Reishi Adept (Sovereign of the Seven Isles, #7) by David A. Wells

Reishi Adept (Sovereign of the Seven Isles, #7) Reviews

• 
  Kathleen

  I have a headache. This is nonstop carnage, until 98%, where we then get a sliver of happiness. Despite all the carnage, this insane series did offer some happy notes.
  
  There are 7 books in this series. I read books 1,2,3,5,7, skipping books 4 and 6. Nothing lost. Just more of the same. This series is heavy bloody battles, fairly strong in terms of pacing (with several exceptions), simplistic in terms of world building and plot, fairly weak on character development and fairly vapid in terms of dialogue. The author needs to develop a stronger writing style. Self publishing is great, but only when the writing is quality workmanship. Too repetitive by far. Vocabulary is limited. For example, every time Wells describes dragons flying overhead, he uses the word "floating" — which makes me think of a balloon — rather than gliding, soaring, swooping, circling, — or hey, why not “flying”? etc.
• 
  Mark Boyd

  An enjoyable series overall. The conclusion as with all epic fantasy series has an explosive battle at the end. Wells includes some twists and turns to keep the pages turning. I felt the final chapter was a little rushed but certainly brought about a feel good conclusion. I highly recommend the series and will continue to keep an eye out for new material by Mr. David Wells.
• 
  Bill Tillman

  Relishing Adept; Alexander becomes the most rare of wizards an Adept!
  
  Wonderful climax to this enthralling series. You will be on the edge of your seat from beginning to end! With two terrible enemies in Vhul and Phane Reishi master wizards, plus a vast number of evil creatures from beyond the normal world. An unbelievable ride in the final book of the Seven Isles.
• 
  C.L. Savage

  Overall this series is hard to put down. The whole series is 4.5 stars. Really well written, though with some odd inconsistencies. At times Alex could walk through 1000's of people and slice & dice his way through like the warrior we'd expect. He can see in 360 degrees out to miles by the end of the series, see everything that is coming, even see events unfolding before they happen and yet he keeps getting stupid injuries. I get the author has to make him have vulnerabilities, but they can't be in the areas of his strengths or it doesn't make sense.
  
  This book was a letdown. I was hoping Alex would finally get the magic we'd been hoping for the whole series. Early on (book 1?) he becomes a wizard, having completed the first of three mana fasts. He never ever does the second one, let alone the third. What is up with that??????
  
  So if you're expecting Alex in this book to be a mage, as the title implies, you'll be let down. He swings a sword to get things done from page 1 (of book 1) to the last page (of book 7). He never does anything "magical." At one point in one book he mini-teleports. There is never a repeat to this. He never figures that trick out. It is implied at one point that Syndori(sp?) creates a new world with his magic. We never see anything like that with Alex. Basically Alex can see far, and occasionally see into the future a few moments. The future sight is only helpful when the author lets it be helpful, otherwise it isn't reliable.
  
  Then after 7 books of doom & gloom, we get one mini-chapter of wrap-up. Alex has a baby, big whoop-de-do. He never once wanted a child during the whole series. Never dreamed of it, never thought it would be a good idea, any of it! What he kept wanting was a ranch. We in one sentence see dragons scare his sheep. Through the rest of the series, the author spends paragraphs describing places we'll never see again. But for Alex's home we get nothing. I was hoping for more about the vitalwood trees. Alex blesses some dirt over a seed, but we don't know if it helps. Really? Would it have been so hard to have a shoot come forth, and all the fairies rejoiced at the recreation of the reason they came into the world in the first place? And for the vitalwood tree he plants in his front yard. Some fairies leave their hidden place and rejoin the world to be with this one tree amongst humanity as its guardians.
  
  We do get an odd moment, Zhul's head on a spike. But Ixabrax had eaten the top half of Zhul, oh well.
  
