I’ve been getting a lot of fantasy showing up in my inbox lately and Broken Arrow has left me with no regrets! What a wonderfully written and deeply moving story! There are so many times where, as an editor and a book blogger, I begin to feel weighed down by my work. I start treating the books I read as chores and simply plow through them, sketching down notes of every error and dislike I come across while reading. But every so often I am brought back to the time I read for fun—back when I enjoyed books for the simplicity of enjoyment. Where I was taken to another world against my will and found myself lost in the exciting imagination of a person I do not know. I miss those days, and sometimes I feel like my work has taken me away from those days for good. But I was so happy to have come across Broken Arrow because it took me back to my imagination—to the depths of creativity that’d been lost in the slush pile of work, endless list of emails, and monotonous editing.

Broken Arrow is an expertly written and wonderfully imagined novel by Azaria MJ Durant. It follows the story of a young slave boy with all the odds stacked against him. In a world where slaves are hated, magic is illegal, and war is ripping the land apart, Ealdred must find a way to overcome it all. Yes… the story has a bit of an ‘underdog’ feel to it as Ealdred is one of those protagonists you would least likely expect to make a difference in this very complicated world, but it plays out very well. The entire story and adventure are detailed and easy to follow; action sequences flow wonderfully and character development is so strong it forms a bond that will have you dreaming of your favorite characters while you sleep! Pleasant dreams of freedom, magic, and the fight of good versus evil.

With all the praise I’ve given this story, I still have to say there are some things I dislike. For fantasy, I feel the story is very short and as I mentioned before, it follows a very cookie-cutter routine by taking a weak and unlikely character and molding them into the hero we need. While it is certainly written well and deserves every star I’ve given it, I will say I wish the plot wasn’t so cut and dry. It feels like another VERY GOOD version of a story you’ve heard before. That being said, I don’t know what could be changed to take away the feeling of having read this before. Broken Arrow is good enough as it is, nothing *needs* to change but I am more than interested to see how things will play out from here.

I strongly recommend this to YA readers who enjoy fantasy, magic, and adventure. Anyone with appreciation for expert writing will love this and if you’re feeling the underdog theme then I’d encourage you to give this a try.