Children of the First

Children of the First by Alex McGaughan First of all, I must start off with a disclaimer. I also write a story about a fantasy college as well. Our stories are only similar in premise and really not much else.

Summary: The story is about Shawn, a dragonblood from a prestige background, and his first year at a magical college. He encounters new friends, new species of magical creatures, and learns more about himself in the process.

Likes: I was pleasantly surprised by this particular story. To be honest, I didn't think I would like a story about reptilian humanoids. I read a lot of fantasy magical college stories and this is one of the better ones. It wasn’t filled to the brim with sex and violence, the characters were likable, and the story is pretty interesting so far. I’m curious to see if the author and the story will go deeper with this issue of racism. Many fantasy college stories deal with this issue of racism. Also the author hints at some conflict dealing with Shawn's background, his mother being a priestess who technically wasn't supposed to have children. I'm curious to see what the author is going to do with these themes.

Dislikes: I was a little confused about the world the author created. There is some information about the different races, but they seemed to be in odd locations and places. I can understand a character spacing out and thinking about other things, but it’s a bit odd when a whole history is present in the middle of a conversation. Not that I didn’t enjoy the history,but it would probably make a better bonus story.

Overall: All in all, this is worth reading. It’s entertaining and a fun read. The prose is easily read, not overblown with description and fancy language. This is one of the better magic college fantasy stories out there.