Customer Reviews

The Search for Truth (Erec Rex)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the most recent book in the series, Erec must once again complete the tasks set out for him in his journey to claim the throne. But there's more. Erec discovers that should he fail, all of Upper Earth will disappear.

The task Erec receives is torn-thanks to yet another interruption by Baskania-and he must seek out the Fates in order to receive the full task. If only he can get something simple for a change. Instead, he is tasked with finding something that no one believes exists.

But there's more. Erec must deal with betrayal from the people he trusts most. And can he put a close friend at risk if it means saving the world?

Kingsley has done an excellent job of finding new twists and revealing new information. I like that the tasks are always surprising and unpredictable. The way the tasks test more than accomplishment, but also character, is always interesting. You can feel the moral dilemmas with every trial and can't help but wonder what you would do in his place.

Though the secret Erec discovers about his past is hardly surprising, it does open a whole new storyline that should make things even more interesting, and will allow us to learn more about how Bethany and Erec have come to where they are now.

There was a moment of real vivid, gruesome detail that surprised me, because I didn't expect such descriptive violence in a children's book, but it revealed just how awful Baskania truly is. You can't help but wonder how people have missed this little detail and almost have to admire how charismatic and skilled he is at tricking people.

Kingsley handles her magical world skillfully and leaves you on the edge of your seat.

I think this book is the BEST book yet in the series yet. It had a lot of action, way more than the previous books. Erec found out he is King Piter's son. Definetly 5 stars! A great read

This is a good coming-of-age style fantasy for Junior High readers. In book 3 of the Erec Rex books Erec is put through many tests in his quest to become King, and the fate of Upper Earth depends on it. The character deals with many battles along the way to mix adventure and tension with the humor. It was a little difficult jumping in on the tale with the third book when I hadn't read the first two in the series, so I would urge readers to start with the first book. The author does fill in back story here and there, but in my experience that made the flow seem awkward. Overall, it was an enjoyable tale.

Chrissy K. McVay

Erec Rex is back in his third adventure trying to save Alyphium. This time Baskania, aka The Shadow Prince, is back again trying to make the Stain Brothers the next kings. From the very beginning it's easy to see that this is going to be similar to the other two books in that the quests and situations Erec faces will possibly end his life.

This time though, it's not just Erec's life in danger, it's also his best friend (and hopefully one day love interest?), Bethany's life that is also in danger this time. As Erec returns to Alyphium from recovering from the last quests in Upper Earth, which seems to be a pattern, he finds that Bethany is in danger and he must hurry and get to her before she makes a big mistake.

The Shadow Prince has found an "inside man," so to speak and is gaining knowledge about Erec and his ventures, that he shouldn't know anything about. This means, for Erec that one of his close friends is betraying the trust that he has given them. This also means that somehow, he has to outsmart The Shadow Prince, along with the Stain brothers, and complete his quests.

These quests, like all the others, seem like they are becoming exceptionally dangerous and gives me the thought that either Erec can put every superhero to shame or he will be dead by the next book. But since there are still five other books in the series and Erec is the title character, I know this is not the case.

This time Erec must "Get behind and set it free," which is quite amusing to some extent. We also get a lot of unanswered questions answered and, as usual, we get more questions, but in due time they will all be answered, I'm sure. We learn more about The Hermit, whom we have met before, and we also learn a bit more about Oscar, Jack, and Melody (she was Bethany's roommate in the first book).

Erec's second quest in the book, is to find the Awens and bind them to something else that he's supposed to get from someone that destroyed it long before. Many sorcerers have tried doing this throughout the years, and they all failed, most with their lives. If Erec chooses to not take this quest on, then Upper Earth will not survive, and eventually neither will their own world. We also not only meet The Fates, but in my case appreciate and quite enjoy them. They bring some much needed humor and a quite a few revelations to light, plus they are just fun!

Some of the revelations we get are ones that we saw coming since The Dragon's Eye, but there are others that are total surprises. There was something about The Search for Truth that The Monster's of Otherness was missing, and it took me a bit to figure it out and I think I finally did. The Search for Truth was similar to The Dragon's Eye in the way that we were dealing with Erec and Bethany and Kind Piter and not dealing with so many extra characters.

We learned more about why Erec should be doing this and not focusing on the fact that he is doing it just because he seems to have to do it. I am once again left wanting more in this series, but this time I have to wait a lot longer for the next book which doesn't even have a release date yet. And knowing that I have to wait so long to finish this fabulous series just makes me even more excited and impatient to know what happens next!

