Macario’s Scepter by M. J. McGriff is a fantasy novel for young adults and adults. It is the first book in “The Magian Series”.

About the Book

Samara feels stuck in a bar on an island she longs to escape, but she ran to this grubby tavern to escape a broken heart. Now she just wants to get back on a ship and sail away.

The night she plans to leave this tavern for good, the crooked boss steals her money pouch and tosses her out with a message to never come back. Then the man she fell in love with and who broke her heart shows up and offers her a chance at a secret treasure and a chance at revenge — an offer she can’t refuse.

Both Samara and her twin, Seraphina, a nun, end up on the Pirate Baz Blackwater’s ship facing a heap of trouble that includes a determined fire breathing sea serpent, but Samara is the Chosen One — chosen by Macario to wield his magic scepter and save her world.

My Review

In the beginning chapters of the book, the plot seemed rushed and the characters weren’t developed enough for me to determine if I liked them or cared about what happened to them. However, the adventure and action kept me turning pages.

About halfway through the book, the character development became better rounded and I liked the main characters and wanted to see them achieve their goals. The adventure and action continued and the pace of the plot slowed but not so much as to bore me or stop me from turning pages. On the contrary, I enjoyed the action, adventure, struggles, and relationships between the characters.

There was one thing that I found to be a distraction throughout the book — quite frequently a sentence either included an extra word or was missing a word. There were grammatical errors as well, and one scene had quite a mix-up in characters’ points of view.

Other than that, I really did enjoy the story. It was high energy with lots of action, danger, and fighting. After all, it is a fantasy story with pirates. Also, it was clear at the end, that another book will follow, but the end of this book leaves the reader satisfied, instead of ending with a cliff hanger. This greatly pleased me.

I would not suggest this book for children under fourteen or fifteen years of age due to the use of quite a bit of profanity, and one of the fighting scenes, in particular, was a bit graphic.

I give this book 4 stars.

As a book reviewer, I was given a free copy of this book for my honest review.