DNF at 27%

Unlike the main character, whose name I have forgotten, I can absolutely find the door out of this world. It's there *points to return button in library app*

Vaarwel, Akarnae

Arkanae is the debut novel of Lynette Noni and focuses on a girl called Alexandra/Alex Jennings, our main character. Alex shows up at her new school, only to fall into another realm (Medora) and ends up starting at a school known as Arkanae. Of course its a magical school.
I enjoyed reading about almost all the characters, some were abit psycho (Finn) and I definitely don't want to do a class run by Finn. I loved Karter, I found him really cool and D.C is great too.
I love the teasing that goes on between Jordan, Bear and Alex. Kaiden is ok, I guess, I don't get why people love him so much. It's truly a magical world.

Comment at a later date:
After reading some of her other books, I believe that this series is her best, even if I haven't finished it yet.

The author actually is Australian like me and we live in the same state! ( )

{First of 5 Medoran Chronicles; YA, fantasy, portal fantasy}

Alexandra Jennings has grown up following her parents around the world on their expeditions. Now, at 16 years old, they are going on an expedition where she can't go with them and where they will be out of reach of communications until they return. And so Alex is sent off to boarding school, which looks like it will be a miserable experience until she steps through a doorway and finds herself on a parallel Earth called Medora (and which names our Earth 'Freya'). She finds herself at a school for the gifted - children with powers - although her new best friends claim that there is no magic in their world but they are just much more technologically advanced than us.

Nevertheless, there are potions and transport spells although these are attributed to chemistry by the Medorans. The story owes a lot to the Harry Potter books, as well as Narnia and possibly The Dragonbone Chair, especially when Alex spends a Christmas-like holiday with both her friends, Bear and Jordan, at Bear's home with his family, the Ronnigans, who are remarkably like Ron Weasley's family although the house isn't quite so idiosyncratic.

The story comes into its own towards the end when it creates its own storyline - and, yes, there is a bad guy but he isn't Voldemort (or at least not yet) and I would like to continue following Alex's adventures in Medora.

3.5**** ( )

I loved this book so much! I can’t really compare it to the Harry Potter series like everyone else seems to be doing - they seem quite different to me - but I can say that I actually prefer this series to HP. That is a huge compliment coming from me, as I’m a huge fan of Harry Potter. It actually reminded me the the Eragon series a lot more. In this series there are bonded dragons, bending others to ones will, mental battles, elves and other concepts that come up during the Medoran chronicles (although there is magic in Eragon, which is a key difference)

I’m pleased to say that after the amazing first book, the others just get even better, especially towards the end. I was devastated when the series ended, and I’ve actually found that some of the great books I’ve read in the past are now boring in contrast. The plot is so intriguing and convoluted, but you always understand what’s happening in the end. I literally couldn’t put the books down, and stayed up late at night with my eyes glued to the pages (for almost a week- when I finally finished the series, and even then I couldn’t stop thinking about it). I’m so amazed that I hadn’t heard about this series before, I only discovered it when I stumbled across it at the library.

You couldn’t help admiring Alex as she suffered and yet somehow managed to get through everything. Her friends where also amazing, not just sidekicks, but fully developed characters. A lot of people mentioned that they were glad that the book didn’t focus on romance and I definitely agree. It was fast paced and much more interesting than your average romance novel, but the romance that was introduced later on it the series was also welcome. This was because it was not a main detail, and you’d had the time to get to know the characters so well, that you felt kind of happy for them. I would definitely not want to be in the characters places, but this was because all of them went through a lot, which made for a really good read.

I won’t reveal who dies later on in the series in case it’s a spoiler for anyone, but I just wanted to mention that I cried during his death, but I still think it was a good thing to add. While in HP I was kind of angry at J.k Rowling for killing off so many characters, this characters death added a little more reality to the book, and helped the reader connect with Alex. His relationship with Alex is kind of beautiful and really sweet, and that made me even sadder, but it adds something extra to her suffering and just increased my respect for her.

This series was exactly what I was looking for, and while it might not be the sort of thing everyone would enjoy, it is my favourite book series so far. ( )

"The Medoran Chronicles" series is very popular in our school library and the books are rarely on the shelves, so I thought I would give the first one a go. I can understand why the girls like the series so much. "Akarnae" was an easy, entertaining read and Alex was a determined, intelligent and snarky young lady. Her new friends, Bear and Jordan, were delightful and I loved how they took Alex under their wing. The banter between the three teens was very funny. I enjoyed their easy-going friendship and it was a refreshing change not to have a love triangle. In fact, there was no romance at all, although I could see that developing in future instalments.

True, there were a number of things I wasn't a big fan of throughout the book but, overall, "Akarnae" was an entertaining read. ( )