  Good series. The end fight was pretty good having a lot of unexpected angles. I was hoping Zhul would have a better showing. Also the Sin'Rath end was WEAK. I would have liked after Phane defeats Zhul, to have him try and summon the Sin'Rath mother, but she's already been summoned and charms him, Alex, Tyr and even enthrals Isabel like she does, but we didn't get that added drama. Alex's sister was supposed to fix the Sin'Rath situation, but doesn't. Anyway, the ending was good, just not the 5/5 ending to the series I was expecting.
  
  I want to add one bit of author humor. The phrase "hundreds of feet" is used over and over again, sometimes in the same paragraph. This hallway was "hundreds of feet" long. We turned the corner and that hallway was "hundreds of feet" long. Pretty funny stuff.
• 
  Jeanne Johnston

  Wow, what a ride. I wasn't super impressed with the first book but it got better and better. I got a bad Robert Jordan vibe early on as there seemed to be endless rabbit trails of plot to follow, and figured this was overly ambitious and would drag on forever or just fizzle. Nope, the action was pretty steady, not much useless filler, and he pulled it off. This was all the storylines coming together like a whirlwind of nonstop action and carnage, and then we get our happy ending--whoosh.
  
  Some clever inventions, as well. The Wizard's Den alone made for a useful plot device to keep things speeding along. I want one!
• 
  Tim Whitson

  This book was great. Excellent finish to a fantastic series!
• 
  Barry Mead

  Initially it seemed this rushed headlong into action and missed much, what Alexander wants and feels is covered but not in depth, his past is largely hints at best.
  His actual skills prior to any incident aught have been quite good, and indeed given the bloodline and story premise, it would have seemed reasonable that the Rebel mage would have caused some magical protections upon the family as they would be natural targets, and as well as magically imbued weapons and armour such as Alex' dragon scale shirt, this lack seems remiss given the foresight the mage is described as having.
  
  Throughout though it is engaging but builds up to an ending that is like inhaling a huge gasp of air then a gentle puff for the seeming vast quantity inhaled, it just feels like, wjere is the rest?
  
  The fact of the Reishi rule having been good but turning to evil would tend to suggest the creation of protections for the future, Alex putting in place a plan to secure more acorns from the vitalwood tree for safeguard for the future repeat of a Malachai or Phane emerging.
  
  Making bonds and alliances to last, new thinblades, doing with the gates as he had anticipated.
  New keeps and mountain ranges.
  His own abilities to expand and be used.
  The suggestions for instance of future progeny given the light link in Isabel, his own natural talent claimed as result of his blood and magic of his parents.
  
  There is so much more to cover , especially given it is questionable if Phane is truly even definitely dead.
  My hope is there is a follow up series, and that it is taken at a slower pace, possibilities are huge, from demons remaining to be hunted, to a direct challenge between the taker and the maker using conduits of which Alex or Isabel or others could be one.
  
  I would look forwards to more in the Reishi line, going forwards and expanding on the events
• 
  Michael Newville

  This series is one with many positive, and some negative aspects..
  
  I'll start with the negative. I feel it was a bit drawn out, could have easily been compacted into 2 less books (namely the 5th wasn't needed). The writer easily overemphasised the same writing style, same moral points, and same character thoughts that made this series predictable at times and a bit boring.
  I feel like I can some up the book in 3 sentences that were used repeatedly. I eventually just started skipping over it when he would go off on the same tangent of the old law and good people doing bad things. We get it..
  The writing style was simple and never changed throughout the books. The good and evil was obvious, the characters were rather predictable due them never changing. There weren't any character twists, just plot twists. Which I usually enjoy a bit of character twist. But the writing style is both enjoyable because it is simple, but also cause a bit of dry writing.
  
