If you've been following the series so far you know that Alexander Taylor is the main protagonist who in the first book finds a mysterious sign in an old bookstore saying "Adventurers Wanted". When he goes in he learns of other lands of magic that he can go on adventurers through. In the third book of the series we find Alex preparing for another adventure. This time he and his friends old and new will be traveling through the land of Thraxon to find a magic ring that can help the dwarves find places to mine once their current mines run out. I don't want to ruin too much of the story, but as the adventure progresses the band of adventurers learn that other forces are at work in the lands, and something terrible is hinted at being in the works. In many of the challenges Alex and his friends face they solve old mysteries and uncover fantastic secrets that could change the course of the lands forever.
My personal thoughts, I am still impressed at how M.L. Forman is getting better with his adventures and how he's making the plots of the stories more intriguing and complicated. He pulls plenty of surprises out of his sleeves both good and bad. There were some times that the story felt like it went a little too fast, but overall, I'm very impressed with this story and have enjoyed this adventure.
There's a study guide in the back of the book to discuss lessons from the story. However I decided to talk about some of the lessons I've seen from this book. Alex does have a problem with getting reckless feelings throughout the story, particularly if people do things he knows are not right. While there is a level of control that we need to have on our feelings we need to know when we need to stand up for our friends and for what is right. There are also offers made to Alex to tempt him away from his duty, but he refuses them. In several ways we are often tempted to do things we shouldn't or to compromise our morals and standards. However we do not have to yield to such offers. Alex also learns more about himself and learns to gain confidence in his abilities and accept who he really is. We may not have huge gifts and abilities that are widely known, but we can still accept ourselves for who we are and believe in our abilities. Last thing I wanted to point out is that throughout the series Alex seems to become more and more famous throughout the lands, yet despite all the attention he is given he does not let that distract him from what he really needs to do or change him from the person he is. Even if we are given attention and fame for our accomplishments we do not need to let ourselves get defined by them. We can still be happy by being the kind of person our friends and family know and love.
Rating: 4.50 out of 5 stars
