A lot of setup for books to come so there were slow parts but still enjoyable. Looking forward to the journey continuing. ( )

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: The Hidden Masters of Marandur Series: Pillars of Reality Author: Jack Campbell Rating: of 5 Battle Axes Genre: SFF Pages: 369 Format: Kindle Synopsis: Mari and Alain come back together, after their respective guilds attempt to kill them, rather directly in fact. While Alain accepts that Mari is the Daughter of Jules, Mari hasn't made her mind up just yet. She just wants to help make things better. They go on a couple of adventures, the final one being to find old records that might give them an edge, technologically. Because they need an edge of some sort if they're going to go up against the two most powerful Guilds in the world plus an Empire! My Thoughts: When I read Firefight by Sanderson last month, I stated that even Sanderson couldn't make me like YA. Well Sanderson, meet Campbell. He's made me like YA for 2 whole books AND had me rate them pretty high. This was a great continuation from Dragons of Dorcastle. It wasn't quite as gripping, as we know the characters and some about the world, but the growth of the characters was done so that I liked it, which is hard to do. I did like the action scenes and the time in the forbidden city of Marandur was good. I also like the fact that Campbell doesn't dance around the whole super attraction between 2 young people. Mari and Alain want to get it on! Pretty bad. But instead of promulgating the false idea that sex equals love, or some such tripe, Campbell has them act like thinking adults. And controlling themselves. Too many times ya characters don't control themselves, probably because the author is as hormone ridden as the characters, but Campbell holds up something better. I liked that. In the little section of "Also by Jack Campbell" it lists the name of the 3rd Pillars of Reality book and then under that states "Books 4-6". Which means he's got 6 books worth for this series. Given his penchant for 6 [ie, Lost Fleet, etc], I trust they will all be good. " ( )