Book Details:
Author: J M SHAW
Release Date: October 31, 2021Series:
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Format: E-book
Pages: 422 pages
Publisher: Maverick First Press Inc.
Blurb:
A hidden war is spilling into our world.
Two realms. One veil. A conflict that won’t stay buried.
Callum Walker never asked for power — and he certainly never asked for destiny.
Born with arcane abilities he barely understands, Callum is drawn into a secret magical world of monsters, ancient factions, and uneasy alliances. As his uncontrolled power grows, it attracts the attention of two ruthless brothers locked in a centuries-old war — one a sorcerer, the other a necromancer.
Read full book blurb
When an ancient prophecy names Callum as the one destined to end the bloodshed, he becomes both weapon and target. Hunted by enemies who want him dead and allies who want to use him, Callum must decide whether he can master his gifts — or be consumed by them.
The Ascension is a dark fantasy novel featuring reluctant heroes, deadly prophecy, moral tension, and a war that refuses to stay buried.
Review
The Ascension by J. M. Shaw is a contemporary fantasy adventure that combines urban fantasy, portal fantasy and epic conflict within a story about power, identity and the difficult search for belonging. Callum Walker has spent most of his life concealing his natural magic while using it to hunt the dangerous creatures that cross into the human world. His isolated existence begins to unravel when he rescues a fairy named Frey and discovers the Veil—a hidden boundary separating humanity from an expansive magical realm. Soon, Callum finds himself caught between David Kincaid, a necromancer creating mythological monsters through forbidden magic, and Desmond Quinn, the leader of a secret organisation determined to harvest Callum’s power for its own purposes.
Shaw’s world-building is one of the novel’s greatest strengths. The contrast between Callum’s impoverished life in the wintry city of Duncaster and the fantastical communities beyond the Veil gives the story an appealing sense of scale and discovery. Fairies, dwarves, mountain elves, vampires, unicorns, dragons and other creatures inhabit a world governed by distinct cultures, prejudices and political interests. The magical system is equally engaging: power carries a physical cost, magic may be stored or stolen, and the difference between natural gifts, enchanted artefacts and forbidden sorcery has genuine consequences. These rules prevent Callum’s abilities from becoming an effortless solution to every danger, even as his power continues to grow.
The novel’s emotional centre, however, lies in Callum himself. He begins as a very lonely and guarded young man who has learnt to disappear within his own life, yet he retains an instinctive compassion even when confronted by beings capable of killing him. His friendship with Frey brings warmth and humour to the story, while his evolving relationship with Liam develops into one of its most affecting threads. Liam’s movement from hunter to ally gives the conflict considerable emotional weight, and characters such as Jobella and Agis further complicate Callum’s understandable mistrust of others. Shaw is particularly effective when examining the difference between genuine goodness and institutional righteousness: several factions claim to be protecting their people, yet fear, ambition and self-preservation repeatedly lead them towards cruelty.
At more than four hundred pages and sixty-four chapters, the novel occasionally allows its scale to interfere with its momentum. Callum passes through several cycles of capture, injury, escape and recovery, and the accumulation begins to feel repetitive during the middle portion. His emotions and moral dilemmas are also sometimes explained after the action has already communicated them clearly. Compressing a few of these sequences, reducing repeated internal observations and allowing readers to draw more of their own conclusions would make the escalating danger feel sharper. Kincaid and Quinn are suitably threatening antagonists, although giving their ideological differences greater nuance beyond their shared hunger for power could have made their rivalry even more compelling.
Nevertheless, The Ascension is an imaginative and emotionally sincere beginning to the Callum Walker series. Its central conflict reaches a meaningful conclusion while the final revelations open several intriguing questions about Callum’s origins, psychic abilities and future place within the magical realm. Readers who enjoy reluctant heroes, hidden worlds, prophecy-driven adventures, found-family relationships and large casts of mythological beings will find much to appreciate here. Beneath its monsters and magic, this is ultimately the story of a man discovering that his capacity for compassion may be the most extraordinary power he possesses.
I love reading your comments, so please go ahead…