  So that's the bad, here's the good. I read the whole series in the time span of a month. I simply couldn't put the books down. The story is well done, creativity is amazing and thoughtful. The darkness and evil is well emphasised. It was like reading or watching a DC movie or comic. Batman for instance, where usually the villains are the main topic to prove points, instead of the hero's.
  This book and the previous were probably my favourite, full of plot twists and the ending was quite unexpected. I enjoyed the surprises and attention to detail.
  Could have had more endings and the good at the end being more emphasised and longer. But overall great ending and writing.
  
  These books are well worth the read, just be prepared for a creative but often redundant story of adventure!
• 
  Moonny

  this was again a great book in series - I couldn't put it down and go to sleep, so today I am quite exhausted, but it was worth it!
  to be honest, what is strange and I didn't expected is that many original character survived through all books. On the other hand I want to be as strong as Isabel was. That was inspiring.
  The end however felt little bit rushed - only one chapter on "after war" situation even though there must be a lot of things.... I would be interested in Tyr in more details (especially after Alex said he doesn't want to end Tyr's bloodline....)... No detailed wedding and coronation, just mentioning of it. That felt little bit rushed but maybe there will be future series :) (on the other hand it got the feeling this is last book and everything is kind of finished)
• 
  Carol Edholm

  The battle to end all battles! A nasty, glorious war between wizards, witches, dragons, wyverns, good and evil people, love and hatred, undeads, power-hungry overlords and unwilling new royals. A fight to the last man standing for control of the Seven Isles. Who will join up with whom to win this battle. Will there be anything left of the Isles when this battle is over?
  
  Great descriptions to the point the reader is rarely confused about where they are in the battle. So many enemy, so many points to the battle. Well written so the reader knows where they are in the Isles, what battle, who to cheer for, who to cry over. Incredibly detailed story. Excellent series of books to reach to this climatic ending.
• 
  Kimberly

  Sorry this is the end!
  
  What an amazing journey this series has been! I chose the first book strictly from the blurb on Amazon. It grabbed my full interest and never let go. I’m left feeling like the characters are people I care about and that I shared their trials and triumphs throughout. I can think of no higher praise for an author. This is the final of seven books. Everything Alexander, Isabel, and all their friends and family have been fighting for comes to a hand wringing conclusion. If you like epic fantasy such as David Eddings “Belgariad” and Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” then you absolutely need to read these books.
• 
  Tala Gilbert

  Excellent, perfect series!
  
  From the first book Thinblade, to this seventh book Reishi Adept, I have been totally enthralled! Every book had me on the edge of my seat wondering if everything was going to be okay or not. Of course, in all epic fantasies where the battle between good and evil is fought, one by now surely knows that good always wins. The final book brought everything to a head and could not have asked for a better ending. Even in the darkest moment, the light of love shines the brightest. This whole series is well worth the time to read and I believe I can officially add David Wells to my favorite author list. Thanks for a great read, Mr. Wells!
• 
  Rachel Broussard

  Loved the series
  
  This last book turned out to be the hardest to read. I found myself lost on several occasions,having to backtrack and re-read passages to figure out what I had missed. Again I have to say it's the authors tendency to narrate rather than show. But in the end the plots and characters win the day, and I will gladly read more by this author anxiously watching his talents develop. Thanks David, it's been a grand adventure!
• 
  Ski Croghan

  What a great ending !!!
  
  This is the last book in the Sovereign of the Seven Isles series and it was the best of all. All the bad guys were defeated and killed. Peace returned to the Seven Isles. This author is a great storyteller. The characters are fully developed and so very charismatic. The storyline keeps your interest throughout all 7 books. Anyone who luvs fantasy, adventure and magic will luv this series. Highly recommended.
• 
  Scott Brown

  The Best Series I’ve Read
  
  I read a lot of books. I love the series that are engaging, serious, have great continuity between books, maintain character growth, and are well edited.
  This series has all of that and more. Mr. Wells does a great job of taking the reader from place to place, book to book, storyline to storyline, all while maintaining the central theme.
  As well, some of the quotes one can take from these books are fantastic.
  Well done Mr. Wells.