Rise of the Fire Tamer by Kailin Gow

Here’s a brief summary from the Amazon page:  After winning a contest for a popular game called Wordwick Games, five teens Gemma, Sparks, Rio, Kat, and Jack, are invited to stay at Wordwick Games inventor Henry Word's mysterious castle and play the newest level of Workwick Games. Little do they know, the castle is the doorway to a wondrous world call Anachronia where words can be used as weapons, power, and commodity. There is unrest in Anachronia, and if the five teens can follow the rules of Wordwick Games and prove to be the best player, one of them will be crowned Ruler of Anachronia.

My Take

I love the premise of this book; the thought that words have power was very enthralling to me. The world building was wonderful and it was very easy to follow along through the story. I appreciated the fact that while the characters appeared to be stereotypical, they were in actuality far from it. No one wants to read about the jock or cheerleader in their same old roles.

I will say there were a few issues that bothered me. Number one, if a book is placing so much importance on words, it should be thoroughly edited. I did not see this book labeled as an ARC and was unsure if these errors have already gone through in print.

Number two, in the storyline these teens were supposedly chosen because they play an online version of the game quite well. However, we reach a point and one of the characters does not know any of the magic words on an extensive list. It’s never really addressed any further in the book. It’s a minor point, but had me wondering if he suffered from some learning disability to not know any of the words.

Lastly, (and this is a totally minor issue) when they reach a point to have the list of magic words available to them, why don’t they take it and have a couple soldiers carry it, if it’s large and heavy. It might have been of great assistance. Just a thought on my part.

Overall, I liked this story. I appreciated the fact that there were definitions for many of the words in back. I think that’s a wonderful asset. I thought the twist at the end was amazing, I did not see it coming. The editing issue drove me a little buggy, but all in all it was a decent read. I’m giving this one 2 ½ swaks!