Lesser Knowns You Should Own #3: Children’s eBooks

And we’re continuing down the list of categories on Kindle Unlimited as part of our Lesser Knowns That You Should Own series. There are a wide variety of Children’s eBooks available through the service. But the first book in this series by Austin J. Bailey caught my eye.

It is described as a witty coming of age fantasy and has consistently high reviews across the entire five book series. Our story follows a boy, Simon, who discovers that he has magical powers. He is sent to a magic school and makes two friends. While at school, he discovers that he has a rare and legendary type of magic, previously thought to be extinct. (And no, this is not a spoiler. The type of magic is called Fayter which is literally in the title of the book.)

Many people have done the fish out of water thrust into a magical school trope, but this author’s approach is purely unique. The style of writing kind of reminds me of Terry Pratchett. It is full of humor and wit. If you don’t laugh at least a dozen times while reading this book, I am concerned about your sense of humor.

Bailey also turns a lot of the tropes on their head. Instead of the brainy girl character and the strong but dumb male character which we have all seen at least 400 times, the female friend is the strong character, and the male friend is the smart one.

And that isn’t the only example of how this series challenges conventional fantasy tropes. This world is well-built. The magic system is one I’ve never seen before. The characters all make decisions and mistakes that cement them as realistic characters.

Even if you don’t read a lot of children’s or middle grade fiction, you are sure to enjoy this book.

Did I mention that there is a lovable miniature dragon?