Erec Rex is back in his third adventure trying to save Alyphium. This time Baskania, aka The Shadow Prince, is back again trying to make the Stain Brothers the next kings. From the very beginning, it's easy to see that this is going to be similar to the other two books in that the quests and situations Erec faces will possibly end his life.

This time though, it's not just Erec's life in danger, it's also his best friend (and hopefully one day love interest?), Bethany's life that is also in danger. As Erec returns to Alyphium from recovering from the last quests in Upper Earth, which seems to be a pattern, he finds that Bethany is in danger and he must hurry and get to her before she makes a big mistake.

The Shadow Prince has found an "inside man," so to speak, and is gaining knowledge about Erec and his ventures, that he shouldn't know anything about. This means, for Erec, that one of his close friends is betraying the trust that he has given them. This also means that somehow, he has to outsmart The Shadow Prince, along with the Stain brothers, and complete his quests.

These quests, like all the others, seem like they are becoming exceptionally dangerous and gives me the thought that either Erec can put every superhero to shame or he will be dead by the next book. But since there are still five other books in the series and Erec is the title character, I know this is not the case.

This time Erec must "Get behind and set it free," which is quite amusing to some extent. We also get a lot of unanswered questions answered and, as usual, we get even more questions, but in due time they will all be answered, I'm sure. We learn more about The Hermit, whom we have met before, and we also learn a bit more about Oscar, Jack, and Melody (she was Bethany's roommate in the first book).

Erec's second quest in the book is to find the Awens and bind them to something else that he's supposed to get from someone that destroyed it long before. Many sorcerers have tried and failed in doing this throughout the years, and they all failed, most with their lives. If Erec chooses to not take this quest on, then Upper Earth will not survive, and eventually neither will their own world. We also not only meet The Fates, but in my case appreciate and quite enjoy them. They bring some much-needed humor and a quite a few revelations to light, plus they are just fun!

Some of the revelations we get are ones that we saw coming since THE DRAGON'S EYE, but there are others that are total surprises. There was something about THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH that THE MONSTERS OF OTHERNESS was missing, and it took me a bit to figure it out and I think I finally did. THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH was similar to THE DRAGON'S EYE in the way that we were dealing with Erec and Bethany and Kind Piter and not dealing with so many extra characters.

We learned more about why Erec should be doing this and not focusing on the fact that he is doing it just because he seems to have to do it. I am once again left wanting more in this series, but this time I have to wait a lot longer for the next book, which doesn't even have a release date yet. And knowing that I have to wait so long to finish this fabulous series just makes me even more excited and impatient to know what happens next!

Reviewed by: Samantha Clanton, aka "Harlequin Twilight"

This is a good book for kids, but it really has very few similarities to Harry Potter and its universe. But it is definitely a fantasy book that will appeal to strong young readers (not yet at YA books) able to handle a fairly complicated plot with many pages. A strong-reading fourth grader would find this book appropriate; I'm not sure it has great appeal throughout the YA/teen years. It is fairly long but it does start out very quickly and doesn't spend a lot of time setting the scene or rehashing the plot of the first few in the series.

I agree that it is not ideal to begin with this volume of the series, as it fosters so many questions (why does he have dragon eyes? How come he turns into a dragon? What's the deal with his friend's dad?) but I do think the author very subtly tries to introduce previous plot elements to help refresh readers of the first few books. To new readers jumping in, however, it probably isn't enough to be entirely satisfying.

For readers who enjoyed the first few books of the series, this one will advance the plot sufficiently to make it a worthwhile read.

I had a great time reading this one, and liked it better than the first two in the series. The surprises at the end were not as much in the "who was who" but in how it all happened. And there were other things that happened that were unexpected and . . . cool. I give this book a two thumbs up!

This is a great book for all ages and personaly Kaza Kingsley on my top ten chart of great authors right next to Brandon Mull.

I was new to the Erec Rex series when I recieved this book and assumed that I would be able to just jump right in and understand what was going on. That wasn't exactly the case! I figured I would like them so I went and picked up the first two books and am glad that I did. They were all quick reads -- I finished all three in a weekend -- and have quite a bit of action to them. I think the author could stand to find a better balance of explaining some of the 'foreign' objects/people/creatures as sometimes the descriptions are way too long and other times not enough to really grasp the image or idea. This book in particular, I feel, could even have been a bit longer as there is rather a lot crammed into it, action, discoveries, all sorts of things. Almost to the point where it is difficult to absorb it all but still very captivating. I enjoyed all three books in this series and am looking forward to the next one coming out!

Great read, will keep you up late at night.

This is the first of the series that I got and now I'll have to go read the rest.