The Secret of Ashona (5) (Erec Rex)

I just finished rereading the first two books in their kindle edition and then books three and four as hardbound copies. Book two remains the weakest of the series and as of now, book five is the strongest. It was the first to elicit an emotional response from me and for a young adult series, that's unusual. I'm somewhat of a romantic at heart and toward the end, I felt a certain "rush" (it is really hard to explain) as I read two sequences.The story is fast-paced with more challenges and quests for Erec to overcome. I was a bit bothered by the developing "romance" between Erec and Bethany and felt it a bit rushed since not a lot of time has passed since we were first introduced to Erec in the first book. Unlike the Harry Potter books, which advance a year with each installment, the Erec Rex series doesn't do that. The stories are centered around Erec's Herculean quests, which leads him into death. Some parts of the stories may bother younger readers, though Kaza doesn't dwell on either blood or gore, or death, for that matter. This is a fantasy world, complete with ghosts (friendly ones at that) as well as some very nasty creatures.Erec's quests keep getting harder, or more challenging to his resolve. Each quest brings out a new quality in the young prince as he searches for his siblings and mother.Without a doubt, Kaza has done a lot of research into our mythology, giving them a twist that hopefully will have young readers chasing down the stories behind the various locales and legends of the ancient world.I'm looking forward to the next installment (there are eight books in the series) and the twists and turns that Kaza so lovingly has us wander through.I rated this as five stars, mostly because it is a very strong four-plus stars and rounding it up was natural for a great addition to this wonderful series.

The Secret of Ashona was one of the better Erec Rex books. You do get a few more answers about Erec this time around. It's also a little scarier. Erec faces more risks and you find yourself thinking, "How the heck is he going to get out of this one?" Erec's parents, both real and foster, are as useless as always. His father is a weak, sad excuse for a king, his mother is hardly ever mentioned, and his foster mother is absent-minded and irresponsible (she keeps leaving the kids alone, knowing of all the dangers in Erec's life). But they add color to the whole scene and help to focus on Erec as the hero.I bit off all my nails reading The Secret of Ashona. It was tense. I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I do wish Kingsley would end the series already. I feel like the story has been dragging on and there's no reason to have so many sequels. It could have all been done in a trilogy. Still, the Erec Rex saga is a favorite of mine and I'll stick with it until the end.

I hate to give this book a 2 star rating. I think the series is great but this book fell flat for me. I couldn't get enough of the other 4 books and read them all within a week. But with this book it is just different. It's been a week and I am barely halfway through. It just seems to drag on and on about the same old things. The main character has been reckless and annoying in the past but in this book he is even more so. One thing I can't understand is why he won't ever accept help from other people. I mean, these people care for him and want to help. But he constantly sneaks off and does things his own way with no regard on how it makes others feels. It like he just does care and is a mindless puppet of the Fates. He doesn't think twice about the choices he makes or how it will affect others. He just dives in head first. I can't stand it. And in all honesty, this book has an overall depressing feel to it. Everything seems so sad,gloomy, and hopeless and even through things work out within a few pages it's right back to being sad and hopeless. It kind of reminds me of the Harry potter book 4. I loved books 1-3 and couldn't get enough of them and the came book 4 and everything took a much darker turn and I couldn't understand why..... Well. I just really hope this book is just a bump in the road and thing setback on track with book 6.

The story starts out like the others, fun, Mysterious, griping, but very quickly becomes sad. As the story progresses it seems to lighten, then falls again. It's like a roller coaster that stays low most of the time only going up small hills.The ending gets back on track but is still darker then we're use to. If you really like the series this may be just a bump on the rode. You'll have to be the judge!

Where is the audible version of the last two books. In this day and age this is crazy.

Kids love it

Book four was not as fun and charming as 1-4 but still good.I will definitely follow up with book six

Love it so much, can’t wait to read the next book! This saga really blow my mind!!!! Kazan did amazing job

i think the book was amazing and i realy enjoyed reading it the only thing i was not happy about was i did not find out about the lost siblings, the mother and how they would gain back the kingdom of keepers and stop the stain triplets and the leader.

It's so exciting, so interesting.I wish I could read it all day.You should read this book. It's amazing!!!!.Review by my 7&9 year olds.