingo. It was the first free book I saw on Amazon in the self-published section. I was hoping that, as I read, I would want to finish this book for more than just completing a square. I hoped I’d become invested in the characters and plot. Unfortunately, something about this book didn’t click. I thought the plot was fairly predictable and none of the characters stood out to me.
I’m, of course, not the target demographic of this book so that may have played a role but I felt there was room to flesh out more about the world. I didn’t completely understand the magic system–it had something to do with using spirits’ powers and achieving this delicate balance so one isn’t overpowering the other. I checked the Goodreads page several times while reading because I was so sure this was a sequel. The world-building was also lacking. I felt there were many terms thrown around without proper explanation.
This book had potential but, for me, it didn’t deliver.
Characters
I felt the characters were all quite flat. Porter was the typical reluctant hero who much preferred doing ordinary human things than magicking around. While I understand the dangers of using this book’s form of magic, I felt that was a weak premise. I mean, I find it really hard to believe that Porter wouldn’t want to use his magic. There was this thing about one of his “classmates” jumping off a cliff after an ambitious endeavour to bind a spirit but that backstory felt haphazardly thrown in.
I really wanted to like Ames but his Star Wars references felt really forced and made me cringe several times. There was also a rather cliche point where he gave Porter a pep talk and that supposedly changed Porter’s mindset towards everything, enough to defeat the villain. I wasn’t a fan of that. I did really like that Ames didn’t want to be tested for magical powers. That was pretty nice of him to do. Even though part of it was out of fear.
Writing Style
I just wasn’t immersed in the writing style. Again, this may largely be because I’m most definitely not the target audience of this book. Maybe if I was younger I would have liked it more? I don’t know. I didn’t find anything particularly eye-opening or remarkable about Chow’s writing style.
Earnestly Eccentric 