Title: Vardaesia
Author: Lynette Noni
Published: February 2019
Publisher: Pantera Press
Readership: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★
RRP: $19.99 AUD
I received a copy of Vardaesia from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
“When Day and Night combine and fight against one Enemy, then Dark and Light shall meet mid-strike and set the Captives free.”
In the wake of loss and devastation, Alex must cast aside her grief to seek aid from those who banished the Meyarins long ago. But the proud Tia Aurans care little for the woes of mortals and demand that Alex—and her friends—undergo the Gates of Testing to prove their world is worth saving.
With an ancient prophecy looming, Alex must confront the secrets of her past if she is to survive long enough to see the future. For if she returns to Medora without the Tia Aurans by her side, all hope will be lost.
In this explosive conclusion to The Medoran Chronicles, the fate of Medora hangs in the balance as Alex readies herself to face Aven one final time.
Who will survive, and who will fall?
“If, however, darkness wins, there is no strategy to keep from all that will be lost, and so will always be.”
There’s something truly wonderful about the #loveozya world – we’re lucky to have such fantastic authors and stories for young adults coming out of Australia. Lynette Noni’s Medoran Chronicles is no exception.
I started reading Akarnae a few years back and fell in love with the deceptively simple plot that is driven forward by wonderful characters and friendships that are central to everything that the series is. In the beginning, it’s a portal fantasy – a teenage girl stumbles into a completely different world, one where teenagers can manifest magical abilities – and then quickly becomes a full blown fantasy, complete with magical creatures, a school for training all those teens, and different landscapes with every subsequent book.
It’s hard to talk purely about Vardaesia on its own – for one, it would give away too many spoilers, being the final book in a series, for another, the stories, by this point, are completely reliant on a lot of back story.
What I can say, though, is that this continues the tradition in the series of main character, Alexandra Jennings, seeking further allies to assist her and her friends in the defense of Medora. She needs to travel to the lost world of Vardaesia and seek the help of powerful beings who’ve closed the door on her new world.
Alexandra is a character who has faced so many challenges through the series – she’s been beaten down, betrayed, heartbroken and yet she rises from all of these events stronger every time. She’s learnt that telling lies – even to protect her friends – aren’t always the right way to go, and that placing her trust in others can lead her to allies she never dreamt possible.
The majority of this series has been with little-to-no romance, which was awesome, because of the strong friendships built up between Alexandra, Jordan, Bear and DC. This time around, we get to spend a little more time looking at the romantic bonds that are beginning to form between some of them, which is both sweet and (while not integral to the plot so much) a lovely addition to it.
Vardaesia wraps up Alexandra’s story in a wonderful way. We get all our answers, but with enough open-endedness in the last pages to leave us wondering if we’ll ever return to Medora and the friends found within its’ pages.
Noveltea Corner 