Reaper’s Return: The Chronicles of Aesirium – Book 1

5/5 gears. A magical steampunk adventure that will leave you smiling and wanting more.

Sometimes Twitter comes through with something good. A few weeks ago author Ren Cummins @rencummins tweeted an offer to get a free digital copy of the first book of his young adult series The Chronicles of Aesirium. I jumped at the chance with a timely retweet and minutes later got the link to Amazon to download it.

I’ve been looking for something new to read and was excited to get home and begin.
The books follow the story a young girl named Rom as she and her friends find themselves the key players of an ancient prophecy. There is lots of magic and monsters, which makes an unavoidable comparison to the Harry Potter series, but these books treat magic somewhat differently and it is not the focus of the stories.

Set in “Oldtown-Against-the-Wall” a very retro-futuristic-steampunk town we are taken on a light and fun romp.

I ended up liking this book much more than expected.

The prologue begins with a tale of the history of Aesirium, and is written with forced antiquated verbosity. Thankfully only the prologue uses this language and it’s nice and short.

The books are written for young adults, so they are a quick read if you devour books like I do. I personally prefer this style of writing, over say Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, as it leaves a lot of the visual language to your imagination, instead focusing on the actions and feeling of the characters. Cummins drew me into their world immediately and kept me enthralled for the length of the book.

Without giving too much away Rom becomes more than just an ordinary child and goes on to battle some pretty epic monsters all within a steampunk backdrop that contains a unique mix of magic, science, and technology.

It’s really hard to describe why I enjoyed it so much, obviously the steampunk setting adds a lot, but there is also humor, fun animal companions, giant insect monsters, and cool gadgets. Combined together with a semi-coming of age story with fun characters and you have a fun and incredibly entertaining read.

After completing Book 1 – The Reapers Return, I immediately went back to Amazon and the second book: The Morrow Stone quickly found its way onto my Kindle. Sadly I started and finished the second book in a single setting, not due to its length, but because I just couldn’t stop reading it.

I’m hoping the rest of the series continues where the first two books took me. Do yourself a favor and check out The Chronicles of Aesirium by Ren Cummins, you’ll enjoy them.