Are you a Harry Potter fan? I am. I own the complete series of books and loved how J.K. Rowling introduced us to a fantasy world. Well, move over Harry for Ren Crown. Ren is a 17-year-old twin. Her brother Christian is the popular one. He plays sports and hangs with the jocks, but also always has Ren around as well. Ren is quiet and artistic. Art is her relaxation and escape. She is also very intelligent and has a photographic memory. She is always part of Christian's adventures. The night they go on one is when Christian begins to awaken his magic and ends up dead. Ren is almost dead but saved by a good looking teenager. She tries to tell her parents, authorities and therapists about the night and the magic but no one believes her. In fact in school the kids think she killed Christian. Then her world opens up to the world of magic. She learns she has artist and creation powers and gets whisked away to one of the magic levels (copies of our world that have changed with time) to the Excelsine University. She is locked away but manages to break free and discovers this magical world. The world is full of problems of its own. And she is pushing the limits in hopes of having her twin back with her.
The Awakening of Ren Crown by Anne Zoelle is the first book in the series. It draws the reader in to this fantasy world and allows the reader to look into Ren's mind. As she discovers magic and wonders whether some of the magic may explain the happenings on Level 1 or our world. She is considered a feral and ferals are sometimes killed or enslaved due to fear of lack of control of their magic. The magic world has a war going on as well as many other things that parallel our world. It is exciting and a page turner. It holds the reader's interest and makes the reader think. I really enjoyed reading this book and can't wait to read the rest of the series. I recommend it to anyone who likes a bit of fantasy.
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About the Books & Author
A world that exists right on top of ours–in every nook and cranny…a world that modifies the memories of anyone not yet awakened to magic…a world at war…
Devastated by the loss of her twin–and consumed by the realization that magic actually exists–art student Ren Crown illegally enrolls in a fantastical university determined to bring her brother back to life. But caught in a time of war, and as a mage with abilities that both sides want to harness and use, Ren finds herself an unwitting pawn in a larger game.
Needing to hide from those who wish to enslave her, Ren gambles everything on her determination to succeed, putting herself in plain sight of those who could capture her. Constantly needing to figure out who to trust–a cold, powerful roommate, a genius magical engineer, the most powerful combat mage of their age, a mysterious muse, a cunning and brilliant tactician, a charming terrorist, an influential politician, or the voice of her brother…the hardest thing may be trusting her own heart.
Barely surviving her first term at college, all Ren wants to do over break is relax and bond with her roommate—not get eaten by a sentient building or attacked on the street. But with increasingly open warfare brewing between the magical factions and Layers of the world, this time, Ren will not fail in making sure everyone she loves stays safe and protected.
That includes doing things like filling her parents' house with personal art heavily embedded with wards, bubble-wrapping her increasingly imperiled roommate, and even making sure that a certain sexy thorn-in-her-side continues to breathe free air.
Finding herself on duty protecting the entire university alongside campus god Alexander Dare...was not what she'd had in mind.
But this time it's not only her life on the line. And Ren will do anything to protect those she loves.
Reeling from what the students at Excelsine University are calling "Bloody Tuesday," Ren is determined to regather her magical family. But the events of the attack were not without multiple costs. Magically broken and exposed, Ren is ripe pickings for multiple factions that want to use and chain her, and the Department is the scariest of the pack.
With only a limited amount of time to save her friend, and confined with the rest of the student body awaiting their fate, Ren stands a mere hairsbreadth from losing her freedom completely with each and every decision she makes.
Anne Zoelle has loved books about fantasy, magic, math, wit, and imagination since devouring A Wrinkle in Time, Phantom Tollbooth, Alice in Wonderland, and the Chronicles of Narnia as a child. Split between the midwest and west coast, she writes books for all ages, as well as for furry monsters, sentient libraries, and adventuring aliens.
Anne Zoelle is the pseudonym of a USA Today Bestselling Author. She is currently working on the fourth book in the Ren Crown series.
