REMNANTS OF LIGHT (KNIGHTS OF ARALIA)

In Allen’s YA fantasy series starter, a teenage boy whose village is destroyed by raiders must find his way to safety and then train with a legendary order of knights.

Fifteen-year-old Fordain Abendroth and his twin brother, Amon, are days short of officially coming of age when their village is attacked by soldiers of the Primus Emprius, a faction that would plunge the Republic of Emprius into civil war. Their parents are killed and their village burned to the ground; Amon is captured, and Fordain escapes with only his horse, Solus, and a mysterious amulet he’s worn for his entire boyhood. He pursues the rebel soldiers, vowing to rescue Amon. Instead, he manages to free Ingred de Haas, a girl his age who was taken prisoner while journeying from the land of the reptilian humanoid Draga. Fordain and Ingred set out for Aralia, a renowned island kingdom whose knights fight for just causes. Along the way, the pair are joined by the Draga-raised woodsman Elagor Vos and orphaned farm boy Evander Carro; soon, they’re all taken under the wing of Lord Maritius, a general from Aralia. The four companions are trained as knights, but will they be ready when the time comes to fight? Allen writes in the third person, primarily from Fordain’s perspective but occasionally from those of his companions. This touch of omniscience takes away some narrative urgency, as does Fordain’s philosophical attitude toward misfortune; he spares barely a thought for his dead parents, and the search for his brother feels more like a plot device than a driving motivation. The setting is refreshingly suggestive of several historical Earth cultures—ancient Rome, heraldic England, and possibly Dutch South Africa—but its rendering feels haphazard, mingling generic fantasy with Cockney English and incongruous uses of the words ere, prithee, doest, and bade (speciously rendered as bad). Allen shows a deft hand at characterization and description, effectively investing readers in the land, its peoples, and their fate. Although the story is slow to build and the conflict proves relatively small-scale, it remains engaging throughout.

A somewhat formulaic but ultimately satisfying military fantasy.